8 Months

Nora,

You are now 8 months old and I am only 6 days late in writing this. Let's just say that things have been a little busy lately. You turned 8 months old while we were on vacation to the beach and we are still trying to recover from said vacation.

You are changing every day. You are a fast crawler and you love to explore the entire apartment. Your favorite places to go are under the kitchen table and in the bathroom (when the opportunity arises). You can now pull up to standing very well and often will hold on with just one hand. You aren't "cruising" yet, but you can take a few steps along things if you really want. I am sure that you will be walking in just a couple of months.

You are eating new foods all the time. You had pancakes for the first time this month and LOVED them. You will eat bites of anything (even ice cream-I know, I am a bad mom) and you are so offended if we eat in front of you without offering you anything. You fuss for food more than anything else. You still love to nurse and are still waking up in the night to eat. Blah! The biggest reason for that has been because of teething, so once you get those top four teeth in, we are going to let you cry it out.

Speaking of teeth, you just cut your third tooth yesterday and have 3 more trying to break through as I write this. You seem to be in quite a lot of pain at night and wake often to be comforted.

You are a snuggler. You love to be held, rocked, sung to, patted, and shushed. But, you also can put yourself to sleep when need be. You just developed a love for receiving blankets and that is what you cuddle with at night and naptime. I love not being the only "pacifier" anymore. You have stopped nursing to sleep as frequently, which is nice, but you still find it very comforting to cuddle and nurse when you are tired, not feeling well, or hurt.

You are trying to communicate more and more and are adding lots of new sounds to your babbling. There have been no real words yet, but I am sure you will start talking soon. You also make this hilarious face by scrunching up your nose and breathing in and out of it really loudly. You do this when you are excited....which is actually pretty often.

You are still extremely content. You love to play and are very happy to play by yourself. You are rarely fussy unless you have a legitimate need. You are constantly happy and smiling and easy going. I love that about you. You are flexible with your nap schedule and so busy that you can go hours without sleeping and not make one fuss.

You are napping twice a day and sleeping about 11-12 hours at night (still waking anywhere from 0-3 times). I wish your nighttime sleep was more consistent, but I know that it will come in time and that you are waking because your mouth hurts.

You visited the beach for the first time this month and you loved the water and sand. You ate sand about 10 times in a row and didn't even act like it mattered to you one bit. You would crawl right to the water when we let you down and you didn't mind if the waves crashed in your face. It was great.

Nora, you are a delight. You have been such a wonderful addition to our family and I am so grateful to be your Momma.

Love,

Mom