phillypott

Not only is today Mother’s Day, but our sweet baby girl is 8 months old today! I got to use my sweet Mother’s Day present (new lens!) for some pictures of my cute little girl. More often than not we say to ourselves, “She looks different today!” Or, “I think she grew again!” And she continues to surprise us with new learnings.

Laney is quickly growing out of the summer clothes we have for her, and it’s not even warm enough to wear them yet! Her noggin hardly fits in the 12-24 months sunhat I bought for her. Her hair has continued to grow and is still straight and fluffy. She has a new tooth coming in on the top, and I think she is working on two more.

No signs of her crawling anytime soon. She keeps getting better at reaching for things and keeping her balance while sitting. She can basically touch her nose to the floor when sitting up – definitely doesn’t get her flexibility from her momma! However, when she falls onto her belly, she just rolls over to her back.

Her tastes in food have been changing. She suddenly dislikes sweet potatoes but is enjoying peaches and bananas. Her favorite is  a zucchini and squash combo. She has really gotten better at drinking out of her sippy cup. But her biggest eating achievement has been learning to feed herself puffs. She doesn’t have a high percentage of success, but we are getting there.

Laney loves to laugh, make sound effects, and babble to herself. We often catch her cracking herself up when playing or riding in the car. She makes the cutest scrunchy face and “Mmmm” sound when something amuses her. She is also ticklish – especially on her back between the shoulder blades. She has started offering her toy to whoever is sitting with her and laughs when you take a “taste” of it. She also likes to lift a toy with one hand and try to grab it with the other behind her head – working on her behind-the-back b-ball move. And you’ve all seen the happy dance, but now she does it to music or when we beatbox for her. I love seeing her little personality develop each day.

We have been traveling a lot lately, so she has kind-of gotten over the fear of sleeping in different places. She does gets a little scared around people she hasn’t seen in awhile, but as long as she can see Mom or Dad she is OK. She definitely still startles easily – a cough or sneeze, ice maker, crying kid, etc. can bring on her scared face and tears. But she loves to give big, slobbery open-mouth kisses, which we love!!

We are so excited for all of our summer fun coming up! (Cue Laney flapping her arms up and down and panting with excitement.) We love our little girl so much! I’m so lucky to be her mommy!

Our sweet baby girl is 7 months old today! Quite a bit has changed in the last month. Playtime is getting more fun by the day!

When we went to the doctor at 6 1/2 months, she weighed 20 lbs 4 oz (97%); her length was 26 1/4″ (60%); and her head size was 17.5″ (90%). She is quickly growing out of her 6-9 months clothes and fits in a lot of her 9-12 month clothes already (depending on the brand). She has a third tooth now – surprisingly on the bottom again. Her hair is growing like crazy and likes to stick straight up in the back. Looks like she has Daddy’s hair so far.

She is starting to really reach and lean for toys which causes her to tumble over from her sitting position. At first, this would result in crying, but now she has learned to get on her belly and roll herself onto her back. She has started to wiggle and move her legs while on her belly but no scooting yet.

She has figured out how to drink water out of her sippy cup by herself, which she loves. Probably loves it a little too much, because she gets going a little too fast and water ends up all over her bib. We’ve started giving her puffs in small pieces and she seems to like “chewing” them, but hasn’t figured out how to feed them to herself yet (probably because I break them up into too small of pieces for her to grab). She still isn’t a fan of any fruits yet but is starting to enjoy her peach yogurt and still loves her veggies. We are up to three meals a day this week, and it is going pretty well.

Laney still loves her stacking cups and anything with a tag. She also really likes opening and closing her picnic basket and playing with her animal puzzle. She is still great at entertaining herself but loves having company. She still loves songs with hand motions and when we play “I’m gonna get you…” She is fascinated by bubbles. She has started babbling (ma-ma, ba-ba, ra-ra, dada), which is the cutest. Sometimes she moves her mouth like she is babbling with no sound, which cracks us up.

We’ve recently experienced a little separation anxiety. Laney decided she was scared to be in her front-facing stroller when she can’t see us, and she has started crying when we leave her for naps and bedtime. We’ve started giving her a little security blanket, which seems to be helping. Loud noises still really startle her – probably the result of being in a quiet house with Mom all day. We also discovered she is not a fan of the pack n play when we travel, so we are going to have to start practicing sleeping in that.

Laney is still a very happy, content baby. I can’t say enough how much joy she brings us. It is so amazing how much she learns and changes each day. She wants to get into everything, so I’m good with her staying put just a little while longer. But interacting with her is so much fun!

Here are some pics: