Eight Months

 Our little Heidi-but is eight months old.  The time sure flies by!  Mark & I were just commenting today that seems to be at the 'perfect' baby age.  Heidi sleeps, eats, interacts and is just mobile enough to get to toys or entertain herself but not so mobile that we have to keep a constant eye on her and the cupboards locked.  We love it.  And her, of course.  Not stats this month but here are a few details:

 Sleeping - she still sleeps ~7 pm to 6 or 7 am.  She takes 2-3 naps a day - just depending on how long they are and when they fall.  We don't have a rigid nap schedule and she seems to flex well depending on what our plans are.  One thing that seems to make them easier is we are still swaddling her up for naps using a muslin swaddling blanket.  Love those things!  And she has one trick Allison never learned - if she falls asleep in the car on the way home we can take her out of her car seat (wake her up), swaddle her and lay her down and she will fall back asleep and nap for quite a bit longer.  Can't beat that!

 Eating:  Heidi is still a great eater.  She nurses / takes bottles 4-5 times a day (depending on the naps work out) and gets three 'meals' a day.  She enjoys Nancy's unsweetened vanilla yogurt and fruit most mornings, fruit, veggies and some sort of cereal for lunch (oatmeal or millet) and eats whatever we are eating for dinner (with a fruit or veggie added if needed).  In the last month she has really finally gotten the hang of finger foods.  She eats puffs like a champ so we're moving on to other things (pieces of muffin, toast, cereal, beans, etc.).

 Social:  Heidi loves people.  Every Monday she perks up when we get out of the car at daycare and beams when we walk in the door.  There is one new baby that is younger and she and Heidi get along great.  Of course, when we come to pick her up she is still thrilled to see us, which does make us feel loved.  Heidi has become more and more aware of Allison and is well entertained by her.

Moving:  Heidi still has a funny 'butterfly stroke' crawl that she uses to get around the kitchen island over and over and over again.  She is always so excited to peek around a corner an find, us though, I love it.  She has to stop to pat the air vent then pull a towel or two off the oven and then pull the farm magnets off the fridge each round.  A creature of habit already!  And just yesterday Mark caught her 'pulling up' to standing for the first time - that was a bit of a surprise!

We love watching this little girl grow up.  This next month will be a big one - we're headed out on our first airplane trip together on Friday - not sure how well we we'll weather that one! :)