Ava---8 months

 is it weird that i both can't wait until my kids are a little older so that life isn't quite so crazy for me, and want time to slow down so that i can hold these little ones to me forever?  it's so confusing!  i feel like i just got done writing the 7 month post and now it's already time for the 8 month post.  jeez.  miss baby has actually gone through a lot of changes this past month.  actually, i was reading z's 8 month update and basically i could just copy and paste his update here, they are so similar, except for one or two small differences.  so, let me basically just rewrite z's update at 8 months, haha.

ava is really becoming like a little person and less of a baby.  her personality is very evident now, haha, and she is not the laid back girl that she was before, she is fiesty and impatient.  she has a short temper, and gets frustrated really quickly.  she is headstrong, too, just like her brother.  she is still smiley and happy but will let you know hecka quick if she is not cool with the situation.  for example, she all of a sudden does not want to sit in her high chair.  she arches her back and straightens her legs, or holds onto your arms so that you can't get her to sit in the chair.  she's like a spider monkey.  she is so strong!  if you finally do happen to get her in the chair, which doesn't work by force mind you, it must be through distraction, then she refuses to let you attach the tray.  she pushes it away with both of her hands AND both of her feet.  haha.  and sometimes she does not want to go in her carseat and will arch her back and straighten her legs, and hold onto the handle on the top so that you can't get her in there.  it's insane!  she does the same now when trying to give her a bath.  she will not sit down, she just wants to stand.  the other day, i couldn't get her to sit in the bath, and when i tried to lay her down she freaked out.  eventually i was able to distract her and get her to lay down so that i could bathe her, but she never did sit back up, she just wanted to stand!  i don't know what the deal is.

giving kisses to the gawjuss baby in the mirror

so in the previous month's update she started to lean forward on her hands from the sitting position, almost like a precursor to crawling.  well, in the last month she has been doing that and then laying flat on her belly, and more recently on all fours.  so she is not crawling yet, but she really wants to move.  when she is on her tummy, she rotates around 360 degrees, and can scooch forward and backwards a little bit.  perhaps she thinks this is inefficient, because lately she has begun to pull herself up into a standing position, using the ottoman or a chair, or whatever is around, and for the past few days has been taking little steps, cruising around the furniture.  just a few steps at a time, but she is trying to walk.  i can't believe it.  i am not in a hurry for her to be mobile, hahahaha!  so i have this idea that she will crawl and then walk shortly after.  oh, and it's so funny when she is on her belly on the floor, and she really wants to move, she kind of furiously waves her arms and legs around like a turtle or something, and screams in frustration.  she gets sooooooooo upset that she can't move!  poor baby.

she loves to stand

she is becoming more and more coordinated with her hands.  she grabs EVERYTHING that is near her, and most of the time it goes straight in her mouth.  she is much more vocal and MUCH louder now.  she chats all day long.  she is practicing vowel sounds---ow ow ow ow wow over and over again.  and she thinks it's funny to blow air out of her mouth.

i'm pretty sure by next month's update she'll be crawling, she is almost there!

-feeding: still nursing although it's harder to get her to stay focused.  she is so easily distracted, popping off and looking this way and that, watching big brother.  i notice that if she doesn't nurse enough during the day, she will make up for it at night.  blech.  still eating solids, mostly purees and every once in awhile some chunkier food like soft pieces of sweet potato or small flakes of fish.  but she is not that great of an eater.  she fusses and moves around and is just hard to feed.  i kind of can't wait until she can just feed herself, haha.  anyway we have added some various meats, fish, some grains, pretty much all fruits and veg that we eat.  she also is a little more picky than i was expecting; now she knows to taste something first before she actually takes a big bite, and if she doesn't like the taste of it, then she will not open her mouth to eat it.  it seems she also has a strong preference for foods that taste sweet, so i'm trying to slowly acclimate her to all different tastes.

-growth:  she seems to be getting bigger, i wont really know for sure her weight and height until next month at her 9 month appointment.  maybe she will be 15 lbs!  i just got rid of the last 3months pants that she was wearing, but is solidly in 6 month clothes now.

big brother feeding her some water out of a bottle, he was so excited

-development:  trying to crawl and getting close to it!  pulling herself up to standing while holding onto something, taking small steps while holding onto furniture or something, she loves to bounce in her bouncy activity chair thing, she still likes to put all the things in her mouth to chew on them.  when she sits up and she is excited about something she bounces up and down on her bum and waves her arms up in the air saying "ah ah ah ah", it's pretty darn cute. she has been giving me kisses, open mouthed of course.  she will not stay still for diaper changes or changing clothes or anything, she arches her back and rolls away.  it is soooooo hard to get her diaper changed now!  her two bottom teeth are starting to cut, so she is pretty uncomfortable with that, and chewing on everything.

this is my view most of the time with this baby

-sleep:  hmmmm, well she takes a morning nap pretty easily, it's harder to get her down for her afternoon nap, and night time is off and on.  it's usually not that difficult to get her to sleep but then she has been waking up several times per night.  sometimes i can just nurse her back to sleep, but sometimes she rolls around, screaming and crying.  i imagine it's probably related to her teething, but who knows.  over the last few days i have been trying to put her in her own crib more often for naps and to sleep at night.  when she wakes up in the night i usually bring her back to bed with me because i'm just too tired to try to rock her or whatever and i don't want to CIO in the middle of the night and wake everyone up.  i'm not really sure what to do at this point, except slowly get her used to sleeping in her crib.

-temperament:  headstrong, curious, happy most of the time, short temper, snuggly, shy with strangers or people she doesn't recognize, persistent

-likes:  big brother, being held, going outside, trying to stand, bouncing, snuggling with mama

-dislikes: being left by herself, things that are cold, sitting when she doesn't want to, sitting in the bath, sitting in her high chair, sitting in her carseat....do we see a pattern here?  hahahaha

even with the shouty-ness and whining, she is becoming more and more fun, i am really enjoying watching her explore the world and interact with her brother.