Keeping Up with the Buckners: 8 Months

8 Months! My baby is 8 months old. It feels like yesterday I was 8 months pregnant! But strangely enough right now my sister is 8 months pregnant! She got pregz right around the time Hailey was born :) I can't wait to meet my second nephew some time in the next 4-5 weeks!

Miss Hailey Rian has changed so much in the past month. It seems like she has really come alive! She is so smiley, energetic and squirmy all of a sudden and I just love it. She is so aware of what is going on and curious about the world around her. Her "object permanence" skills have perked up a lot recently - when she drops a toy she looks around until she finds it, and she is a PRO at peek-a-boo! She loves banging toys together and listening to all the different sounds they make.

While she can't officially crawl yet, I would still consider her mobile. She can crawl/push herself backwards, roll around in every direction, and bottom scoot! We used to put the Boppy behind her when she was sitting, but now that's pointless because she scoots out of it 20 seconds later! She is rocking on all 4s, so I'm sure she'll take off crawling in the next few weeks. In the mean time, I need to get started baby-proofing this house!

A couple weeks ago I introduced her to pulling up. I sat her in front of the coffee table, put her hands up on the ledge, and with a little help, she pulled herself up! Turns out the girl LOVES to stand! She's gotten really strong and tries to hold onto the table with one hand and play with a toy in the other - but I try to tell her that she's not quite ready for that yet (or maybe mommy isn't ready for that yet) :) When sitting, she lunges forward towards toys she wants and climbs all over people who are sitting next to her. She reaches for me/Rian to pick her up when she wants out of the excersaucer or highchair, too - I love that!

Her favorite "words" these days are definitely "gaga" and "mama" with "baba" a close 3rd. I love when she's playing with her toys just babbling mamamamamma :) I always answer her, "Yes, Hailey?" even though she has no idea that "mama" is me :)

As for her eating, she has mastered her "pincer grasp" and is very lady-like using her thumb and pointer finger to very slowly and carefully pick up her puffs or bananas and place them gently into her mouth. Did I mention she only eats finger foods with her left hand?? Crazy! I know they say its too early to tell if they will be right or left handed, but at this point her left hand is definitely dominant. When she tries to pick up food with her right hand, it ends up getting lost in the palm of her hand - but then she uses her left pincer to grab the food out of the right hand and put it in her mouth! Ohh my smart little baby :) Her overall daily diet these days consists of nursing about 4 times plus a 2oz fruit (mommy's homemade peaches or pears) for breakfast and 2 different 2oz veggies for dinner (sweet potatoes and peas). Plus she gets to snack on puffs while I'm getting her food ready. She also gets about 2-3oz of prune juice per day due to a mild case of constipation (sorry if that's tmi). It smells gross to me but I water it down a lot and she scarfs it down!

She only takes about 3 naps per day and they're usually only 30 minutes each. She will nap more/longer if we're out running errands because the car and/or stroller puts her to sleep, but when we're home she's my little cat napper! At night she sleeps from about 9pm to 4:30 am, wakes up to nurse, then back to sleep until about 7:30am. Not bad! Last month she was waking up a couple times in the middle of the night but I would attribute that to teething. It seems like she's taking a break from getting teeth a this point (she has 2 teeth on the bottom in the center, but nothing new has popped up in the last 2-3 weeks).

She is getting bigger and taller by the day. Last month she was just transitioning into 6-9mo clothes and now those are almost all too small! I'm interested to see what her stats are at her 9 month check up next month. And her feet are finally growing! She's still just shy of a size 2 shoe and she is thisclose to filling out her 0-6 month socks. And that blond hair - I can't take it! It's way too cute and fluffy!!

Oh my gosh - how could I forget the "cheese" face? This just started about 2-3 weeks ago. One day she gave me this gigantic grin and has been doing it every day since! Look at this face! I think she's trying to show off those pearly whites :)

Hailey and I are still having a blast staying home every day - even though there aren't many days that we actually stay home the entire day. We run lots of errands, go on play dates, visit my grandma in her nursing home, and do LOTS of "mall walking!" I mean how else is a mom supposed to exercise with a baby during the winter months? I certainly don't trust the babysitters at the gym (can you say germs??). A couple days a week my dad watches Hailey while I go to the gym, and the other days of the week we hit up the local malls to walk, walk, walk! My faves are West County, Galleria, and Crestwood (yes it still exists!). South County is a little choppy and you have to take lots of elevators which breaks up the walk too much. Do I sound crazy?? Maybe, but its helping get rid of that silly baby weight. Of the 53 glorious pounds I gained while carrying Miss Hailey, I've currently lost about 49 of them! Only 4 to go to get to pre-preg weight, but I have plans to lose an additional 15-20... wish me luck! Goal: Beach Vacay this summer!

Finally, I just want to take a moment to say how thankful and blessed I am to have such a healthy, happy baby. Other than a mild case of diaper rash and a little constipation, we have not had one major problem with this girl since the day she was born. No reflux, no colic, no gas, minimal fussiness, minimal sleeping issues, and no spinal meningitis like I had as a baby! She easily switches from bottle to breast, has never rejected any food I've given her, and she's met all of her fine and gross motor skills milestones on time. I don't mean to brag at all - I'm just so thankful and really appreciate how lucky I am. I count my blessings every day that God gave me such an easy going, calm, happy baby, because I know there are lots of mommies out there that are not as lucky.