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?