8 months

The last few posts have been about Riley, so I figured it was time to share an "ode" to the big 8-monther. She actually celebrated 8 months on Thursday, but due to circumstances out of my control (down internet, a 3-year-old with pinkeye and now congestion, a hard-working husband, etc.) I haven't had the chance to post until now.

 

I've learned several things about Ella over the past month. The first is she seems to love vehicles almost as much as her brother. She gets so excited when I hand her a toy with wheels on it! This makes her daddy happy, but I'm a little nervous we may really end up with a used car lot one day! :)

I've also learned that she LOVES swimming. Ok, really, her version of 'swimming' is sitting in her nice floaty while I (or another gracious soul) pushes her around the pool. But, she is so relaxed and loves splashing around. Just this past week I found out that she enjoys licking the water - gross! She wouldn't quit so I had to eventually take her out of the pool. But aren't these wrinkled feet just adorable?!

I don't have a picture of this next lesson learned, but just the other night we found out in a very clear way that Ella is NOT a fan of our dog, Mac. She hasn't spent a lot of time around him since she's become more aware of her surroundings. He used to be an inside dog, but that didn't work so well with a baby, so we relocated him to the backyard several months ago. Since then, Ella hasn't really been around him until the other night. We went to the playground at the church (basically in our backyard), and took Mac with us. Ella was sitting in her stroller, and when Mac came over and licked her foot she went ballistic! She screamed as if someone had chopped a finger off! After that, anytime he came near she would flip out. Guess she's gonna be like her mama in the not-liking-dogs area. :)

Sweet girl finally started sitting up on her own this past month! Yay! It actually began the week of July 4th while we were visiting family in Little Rock. Now she can sit up for a long time while playing on the floor, and when she does fall over she gets frustrated when she can't reach certain toys. I've been watching her legs and if she can get her arms to cooperate, I think crawling won't be too far in the future. I'm certainly not rushing anything - just making an observation. :)

Ella has become a much better baby food eater just in the last couple of weeks. FINALLY! She now eats 2 jars a day and has 5 bottles. I'm pretty sure at this point Riley was eating 2 jars 3 times a day. :) But hey, we are saving money with this little eater! Her favorite vegetable so far is squash and favorite fruit is pears. She's not a fan at all of sweet peas (I like peas, but the baby food version would gag me too!) and bananas don't make her too happy, either.

 

She is definitely working on some more teeth. Fingers and hands are in her mouth all the time! Sometimes she'll even grab my hand and stick one of my fingers in to gnaw on a little bit.

There's those 2 bottom teeth!

"I mean, how much longer will this photo shoot last? I've got more important things to do!"

Oh, how I love those facial expressions!

"Ok, I'm outta here!"

"Finally where I want to be!"

I'll close this 'ode' with a video of my two favorite kiddos. Technically, this was recorded last month while we were in New Orleans, but my mom asked for a video of Ella and this was a good one. :) Enjoy the cuteness!