8 Months Old

Our baby is already 8 months old!  We think she has grown a ton in the last month as all of a sudden none of her clothes fit her anymore.  She is at such a fun age to play with and interact with and we love seeing her sweet, silly personality coming out more and more.  We fall more in love with her every day and are so blessed to get to be her parents!  Some things I wanted to remember about this stage in Ella's life:

• She loves bath time.  I think she would stay in the bath all day if we let her.  She pounds with excitement on the side of the bath tub as the water is filling up and she loves splashing herself (and us!), playing with her bath toys, and sucking on a washcloth.
• While she's not crawling yet, she is close.  She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, can scoot backwards across the room, can turn 180 degrees, and can roll in all directions.  We need to baby proof our house very soon!
• She is sleeping 11-12 hours at night.  We are still so grateful that she is such a good sleeper/napper and don't take this for granted!
• She still hasn't cut her first tooth, but she is trying more solid foods and it's fun that she's now eating more "adult" food.  Along with her baby food, she now enjoys pieces of shredded chicken, cheerios, small pieces of fruit, toast, yogurt and (she loves) mum-mums.
• She can stand pretty stable while holding onto the couch/ottoman, etc.  She is fearless and has no problem letting go to test out her balancing skills :). 
• She is incredibly happy, all the time.  When we are at the grocery store, out to dinner, shopping, at play-dates, etc., people often comment on what a happy, smiley baby she is.  She loves finding a stranger to make eye contact with and smiling at them until they smile back.
• She is loud.  She is constantly squealing loudly in delight when something excites her, blabbing, giggling, growling, and talking to herself.
• She is a strong willed and determined little girl.  If there's something she wants, she makes it very clear.  She usually insists on going after the things she can't have (cell phones, tv remotes) and protests when they get taken away or moved out of reach.  When she gets a good grip on something she wants, it's tough to get it out of her hands.   
• She has been our little cuddle-bug lately.  While we were sleep training, we made it a point not to have her fall asleep on us because she had to learn to fall asleep on her own.  Now that she's gotten the sleep thing down, she will often take little cat naps on us or cuddle up and close her eyes for a few minutes before we put her down for a nap or to bed.   Love these special moments!

Love seeing this sweet face when she wakes up from a nap or in the morning...