8 months

It can be a little hard to get a good DIY photo of yourself and a squirmy 8 month old. Boy is this kiddo active!

Speaking of being 8 months... I know I'm really behind on my monthly update. I've been meaning to upload the pics from my camera but I just keep forgetting or never have the time. So we'll just use iphone pics for now and I'll throw in the "official" 8 month pics when I can get them. Deal? Deal.

Here we go..

Sleep: Still the same unpredictable routine. I suppose that's an oxymoron right? The teething has settled down (this week anyway) and I think that helps with the sleeping. When the next tooth comes in we'll be back to getting up in the middle of the night for a cuddle and bottle. I'm trying to get her to bed a little earlier to avoid the meltdown that used to happen every night and I think that's starting to help. I used to wait until she let me know she was sleepy before we started getting ready for bed but now I start our wind down routine a little earlier and I think that makes things a lot easier on all of us. Our routine is:

1) Take Darby into her room where I already have the lamp on and noise machine running.

2) I put her on the changing table and sing to her while I change her diaper and put her in her pjs.

3) "We" read a short book while she's still sitting on the changing table. Her books are on a shelf next to the table and she usually grabs at them while I'm changing her. Sometimes I'll give her one to play with while I snap up her pjs.

4) I turn off the lamp, turn on the projector that's on the sound machine, shut the door and play our bedtime music. Darby has a toy, Violet , that she got for Christmas from Aunt Amber and it can be set to play 2, 5 or 10 min of music. I always go for the 10.

5) Then we sit in the rocking chair, have a bottle and rock until she falls asleep.

6) When I can tell Darby's definitely asleep, I get up and put her in her crib. Then I get to relax and unwind. :-)

I should also note that before I take Darb into her room I make the bottle and have it sitting by the chair and I get the noise machine turned on so it's going when we come in the room. If she watches me make the bottle she will have to have it right away and I don't like to give it to her until we are in the chair and rocking. I wish I could break that bottle at bedtime habit but it is working right now so I'm not gonna stress about it just yet.

Teeth: Darby now has three teeth! Last month I had a feeling there was another one about to come thru on top and sure enough it did. To get some relief Darby has started chewing on things like crib rails and edges of table tops and high chairs. Gross! I searched on Pinterest for crib rail guards and found where someone had the idea to used fleece and tie it on the rail itself. I'm not much of a sewer so this looked like my kind of project. So far so good! She still chews on the rail but now I don't have to worry about her marking up the rail or getting bits of paint in her mouth.

Clothing: We're still in the 6-9 month range. There are some 6 month items she can still wear as long as they aren't too short. I don't know if Darby really knows what her closet is but if I'm holding her when I open her closet door she gets a big grin on her face and giggles.

Feeding: Not much has changed from last month. We're starting to introduce more small bites of some table foods like small bits of soft noodles and of course mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes. The only sippy cups she will drink out of are ones with straws and we took a break on the juice because she kept refusing it every time it was in front of her. We may try offering it again in a week or so to see if she's changed her mind. Right now she only drinks water and formula. All kinds of jarred baby food is good with the exception of banana. She liked cantaloupe but hated watermelon.

On the move: Darby is crawling like a champ and getting faster every day. She always wants to have a toy or something in one hand while she is crawling. Tony says that he was that way as a baby too. She's pulling up on to things other than the sides of her crib and pack-n-play. You know.. like chairs, couches, the highchair legs, the sides of the exersaucer, our legs, the dog... anything really. Mom was beside herself last night because Darby pulled up and stood next to the couch and then walked along the side of the couch (while holding on with both hands) to get to where Penny was. She's not walking yet but it's getting pretty scary how close she's getting. BTW - I've already started rearranging the living room and we're shopping for a new "childproof" entertainment center. Oh - and the walker that is at Mom's house... Darby loves it now. I even took her outside in the driveway at Mom's and let her literally run around. She scratched her toe but didn't get upset about it.

Other milestones: Darby is chatting up a storm! She's been able to say mama for a while but now she uses all forms of mom, mommy and mama. Her other favorite words are dada, bye bye, paw paw and hi. Sometimes she can get out Elmo (don't ask) and she said Nanny the other night. But I think it was because she heard her cousins calling Aunt Charlotte "Nanny". There's lots of other sounds and made up words that she uses, like bobbo, but we don't know what they all mean yet. Sunday night she wouldn't stop talking about bobbo and Elmo. Tony suggested that maybe bobbo is her imaginary friend, lol. Darby started giving us little high fives last month and now she can sort of wave and clap her hands a little.

So that's all I have to update for now. Our little sweet pea goes for her next doc visit in August so then we'll know just how much more she's grown. Our lil baby is getting so big!