Today is the day! Chloe Grace is 8 months old today! I say this every month, but I can’t believe how fast time is flying and how big my girl is getting. She’s gone from a squishy newborn, to a tiny baby and now she’s a little human. She’s learning so much and soaking everything up like a sponge these days!
This little bug has become an expert at posing for pictures. She still makes us work for those smiles, but she always give us the sweetest faces. Okay that’s a lie, they aren’t always the sweetest. Sometimes we get the most hilarious faces from this little beauty. She’s been incredibly expressive since day one. I love how you get a glimpse into what she’s thinking based on her face: scared, unsure, happy, excited, angry, confused, pooping. She’s the best.
Speaking of smiles and facial expressions, someone got her first tooth this month! The bottom left tooth finally popped through after a few days of trying so hard to break the skin. I can’t see or feel any others coming through, but that doesn’t mean they won’t make an appearance soon.
I think every month I say that she’s in such a fun stage, but each month gets better. She’s so aware of everything going on and interactive with her surroundings. She reaches out to pet things like her puppy or the bunny and goat she met at the petting zoo! She also reaches out for her friends. Most of the time she just pets their faces or reaches for their shoulders. Unless it’s her cousin Camden, for some reason she always wants to reach and give him a big ol’ kiss! It’s adorable and hilarious. Reaching really is her favorite thing to do. She reaches for her story books, for people to pick her up, for toys in her toy bin, for food, for items on the shelves at the store. You have to be careful with this one!
I think her love of reaching for things has her on the verge of being mobile! She’s not crawling yet, but she recently started pushing up to all fours and shaking back and forth. It’s not rocking because really she’s just bouncing her booty. She can scoot backwards, but not forwards.
Crawling may or may not come for this little one because all she wants to do is walk. She can stand and walk while holding my hands like a champion. She can also stand at her toy bin and reach in and pull out toys. If I let go of her hands, she can stand for a few seconds! WHAT? Slow down baby girl. I recently bought her a walker and this girl can cruise after just a few uses. I can put her in the living room and she’ll find her way to me in the kitchen which isn’t the easiest in our house. I guess we’ll see how this plays out!
Since I’m talking about her being on the move, she also learned how to jump this month. She likes to jump anytime she’s on a soft surface…thanks Nonna! Haha. She’s a jumping queen in her bouncer and Exersaucer, so now we need to try out her Johnny Jump Up again!
- First baptism {and only 🙂}
- First tooth {bottom left}
- First rodeo
- First time to pull up unassisted
- First St. Patrick’s Day
- First time to have friends over at her house
- First birthday party
- First petting zoo
- First Easter
- First swim in the pool! {Actually we heated the hot tub to 90*F. She loved it!}
One last exciting piece of news is that Chloe is sleeping in her room finally! I’m still getting up about 1-2 times per night to nurse her, but that’s not bad! Most nights JP is giving her a bottle for her first feeding, so I can get more sleep. He’s the best daddy and is so good to this sleep deprived momma!
My Darling Chloe Grace,
Please tell me how this year is flying by so fast! Your first year of life is passing us by and I’m just trying to soak up every single moment with you. You continue to bring unimaginable joy to our family!
This last month your physical changes have been so noticeable! You are an incredibly strong little girl. Those thunder thighs aren’t just chunk; there’s muscle under there! You want to stand all the time. In fact, you fight us when we try to sit you down sometimes. You want to be on the go so bad, but crawling doesn’t interest you that much, just walking. We bought you a walker this month to let you get around and follow us all by yourself. You’re finding more and more things around our house this way, and momma seriously needs to baby proof!
You’re learning so much and soaking your surroundings in like a sponge. You watch everything momma and daddy do and sometimes try to copy us! You listen to us when we read and sing to you. You talk back at us when we talk to you. You reach for us when we reach for you. You love playing with your toys, especially ones that make lots of sounds! You’re also getting better about playing by yourself while momma tries to get a few things done around the house. I love listening to you jabber while you play with all of your toys and wiggle around. You’re saying more words and copying sounds that people say when we talk to you! Dada is still your favorite, along with hi and yeah.
You still love to eat. You are a joy to feed because you love it so much! You don’t take dainty little bites. You take big, hearty bites! The only thing you haven’t like much is pears, but you seem to eat them fine when mixed with other foods. More importantly, you’re still a boobie baby. You love to nurse and would nurse all day if I let you. The more access you have, the better! But that’s okay baby girl, your momma loves it too and has no intentions of making you stop any time soon. You can wean yourself little one. Until then, momma’s here. (Unless your 2, then we’ll call it quits.)
Life gets better and better each month. Momma and Daddy love introducing you to new things and watching you grow and learn. I can’t imagine that it will ever get old. We love you more than we could imagine and each day, our love for you grows even more. I thank God every day for letting ME be your momma. How could I be so lucky? Thank you for teaching me so much about life and helping me to become a better person simply by loving you. I can’t wait to see where life take this little family of ours baby girl!
I love you forever,
Momma
