8 months old

Yep, today is the 27th. That means little Laura is 8 months old.

*She has mastered crawling. Zooms right out of her room and down the hallway. Where is that baby gate for the stairs? Where are the outlet plugs? Yeah, definitely time to babyproof!

*She still has no teeth, although there is a lot of drool lately.

*She experiments more and more with her voice every day. The past few days it's been this gurgly sound in her throat like she's growling...but gurgly. Very cute.

*She actually falls asleep on her own about 2 nights out of the week...either because she either doesn't need to or want to nurse before bed. She'll just take the pacifier and I lie her in the crib and she goes to sleep. That's wonderful! IF she cries when I put her down...it's no longer than 10 minutes. Same with her naps at home.

*Naps are like this typically: 30-45 minute morning nap around 9am. one-2 hour nap in the afternoon starting anywhere from noon-1ish. If we're home, she is pretty much on that schedule. Traveling throws her off and she tries so hard to do well, but she does so much better if she gets her naps. Sometimes at daycare she follows that nap schedule, but a lot of days her sleep there is interrupted. Wouldn't yours be too if you were trying to sleep with kids all around you? At daycare, she still naps in the baby bouncer (yes, she's way too big for it, but she YELLS forever in her pack-n-play. Lynne said that this summer Laura will be in the pack-n-play for naps and that she'll HAVE to get used to it... Summer will be a good transition time becuase the other boy who is upstairs during nap time doesn't come in the summer...so, Laura will be able to fuss longer and not disturb everyone.

*Overnights are still cut up... she goes to bed at 6:30-7 still and is up anywhere between 8:45-10 to eat. (8:45 if she chose not to nurse before falling to sleep)... I feed her then and it buys me typically 4 hours. Then she's out for another 4 hours...then morning. So we're down to her being up 2 times after I go to bed. I'll take it - much better than a few months back!

*She is drinking just 12 ounces at daycare still.

*Not that she eats a big quantity, but she eats a good variety and seems to enjoy most of it! Haven't found anything she hates yet. Here's our list so far:
Veggies:
avacado, asparagus, carrots, broccoli, cawliflower, peas, sweet potato, pumpkin
Fruits:
pears, applesauce, blueberry applesauce, watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, mango, banana
Cereals: cheerios, rice, barley, oatmeal
Puffs: apple/strawberry gerber puffs, banana puffs
Proteins: baked beans!
I'm sure I'm forgetting something on that list!
She'll have about 1/8 cup cereal with milk and about 1/2 ounce of fruit for breakfast and 1/8 cup cereal with milk and 1 ice cube sized hunk of veggie for dinner... we try to give her more, but she's not interested after that.

*She is solidly in 9 month clothing, but a bunch of her 12 month stuff fits well too.

*She is in her big girl carseat in the truck and the van. (yeah, did you catch that?...) We got a minivan today. Traded in my Pontiac Vibe.

*She waves ... but not really on command or at the "right" time.

*She can pick up her cheerios one at a time...quite often between her forefinger and thumb. She puts the cheerios in her mouth, but doesn't know how to let go of it in her mouth yet!

*Her hair is starting to grow back in! Yay! Maybe by the time she's 1 she won't be bald in the back anymore :)

*She is no longer in size 1 shoes...I'm not sure if she's in size 2 or 3 right now... I have a couple size 3's and 1 pair fits, the others are too big. We don't have any size 2 shoes. Usually she just wears socks.

*She loves to sit with a basket full of goodies (toys) and empty the basket. Mommy fills it back up. She empties it again. Repeat for lots of fun.

*She is still in the "I want my mommy" phase. DOn't see a real clear end to that one anytime soon, but that's okay (with me)... not so sure Grandmas and Grandpas are enjoying that phase though.

*She poses for pictures. I have tried and tried to get candids of her enjoying her toys, but she more often than not will stop what she was doing and look at me. What a ham!

I think that's it for now...if I think of more, I'll add them. Have pictures, but haven't downloaded them yet.