Taylor Joy - Eight Months Old

Hey guys, check it out... we have an eight month old! She's loud and silly and as determined as can be. Every single day she does something that reminds me more and more of her older brother and sister. This baby girl's personality is blossoming. 

 You may notice Taylor's shirt is stained in these pictures. Yes, indeed. This is due to the carrots that she knocked all over herself when she was adamantly shaking her hands and head to send me a very clear message that she was all done with eating said carrots. I would have changed her to wash the onesie, but changing this babe is kind of like wrestling a wild alligator. So alas, we baby-wiped that carrot mess and opted for the 8 month photo shoot anyways. 

Also, did you notice the cute little chompers in the picture above? The two bottom teeth are growing so quickly and the first upper tooth broke through on the day she turned 8 months. The tooth break through coincided with a return to sleeping through the night again! Hooray!!!

 Oh, this girl! She is not quite crawling yet. She sits up comfortably and can go from laying down to sitting up on her own. When she's sitting up, she lunges far forward with one leg out in front. She is getting so close to crawling. But even though she's not crawling, that doesn't stop her from getting everywhere she wants to now. She is very strategic about rolling or scooting herself right where we hope she will not go. It's definitely time to lock the Legos away and start baby proofing the house. 

Taylor's smile and bright eyes light up an entire room. She also has the cutest little babble voice. She's constantly saying da da da da... or na na na na. She's starting to mimic more. Or if she makes a noise like clicking her tongue and you do it back to her, she thinks it's hilarious! 

Taylor is still primarily drinking only breast milk in bottles. There have been a few times where my supply wasn't keeping up and I supplemented with formula. But I can count those times on my hand. So grateful that I'm still able to pump enough for her most of the time. She eats all of her solids easily and has really fallen in love with puffs and mum mum bars. 

Taylor is wearing 9 or 6-12 month clothing. She is long and lean. 78th percentile in height and only 12th percentile in weight at her most recent doctor's appointment. She is still wearing her size 2 diapers but is definitely ready to graduate to threes when this current pack is depleted. 

This month she has definitely developed eyes for and a curiosity about Molly. She's always reaching out to grab onto her tail or legs or to joyfully pat her on her sides. Molly's not too keen on the interactions. Poor pup. I swear she looks at me with her tired eyes as if to say, Did you really have to have another one? She is such a good and patient dog. 

We packed away the swing this month and dusted off all sorts of new (to Taylor) baby toys. Her favorite thing to do is to sit and play with toys and roam freely around the room. She strategically holds her legs up in a sitting position when we try to put her in her jumpy or little car. She's an independent little gal just like her big sister. 

Taylor Joy, 

You have really come into your own this month and I have loved watching every bit of it. You are still our easy going, happy girl but I also see a new side of your fierce determination. You love to snuggle with your brother or sister and always enjoy being held by your friends and family. You have fallen into an awesome routine schedule now that you are with Ms. Krista. Coming home to your happy eyes and great, big smile every afternoon is the absolute best! You fill our lives with so much joy, Baby Girl. 

Love you soooo much, 

Mom

8 Months

Emmerson Grace turned 8 months old last week. And her big brother turned THREE! Can you hear my mommy sobs from there?! How are our babies getting so big?! 

Miss Em has had another wonderful month. The biggest change in development this month has been her personality. She is such a determined little thing! I see it most when she's playing with Donovan. She wants whatever he's playing with so badly and she just won't give up until she gets it. She also laughs like crazy now. She's starting to enjoy peek-a-boo or when we hide from her and then sneak up and say "boo!" She laughs at just about everything. Her biggest chuckles always come from Donovan though. Sometimes he'll dance around her and sing some non-sense song and she will laugh SO hard she can barely breathe. It makes us all crack up!

 As far as her milestones go, this little peanut isn't going anywhere. She is just content to sit and watch everything around her. She has discovered that if she wants something that's not within reach, she can lay back down and roll clear across the room to go get it. She also lunges way forward like she might want to forward crawl… eventually, but it doesn't look like it's coming anytime in the near future. 

She has learned to pick up tiny things with her fingers. She's starting to feed herself puffs and pick up the littlest pieces of trash that she finds on the carpet. Emmerson talks to herself often and likes to engage in "conversations" with you. Just this week she started to do this thing where if you shake your head no, she'll do it right back to you and laugh. She is also very proud of herself when she claps. 

 She has two big bottom teeth now and it looks like the top two are going to be coming in very soon. She's a pretty easy teether but you can tell when she's hurting because she'll just chew on her bottle, chew on her fingers, and drool like crazy. Otherwise, she's as happy as can be. She eats solids three times a day and likes to eat just about everything we've given her. I am still mainly giving her breast milk but she has formula as a supplement a few bottles per week. She is still wearing her 9 months clothing but her thighs are so chunky that all of her leggings look like they're cutting off her circulation. :) Her dimply buns and thighs are the best!

Emmerson Grace, 

What a fun month it's been. I love watching your personality start to blossom. Thank you for being such a patient and easy going girl. I love our early morning snuggles and your delirious night time giggles. Watching you and your brother together brings me so much joy. You light up each of our days baby girl. I love you so much!

xoxo, 

Mommy

I wonder who he got the stubborn gene from...

Working Momma...

Fri-day! Fri-day! Fri-day!

Weekend, you just can't get here fast enough.

I LOVE coming home to this sweet face.

And also, look what mini man learned to do while his Grammie was watching him today. Ah! He's so big!

8 Months

Donovan James turned 8 months old yesterday. Ah! This month went faster than any other so far. Our baby is turning into a big boy right before our very eyes.

The other night after rocking Donovan and putting him in his crib I came downstairs teary eyed and asked Dustin if it was normal to love one little person as much as I do. I feel like each month my love for him has grown exponentially. There has to be some point when the love growth ceases, right? Maybe when he learns to talk back? And if not then, surely the teenage years. Note to self: I need to ask my Mom if her love for me has ever reversed in direction... because I just can't imagine how much more I could love this sweet boy of ours. I think about him all day long and when I get home from work, my heart swells when I see him. Even after he goes to bed I'll sometimes sit and watch a video I just took of him hours before over and over again. Being a mother is a gift like no other. I just never knew how deeply I could love until now.

Enough Mommy mush... Back to the boy. As predicted, the tie picture session is next to impossible now. The adorable quilt made by Donovan's Auntie Jessica is now shrinking in comparison to his growing self. And he won't even sit for the picture. Sitting is nearly non-existent. If he's up, he is moving.

Daddy had to be a decoy to get D to pause for a smile. Speaking of his smile, he now has two little teeth to show off. One is really big and the second is just now growing into a full blown tooth. One of Donovan's favorite past times of late is to wake up from his nap, stand in his crib, and gnaw away on the top edge. I guess the wood serves as an excellent teether. I've had to train myself to jump up to get him as soon as I hear him peep to keep him from becoming a human woodchuck.

Donovan wants to stand and pull himself up on everything! This keeps whoever's watching him very busy. So much for the days of playing contently on a blanket... now it's go, go, go and fall, cry, cuddle. Then repeat.

I need to knock on wood for typing this but he has become the easiest baby!!! I don't know if that comes naturally with the maturity or if it's a nice learned bonus from his time at daycare this past month. He is so easy going. I can take him anywhere, anytime, and as long as he's fed... he's a happy boy. He's sleeping so well too. He's up at 6:30 down by 8:30 for a 2-3 hour nap and then has a second nap from 1:30 - 3ish. He's still going down for the night between 7 or 8 and sleeps like an angel most of the time. He loves to eat his solids and I've been giving him more and more. It seems as though he prefers it to milk now.

Dustin and I are having so much fun being parents. Donovan is just the HUGEST blessing! It's been a wonderful month and I can't wait to see what this next one has in store.