Raegan is 8 months old!
The rate at which Raegan is changing is almost too fast to keep up with. The parents out there know what I'm talking about. She is literally changing and doing new things every single day!
A good friend of mine told me that when her little girl hit 6 months, she felt that every month after that was her favorite. I now know exactly what she meant. Lately, every single week, I'm thinking, "it can't get better than this". Inevitably, it does.
This month has been no exception. We have had an absolute ball. If I knew that all babies would be as wonderful as Raegan, I would have at least 3 more! (Shhh...don't tell Chuck.)
Highlights:
Starting to pull up. She has pulled up from sitting in my lap onto her little Leap Frog Learning Table and also stands up on her own in the bathtub (scary, I know), but until she is doing this regularly, I don't want to consider her "pulling up". Can you tell I'm trying to keep her little?
Favorite new toy? A spoon. When all else fails-give her one and she'll be content for an hour. I'm sure there is some unwritten (or maybe even written rule) that says don't let children play with food utensils because of some reason like, "it causes confusion between eating and playing". 1 word: "WHATEVER!" I've become such the rebel.
Speaking of wanting all things that aren't technically toys, Raegan is like other babies in that she wants all things "not toys" - water bottles, remotes, the drawstrings on our pants (ha!), you name it. You should see her trying to get to the laptop while we skype with my parents. Oh, and here's a funny story-I wake up once morning this past month to a phone that isn't working. I painstakingly make a trip to Sprint. 2 1/2 hours later, I'm told by the Sprint "customer service rep" (and I use that term loosely) that my insurance doesn't cover a free replacement because it has water damage. After a fun insurance claim process with Asurion and a holiday weekend (traveling) with no telecommunications, there have been no more cell phones in Raegan's reach!
She is trying ever so hard to crawl. For months, she has been totally content with rolling. Only within the last few weeks has she started getting up on her knees. She goes backward more than she goes forward. She gets so mad when she does this! I honestly thought that she'd be crawling by the time I wrote this post. I give it 3 more days, max. Let the baby proofing begin! (Oh, did I mention that another "thing" she is doing is spitting? We can all thank Chuck for that. :)
Getting where she needs wants to go:
"What did you say, mommy? 'Don't get under the tree?' Okay."
"Sorry, mommy, you weren't looking."
Stuck again...
The girl sets off her angel monitor all the time. Why? Because she gets too far off the sensor pad, it causes the alarm goes off. She sleeps with her head buried in a corner of the bumper with her body either caddy cornered or horizontal. I've heard that a lot of babies, especially breastfed ones, do this b/c they feel more comfort having something on their faces. So sweet...but not so sweet after the 4th time in the middle of the night when Chuck and I wake up in a panic from the monitor going off. And, I thought an alarm clock was the worst thing to wake up to...
She has this new cry. It's kind of like a growl/whimper. She will literally do it for 5 straight minutes, at which point Chuck begins to mimic her. She looks at him like he's crazy. He tells her that "it's not so much fun when someone does it to you, is it?" Ha! Rationalizing with a 7 month old is extremely productive.
- She has the waving thing down. It's such a subtle little gesture, but I find it extremely endearing.
Along with the new cry comes this fake cough. I'm pretty sure she has started this because when she is sick and she is coughing, I'll often pick her up. So, now, when she wants to be held, her arms go up, she murmurs "mamamamamamama", and she fake coughs. Nice.
She has become quite the Football Fanatic. Just see for yourself:
She's taking juice/water in a sippy cup daily. #1-B/c she loves it and #2-B/c I feel that a huge part of the reason that we finally have some control over the constipation is due to our proactive approach of daily juice. We aren't overdoing it; She still only gets 4 ounces max (not saying that more than that is bad) diluted in water. I am starting to add more water than juice in hopes that she'll be a water drinker like her mommy. And, she's beginning to hold it by herself. Big girl!
"Go Titans!"
Watching the Tide at Thanksgiving with B-O-B
Always a Vol!
Has become super aggressive in nursing...I'll leave it at that. I'm attributing this to the bullet above. I'm thinking that her whole "suck" has been re-conditioned. Let's just say that I felt like it was the first few weeks of nursing all over again.
She's definitely having more and more separation anxiety. She will still go to anyone but if someone else is holding her and playing with her, and mommy and/or daddy either walk in the room or she just hears our voice-it's over. She wants us. I won't spend too much time on this subject. Let's just say that it breaks my heart. I keep telling myself that it's just part of the process of growing up. I will say that there are times when she just wants her mommy. But, then there are so many times that she only wants her daddy. Case in point:
This month, after some deliberation, we decided to introduce Raegan to her very own "security blanket". Due to the bullet above, she was starting to have a hard time getting down for a nap at Daycare. I am not kidding when I say that now that she has her little mouse (who shall remain nameless until Raegan comes up with something a year or so down the road), this has gotten a lot better. She knows that when we give her the mouse, it's time to go to sleep. She literally begins sucking her thumb immediately and closes her eyes as soon as you hand it to her. Precious.
What else?
She's babbling more and more.
Got her right top tooth while I was in NYC the first weekend of Dec. (More on that trip, leaving Raegan, and the drama with shipping breast milk home later.)
Still sleeping and napping great.
Starts to clap when she hears music. It's still not a true "clap" but she makes a valiant effort.
Laughs a whole lot more. Is still very serious, but she definitely gets cracked up. One of my favorite days with her was when she started laughing, then I started laughing, and then she laughed at me laughing at her. We just looked at one another and laughed together. I always said that I wouldn't use the word "silly" when I had a baby. Um, never say "never". Raegan and mommy were definitely silly that day.
Part of me gets a little sad when I start thinking about the fact that Raegan is only 4 months away from being a year old. The other part looks forward to endlessly being proven wrong with thinking that it can't get any better than this.
Happy 8 Months, Rae!
I love you so much that it hurts.
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