Little Stinker

Tuesday night Graecyn was having a hard time falling asleep.  I was watching her roll around the crib and listening to her chat away on the monitor.  Before I knew it, she was propped up on her knees, leaning over the railing.  I have never run so fast in my life to get upstairs!  Fortunately, I made it upstairs in time and was able to get her to fall asleep without anymore climbing.



Eric lowered her crib the next day and it's a good thing he did, because this is what we witnessed during her nap today...standing up!  She's been pulling up to standing for awhile now, but never while in her crib...I guess it was only a matter of time.

Our cute little stinker!

End of Summer Fun

With fall just around the corner, we're making the most of the last few days of summer.  The weather has been gorgeous with warm, sunny days and cool nights.  I'm looking forward to seeing the leaves change color, but hate to see the warm weather go away...especially with as much as Graecyn enjoys to be outside.  I'm dreading having to bundle her up everyday to leave the house.

We brought this push car back to Michigan with us from Iowa.  It was one of Colton's favorites to ride at the farm, but now that he's a bit too big for it, Mom thought Graecyn might have fun riding in it.  She was right...Graecyn absolutely loves it.  We've started feeding Graecyn her supper a little bit earlier just so we have enough time for her to ride in her car before bed.  She's a natural driver...she puts both hands on the wheel and just sits back and looks around.  Occasionally she'll take one hand off the wheel and prop her elbow on the side of the car and lay back...it's so funny (of course I haven't been able to get a good picture of her doing it).

Bundled up for our morning jog.

Enjoying some of Mama's apple

Getting into the dishwasher...her new game.

Riding in the shopping cart like a big girl.

 

Pulling herself up all the time now...and even starting to take little steps.

8 Months!

Graecyn is 8 months old already!  She is learning new things every day and it is so much fun to watch her explore and learn.

She's still army crawling and will occasionally get on her knees, rock back and forth, but then drop back to her belly and pull herself around.  She can now go from crawling to sitting and vice versa without any problems.  She can climb up and down stairs (well, at least up and down 1 stair).  She'll lay on her stomach and tap her foot...like she's plotting her next move. She has started to grab a hold of everything within her reach...usually with a death grip that is next to impossible to release (it's amazing the amount of strength she has).  And...she LOVES to open and close doors.  When I'm getting ready for work in the mornings, she'll crawl over to the bathroom door and just start pushing it back and forth, open and closed.  We have to be careful that she a) doesn't smash her fingers (the thought of that happening makes me cringe) and b) doesn't lock us out - she pulls the door open so forcefully that it slams against the wall and pushes the lock in!

She's very observant and when in a new place or around new people, she'll just calmly look around and take the new sights in.  She has recently started to be clingy and a bit shy around people she doesn't know.  She is also going through a mama phase right now where she is preferring me over Eric, which makes Eric a little sad.

She has learned to blow bubbles with her mouth/tongue and does it without moving her lips...it's quite interesting to watch.  She pulls herself up to (almost) standing.  She also has mastered the art of sticking her big toe in our belly buttons when we hold her (no matter what position we're holding her in)...it's funny, but annoying and uncomfortable at the same time.  She loves to jump up and down and babbles constantly (mainly saying "da-da-da-da").

She doesn't go back to the doctor until the end of September, so we're not sure what her weight/length are right now, but we're guessing she weighs close to 16 pounds.  We don't think she's gained much weight since last month, primarily because she's been going through a phase lately where she doesn't want to drink her bottle and sometimes doesn't want to nurse.  I think it's that she just doesn't want to sit still long enough to finish the bottle.  She still has no teeth and is not showing any signs of teething (unless this is part of the teething phase).  She's eating her solids well and we've added peaches, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and Greek yogurt to her diet.  She's still napping well, taking 2-3 naps each day for 1-3 hours each, but is not sleeping as well at night.  She's been waking up at least once (sometimes twice) a night for the past 3 weeks.  I'll get up, nurse her for 15-20 minutes and then she falls right back asleep.  We're trying to get more food in her throughout the day to hopefully keep her from waking in the night.

Overall, she's a very happy and a very active baby.  It's getting harder and harder to capture her monthly picture...as you can see from the pictures below.

ooh...paper!

I like the noise it makes when I crinkle the paper

let me just get a little taste

but Mama, why can't I eat the paper?

Let's try this again without the paper

ooh...let me just feel the chalk board

How about I eat Mama's camera strap instead.

But Mama, why can't I eat your camera strap while you try to take my picture?

 

Date Night

Eric and I had our first date night in almost 8 months.  We celebrated our 6 year anniversary yesterday with dinner out at a nice local restaurant.  We were nervous and hesitant to leave Graecyn home with a babysitter, but fortunately we have great friends from church that we can trust her with.  We had a nice time and enjoyed great food and good conversation (even though most of it centered around Graecyn).  Graecyn did very well with her babysitter and we came home to a happy, smiling baby.