8 months old

Evin turned 8 months old on November 20^th.  This is my favorite age so far!  Evin is just so happy and I love getting to watch her explore and grow.  She is such a sweet girl and is really an easy baby overall!

What she has been up to for the past month:

Weight:  15 lbs 3 oz  (10th %)

Length:  26 ¼ inches  (10-25th %)

Clothes:  6 month

Shoe Size:  1

Diaper Size:  2

Still taking 4 bottles a day of fortified breastmilk.  She takes about 5-6 ounces each bottle and typically eats around 8, 12, 4, and 8:30. 

She was finally ready to move to a medium flow nipple and it is so much better!  She took a short while to catch on to the faster flow, but she is doing great now and can take a bottle so much faster.

Eats 3 meals of solids a day.  She has oatmeal & fruit in the morning, rice cereal & a veggie at lunch, and rice cereal, a veggie & fruit at dinner.  This girl LOVES her solids.  Occasionally, she will have her little heart set on solids when I am offering a bottle, and she will refuse that until I give her solids.  I asked her pediatrician about it, and he said that she is a girl that knows what she wants, and to give her solids when it is obvious that she wants them.

She pretty much eats anything I offer, but her current favorites are:

Avocado

Pears

Blueberries

Mixed Veggies (peas, carrots, spinach or potatoes)

Sometimes she gets in a little “mood” and she wants to hold the spoon herself, which means pretty much nothing gets in her mouth.  I have gotten to where I will let her hold a spoon and I feed her using a different one.  It kind of tricks her into thinking she is feeding herself. ;)

She tried Puffs for the first time this month, but she didn’t love them.  She would gag every once in awhile, but would keep opening her mouth for more!

She also tried a few small bites of bread and cheese this month.  She liked them both, but isn’t entirely sure how to swallow food that isn’t pureed. 

When we eat she watches every bite we take and reaches for our food and drinks.  It won’t be long that we are sharing our meals with her!

Still no teeth!

Sleeps great in her crib at night!  She goes down between 9-10pm and wakes up between 8-9am.  Every once in awhile she will have a rough night and wake up, but she will go right back to sleep with her pacifier.

Usually takes 1 big nap and 1 short nap each day.

Rather than patting my face like she used to, she now likes to grab my face and neck when I am rocking her to sleep.  I would prefer to go back to the patting because, man, it hurts!  I have to tell her no and pull her hand away when she does it.

This month she really took off in development!  Her latest tricks:

Started rolling onto her tummy!  This has been a long time coming and Mitch and I were so excited when she finally did it at 7 months 1 week.  Now she is a pro and can roll to her tummy quickly!

Evin is now quite the big girl sitting on her own!  She started sitting up for 30 seconds at a time right around the time she turned 7 months.  Within a week she was sitting on her own.  Now she will sit for 30 minutes at a time playing with her toys.

Getting a little better at bearing weight on her legs when I try to stand her up, but she still prefers to sit.

Definitely reaches for people now.  She started doing this again last month after her surgery, but she has it perfected!  She also will decide to lean the other way if someone is holding her and she would rather stay with the person who is holding her.  Little stinker!

She started giving kisses and it is the cutest.  I received the first few (very wet) open mouth kisses, but now she will lean her head in for a kiss if family members pucker up.  It is funny because if I pucker up, she will lean in for me to kiss her mouth or cheek.  If Mitch puckers up she always leans in for him to kiss her forehead.  Maybe his prickly face bothers her mouth?  Whatever the reason, it is their “thing” and it’s adorable!

She learned how to play peek-a-boo this month.  She started off using a burp rag and would cover her face and pull it away.  Now, she will hold her hands up by her eyes without completely covering them to “hide” and then will pull them down and grin.

At 7 months 3 weeks she learned how to clap.  I am always clapping and saying “yay” when Evin does one of her tricks, so she learned to clap for herself too!  She also claps if she is excited about music.

She is better at sitting in her exersaucer and playing in her Johnny Jump Up.  Still isn’t great at independent play and prefers to have someone sitting right with her when she is playing.

Evin had her first big cold at 7 months 3 weeks and we are still fighting it.  She has a runny nose, congestion and a cough.  She wakes up congested and the phlegm usually causes her to throw up part or all of her first bottle.  2 days shy of her 8 month birthday I took her to the doctor for it and it had developed into an ear infection, definitely in 1 ear and probably in the other as well.  Poor girl!

She got her first Synagis shot this month and will get them monthly until March.

Still a great car rider.  Is usually content to suck on her paci, look in her mirror or play with a toy.  She also likes it when I sing to her in the car, but she is probably the only one… :/

I usually substitute teach a couple of days a week and she will either stay home with Mums or Mitch, if he is off work.  She does great for them, but they have both commented on how it can be hard to get much done because she when she is awake she really requires your attention!

At almost 8 months I took her bath seat out of the tub and bathed her while she just sat in the tub.  She liked it and did great!

Really starting to like toys.  Her favorites are:

Sophie Giraffe

Fisher Price Lights/Music Mirror

Push-top Ball Popper

Still loves to read, but wants to grab at the books now.

It is impossible to keep socks on her.  If they don’t fall off on their own, she is pulling them off.  After she has ripped it off, she automatically puts it in her mouth, getting it all wet so I can’t put it back on.  There are days that we go through 5 pairs of socks!

This little girl is growing up way too fast!  She is a complete blessing to our family and she makes my heart so full.  I can’t wait to see what the next month holds for her!