Mila is 8 Months!

Dear Mila,

Eight months already?! Where do I begin? You have grown so much!

The biggest change this month is how much you're standing! I think you'll be walking by the end of the month! I can't believe it! You stand so well and when you do it, you're so proud of yourself -- you move your little hands and wrists -- so cute! It looks like you're screwing in two lightbulbs really fast! Haha! You stand in your crib and your playpen all the time now. We even had to move the video monitor because you would stand and knock it over! But we're so proud of how well you're standing. :) You are even already trying to take small steps with assistance and you're a pro at furniture surfing, LOL! And when you're not standing/attempting to stand, you are crawling EVERYWHERE. I can hardly contain you. You just want to explore it all: the sofa, the bookshelf, the dining room chairs... I'm constantly chasing you down and bringing you back to the playmat. But you'll have none it of it - you just go back to trying to go where you're not supposed to. We're looking for a baby gate for you now... we need to keep you safe!

You're eating more solids now too. You're such a big girl! Foods you've tried include: banana, rice cereal, peas, carrots, avocado, prunes, applesauce, pears and sweet potato. You loved rice cereal, avocado and sweet potato from the start, you've grown to like banana, peas and pears, but prunes and carrots are a big NO! The jury's still out on applesauce.

You nurse all day, but at lunch you eat about two tablespoons of solids and then you nurse some more. We try to add a bit more each week, but at the same time we try not to go too fast since it seems to get you a bit constipated. :/ I know, I know, I'm sharing too much info... but you don't mind, right? :)

Along with eating, you're also biting! Ugh...it's awful. You don't do it too often, but when you do -- WOWEEEE it hurts! I think you might even be teething again, but not sure.

You are also showing to be the most curious little girl... everything that is not a toy is what you want to play with. If you have 20 toys in front of you and you see the camera, or the remote, or the phone, or even my shoes -- THAT is what you want. You want everything you can't have! You have to grab everything and it goes straight to your mouth. Honestly, it drives me a bit crazy! I'm can't take my eyes off you for a second!

Here's the perfect example... you have a ton of toys in front of you, but what you want to chew on is the strap from the stroller. I've given up trying to get you to play with your toys... if you want the strap, you can have it. And while you're at it, go ahead, put your feet up and make yourself comfortable. Nice life! LOL!

You new favorite thing to do is that you love to swat at everything, so any spinning toy is your new thing. You have an alphabet wheel that we call "The Wheel of Fortune" that you love to spin and spin and then you stare at it.... and then you slowly lean in and put your tongue on the spinning wheel - HILARIOUS! I've been trying to catch you on camera doing it, but you don't do it very often and when you do, I don't have the camera handy. But it cracks me up!

You're also discovering mirrors. I'm not sure if you realize that you're looking at yourself, but I do see that you look at me in the mirror and then you look back at me and laugh... as if to wonder, "If Mommy is over there... how is Mommy over here?" Haha! And you have a bunch of toys that have mirrors on them and you love to look at yourself and then put your tongue on the mirror. So funny!

And in case I haven't mentioned it or you haven't noticed in your pictures, your tongue is always out. Always. It's permanently out. I love it, although it means you slobber all over me all day long. Daddy likes to call them kisses. At night time during your bedtime routine, Daddy will read you your mirror book and on one page there's a frog or a mouse or a sun, and on the facing page there is a mirror. Whenever he turns the mirror to you so you can see yourself, you lean in with your tongue out and put your face up to the mirror, and "kiss" the mirror. You do this for every page, every night!! It's soooooooooooooo cute! I die laughing every time I watch you do this. :)

And speaking of sleep, you nap so much better now! You do an awesome 1-2 hour nap in the morning, an hour nap in the afternoon, and then a half hour in the early evening. (Just the last few months, you would only do three 30-minute naps! What a difference!) I'm usually nursing you by 10pm and then you'll nurse to sleep or I'll rock you to sleep and you're in bed by 10:30pm. You wake up 2 times, sometimes 3 times a night. But your day routine is sooo much better than it has been. I'm able to get so much done in the mornings! Yay! Slowly but surely!

Now, onto things that are not so cute... (which aren't too many because you really make almost anything cute!) your separation anxiety is clear now. I can barely run to the bathroom without you protesting! You're not so easily passed on to other people and you always want me to hold you. It's so sweet, but at the same time it's exhausting when I can barely take a shower or make some dinner! When Daddy's home though, he does a great job of keeping you entertained, so I usually wait to do things after he's home or while you're taking a nap.

You're also very wriggly. You squirm during all diaper changes. So much so, that I'm actually using the belt from the changing pad to strap you in. And to think I scoffed at it when we bought it: "Who actually uses that?" I thought. Now I understand! If you're not strapped in, you will literally attempt to crawl away from me in the middle of a diaper change - diaper or no diaper! And poopoo or no poopoo!!! ACK!

So that's what was going on in your 8th month. Now we're onto the 9th... I honestly can't believe how big you've gotten in such a short amount of time. It seems like yesterday you were just born and now we're just a few months away from... your first birthday! Eeek! I'm already starting to think of what fun things we can do, because -- I hate to say it: I know it will be here before we know it! 

I love you my chunky little monkey Milaroni Macaroni!

Your Mommy