Eight Month Updates and Pictures

Julia is (already!) 8 months old today! Here's some of the updates I can think of:

1. She can be quite the chatterbox. She went through a stage a week or two ago when she continuously said "nah nah nah." And she would say it back to us if we said it to her. Absolutely adorable. I will get Jonathan to upload a video. Now this past week or so, she has shown more of a preference for exploring the many ways she can scream and yell. It's quite charming.

2. She continues to be an excellent eater of solid foods. She is doing a good job of starting to move from purees to small chunks. And she loves pieces of all things carbs (that's my girl!): coffee cake, scones, bread, even a ladyfinger cookie. And she simply adores her "puffs" of cereal in various flavors that dissolve in her mouth. We also got a little food grinder to grind up some "big person" foods, and so far she has enjoyed (read: inhaled) turkey soup, rice, rice pilaf, chicken, and peas.

3. She loves being able to sit up and for several weeks absolutely loved sitting on the floor playing and watching Jonathan and me do things. Now when we sit her down on the floor, she usually will go immediately onto her tummy and try to crawl. So far, she has gotten pretty good at scooting backwards but cannot really go forward any significant amount (much to her chagrin). Nevertheless, she can cover a pretty decent amount of ground with a combination of scooting and rolling over and twisting around. She has very good upper body strength, and she can lift her butt up, just not long enough to try to crawl. I'm sure it won't be much longer though... and then Lord help us!

4. Julia and I are taking a Kindermusik class for babies. Today was our second class, and she is enjoying it so much (as am I). She loves listening to the music and particularly likes playing with scarves and the rhythm instruments. It's also really cute to see her watching the other little ones in the class. Going along with that, she continues to like "finger games" like "If you're happy and you know it," "the itsy bitsy spider," "this little piggie," etc.

5. She enjoys scratching at things and exploring their textures.

6. My mom and sister (Marmee and Aunt Jocie) were just here for a week, and we loved having them! It took Julia a little while to warm up to them (she's been in a mommy-possessive phase), but she decided they were pretty special people after all (especially because of Aunt Jocie's glam and Marmee's excellent rendition of the itsy bitsy spider).

Those are all the biggies I can think of right now... here are some pictures!

You can always tell when Julia is fast asleep... she tucks her hands under her head:

I'm the best toy in the box:

Demonstrating her backwards scooting abilities:

Peek-a-boo:

Exploring Marmee's face... she loves faces!

What did we ever do to deserve that look?!

Sitting pretty:

Getting her pedicure:

Aren't they purty?

She was blissfully unaware of the proceedings:

The tablecloth at Biaggi's was the canvas for her first "masterpiece":

She sat in the highchair the whole time... I was so surprised and proud of her!

Aunt Jocie and Julia expressing their "inner kitty":

The lovely handmade hat/sweater from Great-Aunt Cheryl:

The exhausting process of trying to obtain the 8-month monkey picture:

Still squirmy-butt:

Watching Daddy instead of the camera:

"Official" 8-month photo:

Love this face :-)