eight months

Our little lady is 8 months old today!  It feels like she changed so much lately. This month we had to lower her crib to the lowest setting, she learned how to blow raspberries (she mimics us when we do it), and she sings along to her favorite nursery rhyme toy.  She's pulling herself up on everything, crawls half-standing, says 'da-da', and is just an absolute joy each and every day.

I'm happy to report that after 5 days of an inhaler and medicine for RSV at the beginning of the month, Allie has been perfectly healthy this month. She officially has 2 bottom teeth and she's constantly gnawing on something so I don't think it will be long before more push through.

Allie is wearing 6-12 month onesies and pants.  Size 3 diapers.  9 month PJs.  A couple of days ago, we both agreed that she has gotten leaner lately.  I think being so active is making her lose some baby pudge. 

Allie's beloved teething toy has gone missing but I luckily found a very similar silicone toy in San Francisco that seems to suffice.  (Update: I found the toy under the bed in a certain dog's mouth.  A replacement has been ordered.)

She loves sorting through things like our laundry, the magazine basket, her shoes and her toy bucket.  She'll be entertained for 15-20 minutes at a time...just sitting there...pulling things out, pulling things apart, trying to eat things...  She also is loving the spring door stops around the house.  I can sneak away for a quick second and know she's still in the same spot because the sound reverberates through the house.

Carson's mom stayed with us for a week and helped Allie recover from RSV.  I think it was really good for Allie to be at home that week and get 100% better and we are so thankful that Laurie was able to come stay with us.  

At daycare, they're trying to phase her out of her 3rd nap of the day.  She typically takes a short catnap and I really don't want her to drop it just yet.  If she doesn't take it, by the time I get her home and fed, she's absolutely exhausted and I don't get to spend hardly any time with her.  If she does take that 3rd nap, she still has enough energy to play around with us for about an hour after we get home.  Her schedule didn't change much from last month.  She is in bed every night by 7 and she wakes up between 6-7.  She nurses 4-5 times each day during the weekend and gets 2-3 meals.  We just recently introduced her to puffs and started giving her more of our food, like crackers and yogurt.

I almost ran completely out of milk in the freezer earlier this month when Allie was sick.  Around that same time, I got sick and everything just tanked.  I started eating steel cut oats every morning and had mother's milk tea for a couple of nights and noticed a big difference.  After our weekend in San Francisco, I still haven't gotten back up to where I was.  I'm hoping I can continue adding to the freezer stash these next couple of weeks so that I won't have to introduce formula when Carson and I are in Portland in May.

Lately I'm realize that I need to work on how I ask things and how I approach different situations especially when talking to/dealing with other mothers.  Sometimes genuine curiosity seems to come out as thought I think my child is better.  Nobody wants to be that person.