8 Months

Here we are again, at another month birthday.  And this month has been a big one for Annie, development-wise.  David has remarked that it seems like she has really learned a lot just in the last couple of weeks.  And I feel like every day she becomes less of a baby and more of a person.  Her personality is really coming out now…and she keeps us laughing all the time.

Here's what we've been up to this month:

Rolling over – Up until this month, Annie has not shown any interest in rolling from her back to her tummy.  She didn’t like being on her tummy and, I suppose, saw no reason to flip there.  All of that changed this month.  She flips over most often in her crib right before sleep.  And I don’t blame her.  Until now, she has been sleeping on her back with her arms over her head.  A precious position, but I never understood how it could be all that comfortable.  Now, she’s sleeping more like the rest of us.  On her tummy with one knee pulled out to the side or sometimes on her side.  And baby girl is still sleeping like a champ, and I say a little thank you to Jesus every day for that little favor.

Hanging out in the hammock with Daddy.

Standing ovation – Little Bit plays great on the floor for quite a while these days, but when she tires of that there is only one place she wants to be – standing on her own two feet.  She scoots over to me and grabs my hands, which is my cue to pull her up to standing.  If I act like I’m not catching on, she crawls all over my legs and lap until she has pulled herself up onto her feet.  She no longer likes being inside her exersaucer, preferring instead to hang out around the outside of it, playing with the toys.  Along with this whole standing business is coming (slowly) an ability to fall down without freaking out.  Each time she lands on her Pampers-padded bottom she takes it a little more in stride.  And it’s a good thing, because I know we have many more falls and bumps in our future as she becomes more mobile.

Chatty Cathy – Annie’s really got that stringing sounds together thing going now.  She can be pretty chatty almost any time, but she is most talkative on her changing table and in her highchair.  Her word of choice?  No, not “mama” (she laughs at me every time I try to get her to say it).  Her favorite word is, as you might expect, “dada.”  She’s “dadadada”ing all over the place.

First trip to the playground...with her muse.

Waving – A few weeks ago, Annie started this habit of putting her hand out to the side with her elbow bent and kind of shrugging her shoulder when you talked to her.  It was the cutest thing ever and made us laugh every single time, so of course, she kept doing it.  Before long, the hand-and-shrug became a wave and now she will frequently wave hello and bye-bye.  It’s so cute that the whole bye-bye wave makes it even harder to leave her…but at least we have the promise of the hello wave to keep us going.

Teeth – No, still no teeth poking through those gums.  But she has been having more periods of inexplicable fussiness and I think I’ve noticed some swelling in her gums.  Most of the time, she still seems pretty okay with this long teething process, so we’ll just keep waiting for those pearly whites to appear in their own time.

I keep waiting for the whole hormonal emotional part of motherhood to ease up.  But here we are 8 months after Annie's birthday and I still tear up like crazy about being a mom.  I saw a couple of women talking over lunch in a restaurant yesterday, both of them pregnant.  One of them had that about to pop look to her, while you wouldn't have known the other was expecting were it not for the ultrasound pictures she was proudly showing off.  I thought as I looked at those women, they have no idea what's coming.  No idea how much they are going to love those children.  While I was pregnant, I loved Annie.  Before I knew her, I was connected to her.  But that was nothing compared to the emotion I felt - and continue to feel - after she made her appearance.  And so as I sat in the restaurant watching the about-to-be-mamas, I felt a little jealous of them.  Jealous of the birth days they will soon share with their children.  Jealous because I wish I could have captured that moment of ours in time and relive it (preferably after the labor part, mind you) again and again.  Because it is foggy to me.  It all happened so fast.  And time has only sped up since then.

So happy 8 months to our sweet baby girl!  She's growing like crazy and changing before our eyes.  And we are loving every minute!