Growing Girl

I can't believe how quickly Mia is growing up! She will be 8 months old this week...where does the time go? I thought I would give you a quick update on what she is up to these days.

Her first tooth arrived yesterday, on the bottom-left of her gums. I think the one right next to it will break through very soon. Even though she gnaws on everything, it hasn't seem to be too disruptive or painful for her, thank goodness. I am convinced she is going to start crawling any day now. She pretty easily gets up on her hands and knees; she'll rock back and forth, go backwards and in circles, but just hasn't quite figured out how to move forward yet. She grunts and wants to go forward so badly, but it hasn't happened yet. We have moved her up to 12 month pajamas, and they fit great. I feel a little badly about keeping her little toes in the 9 months ones for a couple of weeks now. She wears either 9 or 12 months in other clothes; the shorts fit better in 12 months, but the shirts fit better with 9 month. Really though, she's cute in anything, whether too big, too small or just right!

She is turning into a pretty good eater. She drinks 8 ounces of formula for breakfast and before bedtime plus 6 ounces before her afternoon nap. She also eats 7-8 ounces of baby food for lunch and dinner. She drinks a little water from a sippy cup with her food too which she really seems to enjoy. She is pretty good at eating almost any type of baby food we give her except green beans; she really doesn't seem to like those. However, she happily eats everything else. She really loves the little Puffs we give her as a treat. I am looking forward to the day she figures out how to pick up the Puffs herself and get them to her mouth; that will make meal time for the rest of us a lot easier. Of course, if she can pick up and put Puffs in her mouth, that means she can pick up and put lots of things in her mouth (like small toys Lily leaves behind) which won't be as much fun.

Mia loves to play peek-a-boo. This morning after she finished her bottle, she picked up her burp cloth and kept putting it over her face. I would say "Where's Mia?" and she would pull it down while I replied "Peek-a-boo!" or "There she is!" She grinned so big each time. Lily was sitting next to me and found this amusing too. We did this for about 10 minutes. She also likes to clap her hands. This comes from endless times of patty-cake with Lily and others. Just like Lily, Mia seems to love books. I hope this is a common interest they will always share. I love reading books with them. She also really enjoys bath time and splashing around. We're going to the beach in just over a week, and I am hoping her love of baths is indicative of the fun we'll have in the pool and ocean.

She is a good sleeper too. She goes down between 7:30 and 8 each night and sleeps until about 7 or 7:30 the next morning. She takes a 1.5 hour nap at about 9:30 and about a 1.5-2 hour nap about 2. She still takes a short 30 minute nap around 6 each evening which is nice when we are eating dinner in. I think she will drop this little nap soon though. She wakes up happy and sweet as she can be.

I cannot fully tell you how truly blessed Ryan and I feel to have such wonderful, sweet, loving girls. They are gifts from above!