8 Months

How can it be that my baby girl is 8 months old?  Actually, by now she's just a couple days shy of 9 months old!  I'm still lagging behind big time with my posts, but had to share some of my favorite moments and pictures from this month.

Charlee Noelle on August 23, 2012.  Happy 8 months!

Life has calmed down a tiny bit, and I feel like I'm now back to enjoying the sweet moments with my children rather than just feeling in survival mode. This also means that I'm back to taking pictures again!  :)

 Charlotte continues to be such a laid back baby!  She just goes with the flow and almost always does so with a smile.  Poor thing still isn't really on much of a schedule.  Maybe it's part of being a second child, or maybe it's her personality, but as much as I try to figure a schedule out, it just doesn't happen.  She seems to consistently take a morning nap, but the time just varies.  I wish I could say that we were home each morning for her to nap at the same time as soon as she gets tired, but it just doesn't seem to work that way.  She doesn't seem to sleep on the go much anymore, just like her big brother, but seems to go down for a nap rather easily once we get home from our various morning activities.  Afternoon naps are a whole other story.  I thought I had this ALL figured out that MJ would be going to preschool in the afternoons, and Charlotte would nap during that time and I could finally count on some quiet time for myself to do all my schoolwork and not be stuck doing it late into the evenings.  Apparently Charlee is not on board with that schedule though and would much rather spend some one on one time with mommy.  It's pretty hard to be upset with that, but it continues to make my work load quite challenging.  I'm desperate for a solution!  Anyhow, this baby seems to be just fine with only one nap a day already...a not even a very long one at that.  Man, MJ had us spoiled with 4 hour long naps!!  An hour and half a day makes for a good nap for Charlotte and then she's pretty good to go for the day.  Amazing!  Good thing is though that she seems happy for the remainder of the day.

SO many changes for Miss C this month.  I had begged and pleaded with her to not start crawling until our move, and she listened, good girl!  It was almost like perfect clockwork.  As soon as the boxes were up and the house was starting to come together, she became mobile.  Charlotte is now scooting and dragging (army crawling) herself all over the place!  She officially began crawling just a couple days ago, too.  As of now, she just takes a few crawls and then resorts to her belly and moves much quicker that way.  She's got some upper body strength, that's for sure. She's pulling up to her knees now, too and tries to get a foot under her but can't quite figure out what to do next.  If you prop her up at the ottoman or the couch she'll stand for a minute or two before letting go.  She also started saying "mama' this week.  I'm not so sure it's directed at me, in fact, I'm pretty sure its' not, but it's still cute to hear her babble it.  She says it over and over like "mamamama".  Melt my heart!  She loves to smile, tickle, flirt, and be talked to.  Oh, and she still LOVES to eat!  She prefers finger foods and wants to eat whatever we're eating.  I can try to feed her baby food and she'll just eye my food and make grunting noises, so I usually end up caving in and feeding her little pieces of our food as well. She has four teeth-two on top and two on bottom.  She had a few instances of biting...once on her brother's cheek (left a big mark, poor guy) and a few times on me while nursing (Ouch!!), but seems to be past that now, so I'm guessing the teeth are feeling better for now until some more decide to pop through.  She's still solely nursing, and that is going well at the moment, so I plan to continue for now.  It's some of my favorite moments of the day actually because it forces me to just sit down, be still, and enjoy some cuddling with her.

Here are a few cute moments captured throughout month 8:

 There's not much that's more precious than a peaceful sleeping baby.  I loved how Charlee was snuggled up with her "Cuddle Bunny".  Mema and Papa bought this as a Xmas gift for her last year when she was born and we've put it in her crib every night.  She's become quite attached to and lights up with a huge smile when you hand it to her.  MJ also his "Cuddle Bear" that he's had since a baby and affectionately sleeps with him, too. 

 Charlotte asleep on my lap after nursing.  She looks pretty laid back like she's living the life, doesn't she?

 Out to breakfast with the family.  She tried her first pancakes...mmm!

 Soooo big!  I'd been dying to put her in this dress all summer, but it was too big on her.  She finally fits in it, so I had to take advantage of one of our last hot days. 

 Looking so big and standing for us~  She was even sick here, fighting a bad cold.  Sure looks happy though, doesn't she? 

 My poor baby then woke up screaming in pain for nearly 2 hours in the middle of the night.  I could not figure out what was bothering her, but suspected it might be her ears or tummy.  That morning I took her in to the pediatrician (thankful for a pediatrician open on Saturdays), and sure enough she had her first ear infection.  After some antibiotics and a round of Tylenol, I finally got her to sleep in my arms.  I couldn't bear to put her down, she was so peaceful.  She's not much of a sleeper in my arms, so I must admit I enjoyed this moment.  ;)

My sweet girl all dressed and ready to attend Truck Night, a Parents as Teachers event.  I have been in love with this hand-me-down outfit from Meg (thank you!!) since I received it when I was still pregnant.  I'd been hoping for a cool enough day to dress her in it before she was too big for it.  I finally got my wish.  She looked so stinkin' adorable.  I love having a little girl I can dress up, and I know I must enjoy these times before she's adamant on picking out her own clothes.