8 months!

Miss Elizabeth is now 8 months!!  This is such a fun and sweet age.... AND it's starting to get challenging as we face the new world of mobility.  Diaper changes are HARD.  There is no more just setting them done for a second because they aren't going anywhere.  All those little toys of Carson's are now potentially deadly because anything and everything in reach goes directly in the mouth.  Everything's been going in the mouth for a while, but now she can get just about anything in the room with a little army crawling and pulling up.

In terms of milestones or new skills, she's still army crawling, but she can certainly get where she needs to go.  She's also started pulling up.  She tries a lot and is starting to succeed more often, especially when she's got good stuff to grip on.  Her crib and the music table are the most common.  She definitely has it down in her crib!  And yes, we have lowered her mattress!

Food-wise, she's regularly been eating baby food at lunch and dinner. I'm trying to do breakfast too, but it doesn't happen often at home.  My fault.  It's crazy in the AM.  She usually will just eat 1-2 containers at dinner and 1 at lunch.  She enjoys it but certainly doesn't put down nearly as much as Carson did.  He was also a lot bigger.  She's only about 18 pounds.  He was 20-21 lbs. at 6 months! She is long though.  She has been pretty true to size with her clothes.  She's in mostly 6-9 month stuff and even still some 3-6 months, as long as it isn't a one piece.   We also just let her try Mum Mums and she seems to like them and being in charge of her own eating.

 

Elizabeth is still sleeping great most of the time.  She's woken up a few nights lately because she's not felt great, but most days she'll sleep from 7:30/8 to 7/7:30.  School naps aren't great.  She'll usually take 2-3, but most of the time they are only 30-45 minutes.  Any time she sleeps more than an hour, they are quick to point out that she took a "great nap."  When we're at home on the weekends, she usually sleeps at least 1.5 hours, often 2+.  When I picked her up from school on Thursday, she slept 3 hours at home!

She's had a little bit of a rough time lately.  She had a sinus infection, then developed thrush from the antibiotics, then a yeast rash from the thrush/antibiotics, then the flu and an ear infection, and continued to fight the yeast rash because of the antibiotics.  Thursday the school called because they thought she had chicken pox.  Yes, chicken pox.  Kids RARELY get that anymore because they are vaccinated against it.  Anyways, thank goodness it wasn't chicken pox.  I suspected she had gotten a bunch of mosquito bites the night before because we were all outside and she was just in a diaper (it was HOT).  I told them that when I dropped her off in the AM, but they thought they were spreading.  Again, the doctor said that she was fine.  I think they thought I was a little crazy, but again, I had to get the okay from a doctor before she could go back to school.  Better safe than sorry!

She still enjoys nursing, especially at night.  It really does calm her down.  She does NOT like taking medicine, so we've had to do the meds in her bottle to get it down without torturing her.  She LOVES to spit medicine or food she doesn't want right back at you.

She is just SO happy and will give just about anyone a smile.  She definitely has her time where she wants her momma, but she's usually happy to hang out and be held by anyone.  She loves to be outside and also just likes to be anywhere that she can observe stuff happening.  Her big brother is definitely her favorite entertainment.  He can always make her laugh, way more than anyone else can.  They LOVE bath time together!  She just splashes and laughs and laughs!!  I love it (even though they make a HUGE mess)!  Speaking of bath time... I know she'll kill me when she's a teenager, but she seems to have a thing for pooping in the tub.  There are often "evacuations" mid-bath!  YUCK.

She's said "ma ma" and "da da" but that's it. Last night she acted like she was trying to repeat "doggie"... she wasn't quite there, but it did seem like she was trying.  She sometimes acts like she's intentionally waving, but I'm not going to give her credit for that quite yet.  :-)

Elizabeth just continues to be such a joy and sweeter by the day!!  We love you!!!