Annabeth Cate - 8 months old

Thanks to everyone for being patient as Annie's monthly updates are delivered later and later each month!

Annie's 8th month has been busy! Here are her highlights:

Eating: Still doing well with nursing and eating her baby food. She is doing better with trying new foods and we are working on more finger foods. Chicken was forcefully rejected recently! Dr. Parr encouraged us to introduce peanut butter before she turns one, so I am currently looking for a low-sugar peanut butter cookie recipe. I still want her first "sweet" to be at her first birthday!

Sleeping: A second ear infection gave us another rough stretch of sleep, but hopefully we are on the mend now! She is not allowed to sleep in our bed anymore since she is so mobile and we do not want her to fall out. She is doing a little better about napping at daycare, and we can usually count on one short nap and one long nap on the weekends. Babies are so sweet when they are sleeping!



Growing: She is one whole pound heavier this month than last month! She weighed 18 pounds, 7 ounces at her ear infection appointment this week. She still wears 6-9 month clothes and is very tolerant of all of the Christmas outfits I've bought her!

Enjoying: Pulling up is her newest trick!! She pulls up on anything that will stand still, and she can even scale up smooth surfaces like the refrigerator, shower, and dishwasher. Annie just learned how to sit down from a standing position, which makes her pretty self sufficient. Chance and I really feel the love when she crawls to us and pulls up on our pant legs! Daddy especially feels the love because she is saying dadadada. Baths are her favorite thing at night, and she will crawl to the tub when she is ready for her bath. Cade is still her absolute favorite person and she is so happy when he plays with her. We are *hoping* that once she gets past these ear infections that she will start enjoying the car, because there is still a lot of crying when we drive!

One of the most fun activities of this age is that Annie can help with household tasks. She recently assisted with dishes, laundry, and opening the mail.



Just like her big brother, Annie enjoys being outside. We had some nice weather last weekend, so we hung out on the back porch. Annie had fun investigating the leaves and did not want to stay put on the blanket!



I'm very thankful to have some time off work to spend time with each child individually. Last week, Annie and I went to her first Kindermusik class. Here we are on the waiting room, where I've spent lots of time waiting on Cade's classes before!



The next week, we couldn't go to the class, so we had our own music class/ instrument tasting session at home!



For Annie's 8 month pictures, I really wanted a shot of her in front of the Christmas tree. We got 2 great photos!





Annie's first year is truly flying by and we are so thankful for her learning and growing!