Baby E at 8 Months

Umm how is she already 8 months old?! I swear it's been maybe two months since she was born. Time is flying by too quickly!

Her current stats: 

• Weight: 19.5 lbs.
• Height: 28 inches
• Diaper Size: She recently moved up to Size 3.
• Clothing Size: She's still in 3-6 Months clothes but almost too tall for most of them.
• Likes: Eating, talking, crawling everywhere, climbing up everything, pretending she's two years older than she really is.
• Dislikes: Having her nose wiped, being expected to lay still during a diaper change.

She thinks she's a two-year-old stuck in a baby's body. She wants to be eating real foods just like the rest of the family. She has been so good at chewing even before getting her two bottom teeth. Now, she thinks she's practically unstoppable... until she chokes! She's given us a couple scares but just keeps trying. Her determination to be a big kid is admirable!

Luckily for her, mom and dad like sharing their food {and yes, you guessed it, big brother does not always like sharing his!} so she has been able to try quite the variety of food. She officially loves french fries and chocolate like her mommy and pizza like her dad! She has tried tomatoes, which are A's favorite food, but she definitely doesn't like them as much as she likes other fruits and veggies.

She is becoming so talkative and loves jabbering away—particularly when she's tired and is trying to fall asleep. She also loves trying to copy A when he's talking... and he enjoys copying her in return but much louder, which tends to escalate to a lot of yelling in only a matter of seconds! Although she used to say "mom-mom-mom" {not in association with me, but just the sounds}, she seems to have abandoned that for her new favorite word, "dad-dad-dad." As long as she doesn't start to say "dad" anytime I ask her to say "mom," I'll be okay with it. She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger so it does seem fitting that she loves to talk about him too. 

Although we call her our princess, she is a tough, adventurous little baby. She is climbing up on everything, has figured out how to go up stairs {and yes, may or may not have fallen down a couple of steps once or twice}, constantly stands and tries to walk along furniture and toys. Our house is 10x more baby-proofed than it ever was been before and that is still barely stopping her from her explorations.

She absolutely loves her big brother and wants to be with him constantly—which I'm sure motivates her willingness to climb, run, and chase anywhere he goes. They are adorable when they are playing together {and they definitely have plenty of moments when they act more like archenemies, as you can see in one of the pictures below...} Although there is tons of energy, playing, wrestling, fighting, screaming, and giggling, I feel so lucky to be their mom and love watching them learn how to be friends.

Because she was was so uncomfortable while colicky and then became mobile so quickly, I feel like she has never been a snuggly baby. Now that she's completely figured out how to get around and go anywhere she wants, she likes to come to us and climb on our laps to be held. I love getting to interact with her in my arms all the time now!

She always wants to be everywhere that we are. She and A are cute little friends but they tend to already fight a lot because she is able to get almost anywhere that he is and wants to play with whatever he has. She also likes following me into the kitchen when I'm trying to cook and clean. She likes to pull herself up on the cupboards and thinks she's a fabulous helper with the dishes!

A reason for seeming so big now is that she has upgraded into a big kid carseat. And she loves it!! She is so content now that she can see the same things A is looking at and just stares out the window at everything while we drive.

She has also become Queen of the Shopping Cart now that she doesn't have her carrier carseat anymore. A is not too thrilled about having to walk everywhere but luckily we do the majority of our shopping at Costco where the carts are gigantic and have two seats! They get along surprisingly well sitting side by side... probably because they always tend to behave better in public than they do at home!

She absolutely loves going on walks and does her gasp/screech giggle almost non-stop along the way. She and A also love swinging together in our backyard. They are content to swing forever just giggling and squealing. It is so cute and a relaxing break to just sit together outside. Even though it's been a mild winter, I'm so excited for warmer weather to come! 

Speaking of the weather, we have only gotten a couple big storms with enough snow to stick to the ground. One was just about a week ago and now that E is crawling, she was absolutely fascinated by all the cold white fluff on the pokey green stuff. At first I couldn't tell if she hated it, but once she saw A doing it then she wanted to play too because she loves everything her big brother loves!

Her hair is a lot lighter than A's and we are still holding out hope that she might be a blonde. It has all grown in the same length and is so cute and fluffy right after a bath.

She is such a fun, spunky baby. I am so grateful she is part of our family and makes us laugh every day. I have no idea what we did to be lucky enough to deserve this cute little girl!