8 MoNtHs

Scarlett turned 8 months old a couple weeks ago and while I should be doing a million other things or playing blog catch up, I just don't want to forget this little lady right now, just as she is. So excuse the little break in chronology! 

This little girl has just been growing up so much lately. She is getting SO much personality and every day she seems more and more like a little girl not just a baby. She is a serious little spit fire sometimes but also very sweet and content too. She is SO curious about everything around her and wants to touch/hold/explore anything within reach.

She is jabbering up a storm and loves having little conversations. Her favorite sound right now is "Babababa" or "Dadadada"and she loves alternating noises. If she makes a sound and you imitate it, she loves doing it back and forth and smiles and smiles with the reaction you give her. She also loves making high-pitched wild sounds just for fun....not out of anger, but she does that sometimes too. :) We call her our baby-pterodactyl or raptor because she sounds like a dinosaur. :) She also makes some very girly sounds especially when she cries and it is so funny to see.

The last couple months she's started scooting herself all over the place like a little worm and has gotten so proud of her new skills. This last week though we can officially call her a crawler as she can zip around on all fours all over the house. She is also starting to pull herself up onto things everywhere I turn. Not quite up to standing yet, but definitely onto her knees. I'm still getting used to all of this and am totally caught off guard when I find her in by the dog food, or playing with the buttons on my computer, or ripping apart the mail, or eating one of the dog toys, or crouched up peeking over the edge of the crib when I walk in the door. This has just begun so I know we have quite the road ahead. Haha....And the fun begins! :) 

Her hair is really starting to come in more and more and although its still hard to tell, it looks like we might have another curly-q. Can't wait to find out for sure! She also has two little teeth now on the bottom that came a few weeks ago after some serious blood, sweat and tears! Phew! Hope all of teething doesn't involve that much fussing! :)

She loves when we sing to her and particularly loves the "Here's a ball for baby" song. Smiles every time! Cal loves singing twinkle twinkle to her whenever she is sad and she loves it too.

She is still enthralled with her big brother and loves playing with him. She can't get enough of him playing peek a boo with her and will laugh and laugh and laugh. It's my favorite. But she is also realizing she has other powers too to get a reaction out of him. Yesterday the two were in the double stroller and she reached out and kept trying to pull his hair or just pester him with her hand. He was getting super annoyed but she just thought it was hilarious and laughed and smiled every time she touched him. OH BOY. What am I in for??  I know my job as referee is at the VERY beginning of a long career. :)

She loves eating her baby food and has pretty much tried everything. There isn't much she doesn't like and she will DEFINITELY let you know when she is hungry. She squacks and squacks and you can't get the food in her fast enough and then about half way through the meal her whole demeanor changes and she sits there quietly and contently, slowly opening her mouth and chewing, with her big, round belly sticking out. Full and happy. :) She is still nursing a few times a day too and doing great with that.

She is quite a Momma's girl...more so than Cal ever was as a baby. And I have to admit, it kinda melts me. Although, the stranger anxiety is starting to come and so I don't really know what to do with that. Cal never really had that problem. But she mostly loves everyone and is fine, as long as Mom and Dad aren't too far out of sight.

She loves to hold my hand especially if we're all in the car and Dan is driving, I'll reach back and just let her play with my fingers. She'll just clutch my hand and hold it right close to her face for as long as I'll let her. She also gives little kisses sometimes that are big and slobbery and so sweet. A couple weeks ago I had the stomach flu of death and have almost never been so sick in my life. I couldn't hold Scarlett the entire day because I was so sick and weak, which meant I couldn't nurse her either. I ended up having to go to urgent care and that night when we got back I finally felt well enough to hold her. (This had been the longest I'd ever been away from her or not held her.) Mimi had her and when I got home I reached for her and Scarlett dove into my arms and literally clutched me and started talking to me with happy noises as though she was literally trying to tell me how glad she was to see me, and gave me big slobbery kisses on my cheek. It had been a long, rough day and we all kinda teared up--It was seriously one of the sweetest, most special moments ever and I'll never forget it.

I feel so blessed and fortunate to have this sweet girl. Just when I think it can't get better being her Momma, she proves me wrong. Can't believe we're only 4 months away from the year mark!!

(Okay so the giant bow and tutu shots were just an inevitable right? It had to happen at some point. haha. I took her outside for two seconds today to try and get a picture but couldn't for the life of me get her to smile. So I bribed Cal with fruit snacks to come out and help me get her to laugh and sure enough within seconds of Calvin standing behind me she was smiling and giggling up a storm! She sure loves that big brother.)