Eight Great Months

Emily is just not allowed to be eight months old!  Em's had a busy month of learning all sorts of things, most of which keep us laughing.  She lives up to the reputation of being sweet & spunky, and she's always surprising us with the funny little expressions she makes or the goofy things she does.  I'm cherishing these simple months with her (the months that don't yet involve mobility), as I'm not sure how long they'll last.  This month, Emily learned to sit on her own.  That might be the highlight of her month as far as milestones go, but she has definitely been having fun.  She's been rolling over both ways more often, and she'll pull her knees under her, but only if she's getting tickled.  She LOVES her toys.  She will fight for the toy she wants, and she will also let out a nice screech when she doesn't get it.  Her latest antics include bopping to music & pulling off her left sock consistently.  She'll almost always leave her right sock alone, but that left one must have some significance.  She's living up to my mother's "hunch" that all 2nd daughters on our side of the family are left-handed (me being one of them).  We'll see!  She's discovered that she can make fun sounds like, "ra-ra-ra" and "ba-ba-ba."  She's said a few "da-da"'s, but nothing consistent in calling our names yet.  She's back to sleeping through the night after our rough patch, and it does Mommy good!  She's still up by 7am, but I'll take it.  Her bedtime right now is typically around 6:30, and she's still holding on to that evening nap most days.  Speaking of bedtime, she gets all riled up at bedtime.  I'm not sure how this got started, but she thinks that every time she goes down to bed, it's play time :)  She usually just starts laughing, and then she  immediately rolls over to play.  I usually can't resist tickling her a few times, and I always feel badly leaving her there.  Elyse steps in and does her fair share of entertaining, though, so I'm not sure why I feel badly  :)  Emily is a good eater, and I can tell she's going to be a fan of fruit!  She's fairly patient, too, which is handy when I'm getting interrupted by a certain other little girl at times.  Em just has two bottom teeth at this time, but I have a feeling more could be on the way.  Okay, I know they're on the way, but... you know.  Here are some of my current fun's and not-so-fun's for this age:

fun's:
* Em can sit up now in the bathtub!  Let the fun begin!
* I love, love, love going to get her up from a nap.  Smiles galore!
* She still scrunches up her face and most of her upper body when she knows she's going to get tickled :)

* Em still cracks up at almost whatever Elyse does.  Love that!
* She's into clapping things together- the best is watching her face as she does it.. it's like she's holding her breath.
* Em's so ticklish just about everywhere.
* She's not spitting up nearly as much as she used to.  YAY!
* She loves bath time, and lately her newest trick is to eat the bubbles.  Yum.
* She plays with her feet whenever possible.
* Emily still fidgets all the time, which is so funny to me!  Her fingers are always moving.
* This should be under the not-so-fun category, but she gets so startled when Jordan sneezes or coughs (which he's been doing a lot of lately), and it's hilarious to watch her jump!
* She's started twirling her feet like little windmills.  This means nothing, but it's something I did as a baby, too :)  I'm so thankful that I could pass on such a special trait to both of my daughters.  Ha.

not-so-fun's:  
* I'm not sure how intentional it is, but Em is pretty persistent in getting my attention when I leave the room.  If Elyse is playing with her, she's fine.  BUT, if she's alone & figures it out, she is NOT a happy camper.
* As snoopy as she's getting, she's not nearly as much of a cuddle-bug as I'd like :(  When she had the flu last week, however, I enjoyed every minute of the times she'd just crash on me.
* Emily does have a temper.  I'm sure she got that from me, but we can always blame Adam & Eve.
* Emily is starting to get on Elyse's nerves a bit.  Can't say I blame Elyse, but it's just been a good opportunity for Mommy to teach Elyse a lot about sharing.  I have to laugh, as I know it's only the beginning.  Emily's hands just grab at EVERYTHING.
* We about have a world war on our hands when we need to wipe Emily's nose.  2 weeks ago, this was not an issue.  After her recent bout of flu, she has turned on us.  BAD NEWS.
* My baby is getting big.  Seriously, I wish I could bottle her at this age, but I say that about every age :)

We love you, Emily Mae!

You keep us guessing & laughing,

and we love you to pieces!