8 months!

Tuesday, Jade was 8 months old. Again, I know I say this every month... but really, where has the time gone? I will say that in some ways it feels like she's been a part of our lives forever, but most of the time I feel like I brought her home from the hospital yesterday.

Our 8-month photo shoot left a little to be desired. I had to wait until daddy got home from work to even try because I couldn't get her to sit still long enough to take a picture. Unfortunately, she was feeling a little fussy so we didn't get any smiles on camera... and then she started trying to eat the sticker. Sigh.

I feel like she has changed so much this month. She's doing new things every day and making Chuck and I laugh all the time. She's still a fairly serious baby, but is smiling and laughing more and more, which I have to admit is nice.

She has started crawling EVERYWHERE. Up until recently, she pretty much would crawl from one side of a room to the other and then stop, but she's started to crawl into other rooms now and is discovering that she can follow me when I walk away. She still isn't quite into everything, which is amazing to me, but I'm grateful for it. She has started to stick her tongue out while she's crawling. I'm not quite sure why, but it's adorable!

Although she isn't getting into too much yet, I still have to watch her constantly because she tries to pull up on everything... even things that aren't necessarily good for pulling up on. The poor thing has probably fallen a bazillion times this month, but she's definitely learning how to balance herself a bit better. She's even started to hold onto things with one hand while reaching for something else. It wouldn't surprise me at all if she walks fairly early. Which will look hilarious because she's still so tiny!

Speaking of tiny... in these pictures, she's wearing 3-6 month clothes. As you can see, they fit fine. We've moved her into a lot of 6-9 month stuff, but it's still pretty big on her and she still fits in most of her 3-6 stuff. We don't go to the doctor again until her 9 month appt, but I will be very interested to see how much she weighs. I know she's getting bigger, but she's doing it fairly slowly :)

She's also started to act "shy" when she sees new people. If I'm holding her, she'll lay her head down on my chest with this little grin on her face. She does this most days when Chuck gets home before she starts smiling and getting really excited.

She still loves bath time... Chuck gives her a bath every night and as long as she's in there, she's happy. She splashes and plays with her toys and sucks on her washcloth. Unfortunately, when we get her out, it's meltdown mode until she's dressed and I'm nursing her. I think she's a bit mad to be out of the tub and a bit mad to be completely out of control, so she screams :) Hopefully that will stop one day...

Her eating skills are improving dramatically. This morning, I gave her 5 peach slices for breakfast and every one of them made it to her mouth. She's even started to be able to get little things into her mouth... she has a lot of fun with Cheerios. She really does just love to eat... she's started to get excited when she sees me getting her tray ready, which is really cute. Last month she was cutting down on her nursing sessions, but this month she ramped back up. Between nursing and eating table foods, she spends a LOT of time eating.

We've been doing sign language with her since she was about 3-months-old and she's finally started to respond to some of them. She still hasn't made any herself, but I know it's just a matter of time. I can't wait until we are able to communicate with her a little bit better.

Her sleep was improving for a while, but then she got sick and then we went out of town so it's back to "normal". After a 2 am incoherent screaming match between Chuck and I which helped me to realize that something had to change, we did Ferber for a few days. It really didn't seem to be helping, and then she got sick so her sleep got much worse. When I realized that we would have to start all over after she was feeling better and then do it again every time we had a setback, I decided I just couldn't continue with that method. I have not read a single thing saying why it's a good thing to let your kid cry (and I've looked), but I've read a ton about how it can be detrimental. So, we're starting the No Cry Sleep Solution again. We tried it when she was 4-months, but I just don't think she was ready.... but now I know she can wake up fewer times every night, so hopefully our results will be better. I'll keep you guys posted :)

She still loves to be worn in my woven. If she's fussy and I need to get stuff done around the house, I can just strap her on and be on my way. That thing is a lifesaver! It's also great for walks... she likes being up high where she can see everything that I can see.

Whew, this was a long update post! But like I said, she's doing so many new things. I really feel like she's starting to grow up a bit :)

This isn't an "8-month" photo, but is just an example of how hard it is to get good pictures of her these days because she never sits still! I was trying so hard to get the tongue sticking out while crawling and I did... just a little late :)

I still have some pictures to post from our visit to Indiana and first Christmas, I'll try to get those up soon.