8 Months Old!

Look at our big eight-month old girl!  I know I add a lot of similar photos, but I can't help myself!  She makes the cutest faces!  Actually, it's more likely that I didn't get a really GREAT photo, so I have to put in several semi-great photos.

  I'm sick of taking pictures, come play with me!!!

Obligatory giraffe attack; actually, she didn't really care much about attacking the giraffe today - must be a sign of growing maturity, I had to put it in place right in front of her face before she started grabbing the hairs and trying to bite the jugular.  Is this an example of setting your child up for failure?

Making silly faces

Willa is getting wiser every day!  She is getting very vocal about things and even a little whiney sometimes.  I think it is just because she is more aware of everything.  When I sit her on the floor to play, she suddenly remembers and realizes that it is much more fun to play with mommy than it is to play alone!  When I try to put her diapers and pants on, she loudly protests that have a nice naked bum is so much more comfortable!  She's much more talkative and I love hearing her little voice making sounds and laughing.  She gets quite opinionated about certain Baby Einstein scenes (from the sound of her voice) and has also started laughing and talking to certain Elmo clips instead of just watching them.

Things about Willa: LOVES Jason Mraz and Elmo, Will. i. am. and Elmo, Katy Perry and Elmo, and basically every Elmo clip on Youtube.  Check out this Will. i. am. song, in the beginning Ernie, Burt, and the Count have their hair combed like Will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyVzjoj96vs

Here is Ryan's favorite Elmo clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc20vMz0V7Q

Favorite books: Mirror Me and First Words - she likes books in general but she actually smiles for these books and doesn't try to eat them (as much)

Tan Lines: Willa has little tan lines in the creases of her chubby wrists and ankles!!  I'm really good about sunscreen when we go to the pool, but not for anything else.  We haven't spent much time outside, so I'm guessing it's coming from our daily walk to the mailbox and the very rare 8:30 am walks in the stroller WITH the sunshade.  She's going to be our brown little nut.

Swimming: She really likes swimming now, especially trying to drink the water.  No matter how tired she is, she never is grumpy at the pool.  She might cry to the pool and from the pool, but not in the pool. She also loves bath time and will stay there forever without getting cranky.

Sleeping:  She still sleeps 11+ hours a night, with good naps throughout the day.  She has started sleeping more solidly in her naps and not waking up after 30 minutes.  She's in that hard place where two naps isn't quite enough, but three naps push into bedtime.  It's been a bit of a struggle now knowing if I should try to keep her awake and fussy, or put her down and risk a later bedtime.  I don't have to do any ritual to get her to bed, I just lay her down.  She'll even reach for her own pacifier and put it in herself (she's gotten VERY adept at pacifiers since the unswaddling).

Boredom: She does get bored and it surprises me!  I used to try to put her down for naps because I thought she was tired, I am now realizing that if I just switch the activities up then she is happy again.  Ryan is working at a new job that's not easily accessible for public transit, so Willa and I have been home sans car on most days.  Overall, it hasn't been bad - but sometimes it's a struggle to know what to entertain her with.

Solids:  Solid food is going poorly, she does not like it - even gagging out yummy fruits.  She does best if I let her suck a little on my finger first to get the flavor, but even then she hardly will open her mouth and most of it gets spit back out.  I'm lucky to get one solid feeding in a day, and often just forget about doing them because they are a hassle.  Any ideas?  If I feed her when she is really hungry right when she wakes up, then she is too furious to eat.  If I wait until a time when she is not ravenous then she's not hungry enough to eat.  I just keep telling myself that solids at this point are just for her to learn and get the experience - not necessarily for the nutrition.  I'll just be excited to cut down a little on nursing, even though I mainly love it and she only nurses about five times a day even without solids.

Nursing: She is still an extremely distracted eater.  Her mind must be thinking something like this: "milk, my toes!, milk,  t.v., milk,  dad!, milk, scratch the couch, milk" and so on.  She reminds me of the dogs in the movie Up who completely lose their train of thought every time they smell a squirrel.

Church: We switched to 11 a.m. church and it is the greatest thing ever!  She gets a full two hour nap in the morning and wakes up just in time to eat and get to church.  She's awake and happy for all of church, then takes a nap as soon as we get home.  A lady in the ward is on bedrest for her pregnancy so we took her two boys to church with us last Sunday.  They are 3 and 6 years old and very exuberant!  It was certainly interesting for Willa, though I'm not sure how much she liked them stuffing the toys in her mouth.

Traveling: We are both very excited to go on another plane trip!  We are flying to Ohio tomorrow to see Grandma and Grandpa Daniels and Dylan and Claire!  Houston has cheap, direct flights to Dayton, Ohio!  Who knew?  It's going to be a great week, and I am excited for a change.  Better get packing.