8 months

Tuesday marked Lily May's 8th month of life. Each month she learns new things and shows us more of her little personality - she is so much fun and continues to be a very easy baby!

This month she experienced many firsts - she had her 1st Christmas, her 1st vacation and 1st plane ride (she did great!), and she saw the ocean for the 1st time - precious! Jimmy and I think she will love the beach like her mama as she spent most of the time at the ocean with her hands and feet dug into the sand, lounging, and taking it all in. It was so fun to see Jimmy dip her little toes into the water and watch her giggle with delight.

Other new things for her this month was some new foods - squash, green beans, peas, mum mums, yogurt melts, cheese, eggs, potatoes, bread, and ice cream and licorice - gotta love Grandma's! :) She continues to like most everything but bananas and yogurt are still her favorites. I now feed her twice a day - in the mornings and at night and nurse her 4-5 times a day.

She's wearing mostly 12 months clothes now and using our home scale and measuring technique weighs in at 21.4 lbs (just a little less than 1 more lb from last month). We actually moved her into the next size car seat this month too. She was right on the edge of the limits and Jimmy was leaving town for a few weeks so we just made the switch. She's growing!

She also a very busy little girl, pulling herself up on everything, taking steps with her walker and while holding hands, "dancing" to music, clapping her hands, peeking out of her bumper in her crib and pulling herself up in her crib - we had to lower her mattress this month!

The most precious memory for me this month was her saying "mama" - she has mumbled it several times before but we didn't think or know if she was associating it with me, until the other day. I was feeding her in the chair in her room and wasn't looking at her, I was messing with my phone or reading, and I heard her say "mama" I looked down at her and she was staring right at me with a huge smile. It melted my heart. She nows says it frequently - sometimes when I know she wants me sometimes amongst her other babble. But, I know now that shes knows that's my name and there's nothing sweeter!

Lily May - you continue to bring joy to every one of our days. You are precious beyond words and we adore you. Your laughter, contagious personality, need to know what's going on around you, and playfulness is so fun to be a part of. We can't wait to watch you grow and learn about the world around you. May you always know how much your loved baby girl. Happy 8 months!

**Pictures to come - I can't get them pulled off my iphone....