8 Months!

Happy 8 month birthday, Lucy Lu!  I completely forgot to get a video of her.  Let's be honest: I'm impressed with myself for making it 7 months with the video on the day thing!

My sweet sleeper is getting so big!

Lucy is growing like a weed and going through a growth spurt at the moment.  She suddenly wants to nurse every two hours (around the clock --groan), so I'm hoping we're about to be hit with some major growth and then a return to one feeding a night, which is where we were trending a few weeks ago.  She's got a lot going on to keep her awake at night, too, with being on the verge of full-on crawling, working on teeth (still!), words (she says dada), and learning to eat big people food.  

Guarding her melon! 

Lucy can now crawl for one to two paces then flops forward onto her belly and repeats: hand, knee, hand, flop...back up, repeat.  She's really quite fast, especially when she's motivated by a "no-no".  Yes, we've reached the time of having to say "no" to her and begin redirecting her.  She is interested in all things string-like (I fascinated her the other day by wearing a hoodie with strings) which includes computer cords and plugs for all electronics, electronics (remotes, phones, computers).  

Fascinated by the fish at the restaurant with Nana and Grams

Lucy's eating is taking off, but as her hives are as well we're having to scale back on her foods and keep a food/reaction log for her and I.  I'm documenting everything I eat, when I nurse or feed her, and when she gets hives.  We're hoping to find a trend so we can verify it at her 9 month appointment with a blood test.  

Mmmm, cracker!

She can pull off her bib and does so as soon as we look away.  She can pinch and pick up food and get it into her mouth herself -- though she's still rather stymied by food that makes it into her palm...  She can "chew" remarkably well considering she has no teeth, so we're starting to let her sample food from our plates, which she loves! Anything we're eating is of immense interest to her. 

Grasping takes concentration!

Self-feeding isn't easy! 

Get it off me, mom! 

She's mostly figured out the cup!

Hives during breakfast means breakfast is over.

She's about 27 inches long according to our very imprecise hold up a tape measure next to her and hope she doesn't try to eat it even though it would totally build her immune system (bleck!).  She's about 18(ish) pounds, if I had to guess.   

Lucy's other big accomplishment is that she can now sit herself up from her tummy!  We've enjoyed watching her work out this new skill as she transitions from sitting to "crawl" position and then back up.  I've especially watched her budding independence and being able to fulfill some of her basic needs and wants.  A couple of days ago I watched her fussing and cooing in a rather determined fashion and was amazed to watch her traverse the living room in quest of her pacifier!  It was so cute when she got it, popped it in and rolled over to savor her success!  Go baby, go! 

Oh, hey mom! Look what I can do! 

So far this has been accomplished with daddy's help,
although I often come in to find her peeking through the bars and the top rail at me now. 

I just love you to your toes, mama!

Water Baby:

Enough hair for a baby mohawk!

She's got the relaxation thing down! 

We had a whirlwind visit from (great) Auntie Sarah! 

Guess who gives hugs now! 

 Lucy loves being in the bath!  She has a book, a bowl, and a shampoo bottle and she couldn't be more thrilled!  She's quite the Shamu with a couple foot wide splash radius!

Nearly Crawling: 

You can't escape me, mom! 

And I can sit myself up!