8 Months

Anya is turning 8 months tomorrow! I am actually beginning to think about her 1st birthday.. only a few more months. About a week ago I got really sad at thinking about our little baby getting so big so fast. I am over it, for the moment, and keep thinking of how much fun we have in store for us. Soon she will be on the move and saying 'mama' and I just have so much to look forward to.

She is really getting a personality and it's so cute to see this individual grow right in front of my eyes. During bath time on Monday I gave her the wash cloth so she could suck on it.. she LOVES this. I needed to wash her hair so I took the cloth back before baby wash was added to the water. She got soooo mad at me. She started thrashing her arms up and down and was splashing water all over her face. She made an angry face at me. I hate to say it but I thought it was the cutest thing... mean mean mom. I called Dwight in to see. She is such a happy and content baby that when I see anger it surprises me. However, when I see sadness it just breaks my heart.

She has started to hold her own bottle. This works best when it is a Playtex drop in bottle with the ridges on the sides. It is thinner and easier for her to grasp. She has more trouble holding the big Avent bottles. She does well when she is really hungry and holds on to that bottle for dear life.

She still has a 4-6 oz bottle every 3 or 4 hours. For foods she eats a fruit with oatmeal for breakfast, a fruit, veggie or mix of both for lunch, and the same for dinner. Some dinners include meat. She likes the pureed meals that include meat from Earth's Best brand. I think the only meal she really did not like was spinach and potatoes. I don't blame her, it was yucky. I try everything I give her. I make her apples, sweet potatoes and squash myself. I want to try to make more foods soon. Her favorites are apples, carrots, pears, green beans, and oatmeal. We have tried the baby yogurts and she likes those but usually only eats a half of one. We have tried berry, apple and strawberry/banana.


Yesterday when I went to get Anya after her nap and there were hairs on her crib sheet. I wasn't sure if they were cat hairs (pleeease tell me this cat isn't getting in there!).. or if they were Anya hairs. I am pretty sure they are Anya hairs. They were up where her head was. I just didn't know they would be falling out at 8 months. She is getting some new hair because it is sticking up a bit on the top with short new pieces. The color seems to be one shade lighter.

She is using her pincer grasp to pick up puffs off her tray now. She holds one up to her mouth and takes a bite out of it! Instead of putting the whole tiny puff in her mouth she uses her teeth to chew away at it. :) A month ago was our first attempt at puffs. I had put the whole puff in her mouth myself and she gagged until she threw up :-/ I started crying and we hadn't tried again until this week. I put them on her tray and let her play and nibble on them. I wish I had known that this is how to do it.. oops. I guess we learn as we go. This week (after her doing great with the puffs) I was eating cheez-its in front of her. She was really interested so I handed her one. I watched carefully as she nibbled away at it. She loved it and didn't gag once so I gave her another one. We just sat there watching each other eat cheez-its.. it was great :)
Here is a picture of her holding her cheez-it.

Another thing Anya loves is sucking on wet washcloths (remember how she got mad at me at bath time for taking it away). Now she tries to grab a wet paper towel away from me when I am cleaning up her face after a meal. This week I gave her a wet washcloth while we watched our Baby Signing Time video. She sat there in her glories.

The winter can be very looong when you have an infant. She isn't old enough to play in the snow with, bake cookies or make forts. She can't even color yet. So we end up being stuck inside and I am trying to think up new things to do. I miss our walks! We have books and toys but after a while that gets old. This week I put her in the kitchen with pots and pans. I filled water bottles up with corn kernels to use as maracas. She had a great time hitting things together. She loved the wooden spoons and the metal measuring cup. I also put her in her highchair with soft cheese on her tray. I let her play with it and taste it a little. I let her get messy.. I mean she is a baby. I let her eat away at those baby biscuits and get it everywhere... hands, arms, face, hair.. She has a grand ol' time.

We have been trying out sippy cups. I fill it with water and an ounce or two of juice. She seems to like it but she doesn't have the hang of it yet. :)

Tonight I went to vacuum and Anya started crying. She never cries when we use the vacuum so I figured she was just hungry. I gave her some formula and then tried to vacuum about an hour later and she started crying again. Oh oh. Now what do I do? Do I continue to try and vacuum around her or do I wait until she is napping for a while until she gets out of this stage? Hmm?