Tenley Louise || 8 Months Old

Sweet Loulie Girl, EIGHT months old?!?  Oh my heart.

I have to start off this update talking about how much of a mover and a shaker you are!  Tenley Girl, YOU ARE CRAWLING!  Full fledged FAST crawling!  No more inchworm or army crawl, you are up on your hands and knees (sometimes feet!!) crawling.  You get around very easily and because of this you are now off exploring your world.  I find you all the way back in my bedroom no less than twice a day.  You have to pass your bedroom and Tate's to get there but for some reason neither of them are nearly as exciting as mine in your mind.  You really like crawling through the kitchen to the mud room where all of the (dirty) shoes are.  I am *thisclose* to getting the baby gates back out but am trying to hold off as long as possible because hurdling over those things again does not sound like any fun.

Add to this list of 'moving activities' is the fact that you can now PULL YOURSELF UP!!!  Okay, Little Girl, you REALLY didn't have to start this fun trick quite so early!  At 7 1/2  months I think that's a record that beats out all 3 of your brothers!  You are so proud of yourself for figuring this out. It started with you using me to pull yourself up to stand while we were playing on the floor one day.  Then you grabbed the cushion on the couch and pulled yourself up. And now I find you in your crib standing about half of the times I go in to get your from your naps.  Sweet Girl, why are you in such a hurry to grow up?

You are curious about mouths now.  I'm not sure if it's the teeth you see, the tongue moving in there or the way the lips move.  You stick out your tiny little pointer finger and gingerly touch my mouth while staring at it.  Then you'll all of a sudden look up into my eyes and smile the cutest, silliest smile at me!

Speaking of silly smiles...

Your scrunchy face smile has me all kinds of mushy!  I don't know where you learned it from but oh my does it make my heart happy!

You are a pro at sleeping with the exception of one week about 2 weeks ago.  You just couldn't (wouldn't?) fall asleep at nap time.  You would cry so hard, almost like you were in pain, which made me think your teeth were finally popping through.  No teeth yet so I'm ruling that out.  I'm so glad it only lasted a week.  You are back to laying down, snuggling into your soft pink and white blankie, and going right to sleep.  You love that blankie, by the way, and it's so sweet to see you love on it like you do.  You still take a pacifier - your big brother Tate calls it your 'fire' - and because it's a 'baby thing' I'm in no hurry to take it away from you.  Will you be our one and only baby who gets to keep it through toddlerhood?  Time will tell. :)  Speaking of sleeping, you take a nap at 9 and 1 every single day, those usually last about 2 hours.  Some evenings you take a nap but with Aiden's 4H sheep keeping up busy in the evenings those naps are hit or miss anymore.  You might snooze in the truck on the way there or back or you might not.  Depending on that evening nap you might go to sleep at 8 or not until closer to 9.  You have been sleeping until close to 7 in the mornings, I love that!

Loulie Taloulie, you eat very well.  Last month I said you actually liked peas (shocker!) but I spoke too soon.  The next package of peas I fed you made you gag (that a girl!).  Now those are out of the rotation.  :)  But, you seem to enjoy everything else!  I have started feeding you Stage 2 Gerber baby foods.  You eat a fruit for breakfast, a veggie for supper and lunch is one or the other.  With a meal you take a 4oz. bottle.  In between meals you take a 6oz. bottle.  You don't require a bottle to fall asleep but most evenings take one sometime between supper and bedtime.  You have tried Gerber Puffs and Yogurt Melts and really like both but Daddy put the ca-bosh on the Yogurt Melts for the time being because you started to gag on one and it scared him.

Speaking of Daddy, he dotes on you like no other!  But Mommy is the one you 'need' to comfort you when you are crying.  It takes the tiniest tap for you to start crying like your finger has been cut off, and I must say its the cutest thing I've ever seen!  Girl, you are EMOTIONAL!!!  You come by that honestly and your poor daddy has his hands full with the two of us, ha ha!  When you cry you drop the biggest, sweetest tears!  Your pretty little eyes get all red and puffy and you are ADORABLE!  No mommy wants to see their baby crying or sad but if they are going to cry then it should be done as cutely as you do it!

You LOVE your big brothers.  Like, totally idolize them - love them!  But boy do you get ticked off when Tatie Tot tries slowing you down!  He wants to snuggle with you and you are way over that - you have places to go, things to explore!  Aiden and Brennan rescue you from big bad foes (dish soap under the kitchen sink since you know how to open cabinet doors now) and know just where to tickle you to get you to giggle.  Tate holds the trophy for making you really laugh out loud, though.  He was making funny grunting noises at the table and boy did you LOVE that!  Him making you laugh made us all laugh, too!

You are such a laid back baby, for the most part.  We drag you from one big brother activity to another and you take it all in stride.  If it wasn't such a pain finding a parking spot for the stroller I'd just take you with us next week to the fair because I know you'd do just fine watching Aiden show his sheep.  You really like those sheep, by the way.  You sit in your Go-Pod and watch us practice with them.  Every time we walk past you just smile and clap - I think you think it's your own personal parade going by!

One of the best milestones you've met so far is giving kisses when I ask for them.  It started a month or more ago with your baby dolls.  I would hold them in front of you and tell you to give them a kiss.  You'd open your cute little mouth and lean in to them.  Oh my heart!!!  So a couple weeks ago I asked you to give Mommy a kiss -- and you did!!!  And so now I ask for them all the time!  Big open mouthed wet baby kisses, my favorite!  Even more my favorite?  When you lean in and give me one without being asked!

Here are your monthly stats (weight and height done at home)
Weight: 18.6 lbs
Height: 27 1/2" (ish)
Diaper Size: 2, Huggies or Pampers
Clothing Size: Well, this is all over the place!  3-6m shorts, and those fall off your tiny little princess waist!  Shirts and dresses, 6-9m with a couple of 12mo items thrown in.  Your 6-9mo jelly sandals (squee!!) are finally staying on your little feet and your toes don't pop out the middle of them quite as much.  :)

Happy 8 Month Birthday, sweet baby of mine!