8 months

Yesterday was Emily's 8 month birthday!!  We had the whole blog ready to go, but then forgot to take her measurements before she went to sleep.  On the months that she doesn't see the doctor, we try to do the measurements ourselves.  Grant and I each measure her and we never get the same thing, so we just try to take an average of our measurements.  So the results we have here could potentially be pretty far off, but it gives us something to go off of :)

-Emily's moving all over the place now!  We have to always make sure there's nothing on the floor that she shouldn't have.  She can go pretty fast and get to pretty much anything she wants.  The other day, I left the room for a minute and she followed me into the next room!  I thought she might get frustrated after a while, but she was very determined to get to me so she just kept going, taking small breaks on her way.  She gets up on her hands and knees and sometimes on her hands and feet, so she wants to crawl for real, but she usually just plops back down if she tries to move her legs.  She's getting there!

These pj pants were a little too big for her so she ended up crawling right out of them :)

-She loves standing up.  If someone sits next to her on the floor, she'll grab their hands and pull herself up.  If we set her back down, she'll do it over and over again.  She can even take some steps if we're holding on to her.  She can't pull herself up on furniture yet, but if we stand her up next to something she can hold on for as long as she wants.

anything technology related is still her favorite toy.  

if you have a floor covered with toys and one remote (or phone or ipad...), 

she will go for the remote 100% of the time

-Emily is LOUD!  Whether it's with her own voice or through other objects, she loves being able to create noise.  She's started using a whining voice a lot!  Sometimes it's because she wants something and is actually whining about it, but sometimes she just likes the way it sounds.  She also likes to bang her toys together or on other things so they make noise.  She thinks it's hilarious.  She uses that as a method to get our attention.  She also likes chewing on her paci or sippy cup to hear the squeaky noise it makes.
-Emily loves her board books (well really any kind of book, we just try to keep the non-board books away so she doesn't rip them).  She can even turn the pages all by herself now!  She also likes to run her hands down the book so it makes a squeaky sound.  Her favorite book is one about animal sounds.  She thinks it's really funny when we make the noises.  She's also fascinated by the hymn books at church, but we try to keep them out of reach :)

I had a cute video to go with this, 

but it's not letting me upload it, 

so it will have to come another time :(

-She's always playing with our necklaces or the buttons on our shirts.  I can't wear dangly earrings anymore :(  Some of the pillows on our couches have big buttons on them and she likes playing with them and chewing on them.  She gets frustrated sometimes, though, because she can't get them off of the pillow.
-We started some finger foods with her last week.  We're mostly just doing puffs for now.  She LOVES them!  She's getting better and better at feeding them to herself.  At first, she would grab them in her fist and then couldn't figure out how to get it into her mouth.  She eventually learned that she could use her other hand to get it out of her fist.  She still does that occasionally, but she's getting better at the pincer grasp, so she can usually do it herself.  She'll eat pretty much anything you put in front of her.  She's a great eater!  She also loves her sippy cup and she does a great job using it on her own.

-Emily is very dainty!  When she wants something or is excited about something she twirls her hands around.  It's something she comes by naturally, because I did the same thing when I was little.  It's adorable!!  Lately, she's also been into crossing her feet.  She does it a lot when she's sitting up or laying on her tummy.  She'll also tap her feet on the ground behind her when she's on her tummy.  It makes her look like she's bored :)

I don't think there's anything more angelic than a sleeping baby

-I think she's falling back into another "stranger danger" phase.  When I threw the baby shower here a few weeks ago, she had a hard time with all of the people.  She was okay at first, and excited to see new people and other babies.  But the more people that came, the more nervous she got, and after awhile she freaked out if I wasn't holding her.  It was funny to see the difference between her and the other babies that have older siblings.  They were so chill!  She'll still go to other people occasionally (most of my family is fine since she knows them well enough by now), but there are times when she gets upset if she's not with me.  I hope this phase doesn't last too long :(

But for the most part, she's just as happy as can be, and we're amazed at how fast she's learning and growing!  How can she already be 8 months old?!

her dimples are becoming more noticeable again :)

love those eyes!

I like this pic because it shows how photogenic Emily is.  

Even from far away, she smiles at the camera!

This month's photoshoot was the most difficult one so far.  She kept wanting to crawl right off of the chair!  And on top of that she was screaming most of the time.  Not crying screaming, but I-like-the-sound-of-my-own-voice screaming :)  Then she discovered how to make herself rock in the rocking chair and she got a huge kick out of it.

see how dainty she is?  what a little lady!

unfortunately, her head was cut off in some of her best pictures :( we were trying so hard to get her attention and make her smile, that we weren't paying close enough attention to the camera