8 months!!

8 months! My goodness, where did my baby go??

In the last month, Presley figured out how to crawl and promptly forgot. Now she combat crawls with great intensity, grunting and whining. She has become a superstar sitter now that her core is stronger. We no longer have to leave pillows behind her in case she falls. She even sits in the bathtub like a big girl. She's good at standing and it is definitely her preferred position to hang out. She pulls herself up in that position any chance she can.

She has figured out her pincer grasp and can pick little things like puffs up off her high chair. She is babbling a lot and even repeated Shawn when he told her to say, "dada". Sadly, no luck with "mama"! I'm signing to her and she appears to understand what I'm doing although she has yet to sign back.

Her favorite toys this past month are her Leapfrog learning table, wooden blocks and these dishes from Samara's kitchen. She's lost interest in any of her regular baby toys and would much rather slobber all over my phone instead.

Her favorite activities are still being in the Beco, baths, going for walks/runs and swinging at the park. She loves to be sung to as well. She reeeeeally loves me...and so begins the separation anxiety phase.

Last month I jinxed myself by calling Presley a dream eater. She's starting to get pickier and is refusing some foods (like avocado) all together. She seems to enjoy feeding herself finger foods so we've tried cheese, scrambled eggs, peas, etc. She has mastered her sippy cup. All that eating and still no teeth to help her out!

Presley mostly sleeps through the night now. She sleeps around 11.5 hours a night (7pm till 630am) and has 2 naps a day which are 2 hours each. Please don't jinx me.

Presley weighs 16 lbs 11 oz. She measures 26.25 inches long. She wears 3-6 month clothing with quite a few things (dresses) still 0-3 months. Her shoes are size 2. She is in size 2 diapers.

Things I never want to forget:
- that no matter how nice it is to have a baby who can put herself to sleep, it's still the best feeling in the world to have her fall asleep while nursing and being rocked. When this happens, I just kick up my feet, snuggle in and time just stops.
- how gratifying it is to just pick her up and have her immediately stop crying/whining and be happy. Oh, how I wish I could have this work in years to come!