8 months

Our baby girl is 8 months old and I can't believe it! She is getting so big and smart now. She is almost crawling--she gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. She can go backwards but not forward. She is much more interested in standing and pulling up on things. She can pull herself up but not for long which makes us very nervous.

She is starting nursery school next week and I am really excited to see how she does. She loves to watch babies and kids so school will be very entertaining for her. I am also happy that she is going because she is getting extremely spoiled!! Everything is about her right now and she knows it. She is very vocal when not getting her way or what she wants (she grunts very loud, it is not a pretty ladylike sound either). So I am sure at nursery school she won't be getting what she wants right away and maybe the grunting will stop?? Wishful thinking I am sure.

She has enough hair now to put a tiny little bow in (see above pic) and it doesn't bother her so you will be seeing that bow a lot now. Her daddy is in love with her and they watch sports together and she acts like she is interested. She is starting to want to do everything herself and is really into feeding herself. We took a video for you to see how her face lights up when we let her do it.

It didn't last

Alex pulled out her earrings and we couldn't get them back in. No damage was done, it was a clean pull. I told her that if she didn't let me put them back in that Daddy was not going to let her have earrings until she was 20 but she didn't care. She screams bloody murder when ever you touch her face, ears, gums, etc. She does not like to be messed with. I didn't think those suckers would be so hard to get back in but we tried for a whole day before we gave up.

Well, in other news-she is soooo good at sitting up now and can "scoot" around the room. It is at least her version of scooting (rolling and using furniture to push off of). She has gotten on all fours occasionally but doesn't know what to do from there. She loves to eat solids now and is losing all interest in the bottle. We are moving to second stage gerber foods this weekend and I am excited because they have combo foods like "squash and corn", "cherries and apples" and "garden vegetables". I can't wait to see Alex's face when she gets a mouthful of those.

She is not sleeping as well as she has in the past and I think that might be because of some teething issues or bedtime ritual issues. She wakes up once at night (around 2am) and then about half an hour early for her AM bottle (5:30am). This does not make a happy mommy or daddy. We were used to getting a full nights rest and then "bam" she changes it up. Holy toledo.

Any kind of change in her schedule is like the end of the world for her. Last Sunday we brought her to church which is right during her naptime and it screwed up the whole day and night for her. So we try to keep her to her nap schedule and food schedule but it is so difficult to get her to eat her bottle lately. She would eat green beans 15 times a day but her bottle is something that she wants to play with. I am trying sippy cups now and she just can't get the hang of it. I also tried a straw cup but she couldn't get the liquid all the way up. I could see it only go 1/4 of the straw. Poor baby girl.

Her next Dr appt is in Sept. and I am not looking forward to it because of the vaccines. She is old enough now to kind of know when bad stuff is about to happen and I really try to not get hyped up. It is just not in my powers to not get anxious. Here is a video of Alex squealing and putting her paci in her mouth.

June and July

We have been soooo busy with summer! Alex has been "swimming" in the pool. Basically that consists of her sitting in her float while Mommy and Daddy zoom her around the pool as she kicks like crazy. She is still doing good eating her solids but is not really liking the fruits. She LOVES green beans and squash, she likes peas, carrots and sweet potatoes, HATES bananas and tolerates peaches. She also has been spending a lot of time in her walker (see pic below) and hasn't quite figured it out yet. She thinks it is a jumper and will jump up and down when she first gets in.

Alex can now sit up on her own and can almost crawl. She rolls around the floor and can do it fast! She can't get into sitting position by herself but if you prop her up she can stay sitting for a long time. She doesn't have any teeth yet but I am sure they are coming soon because drooling and crankiness are increasing. Below is a video of her and her Daddy playing doggy.

She also saw her first parade on July 4th in her Gma and Gpa Masons neighborhood. It was a really good parade with lots of kids and animals dressed up. The fire engine at the front of the parade had their siren on and I thought it would scare her but she was fine. I don't think she was really that impressed at all the costumes but her Mommy was.

notice anything?

She got her ears pierced today! She only cried for a minute and was totally fine afterwards. She hasn't pulled on them yet or even figured out they are there so hopefully that won't happen. The only problem we had is Daddy got a little light headed and had to step out of the room before we even began! LOL! We had a choice between pearls or gold studs (they were out of the diamonds-of course) and we chose pearls. Now she will not be mistaken for a little boy anymore!! yeah! Alex is doing great and hopes you were all here to play with her.

6th month portraits

We got some portraits of our little chicken done and here are the pics! Check out the next blog for some info on what Alex is doing now!

6th month portraits

Here are some more portraits. These are the proofs from her session so when you see my arm that is cut out of the actual picture.

So much is changing with her and she is making so many new noises. She has really gotten the hang of eating solid food and you can't get it in her mouth fast enough. She is eating squash, green beans and peas; She likes all of these and we are starting carrots this weekend. She has also been in the pool a couple of times and kicks like crazy! I think we will definitely have a little tadpole pretty soon. She is trying so hard to sit up that it gets her frustrated. She doesn't quite have it yet. Andy has taught Alex how to open the mailbox and it is pretty much the highlight of her day. She gets so excited that she starts panting before they get to the street and she rips the mailbox lid open to get the mail inside. Then she proceeds to get it all slobbery by licking it. If only she could pay the bills instead of eating them.