No official stats again this month, but she is still in size 2 diapers (we probably should move her up but she still fits and we are just using up the last of our size 2s.) She fits really well into her 6-9 month clothes. Some outfits say 6 months, but the dress she wore on Sunday was 9 months and it fit perfectly.
--She still has giant beautiful blue eyes with gorgeous long lashes. Everyone comments about how pretty her eyes are. When I look at her eyes (especially when David is holding her) I think she looks just like her daddy. She definitely inherited them from him. Its so cute.
-- She is still so happy and easygoing. She smiles at you all the time. I'm so grateful for such a sweet happy baby. She cries when she is tired or stuck somewhere - but for the most part she is just content to hang out and play with you. Her little smile is the best thing of my mornings. (She is always happiest right after she wakes up in the morning. It's like her way of saying "My mom! My dad! I missed you last night. I can't wait to play with you all day." I love it.)
--We started out the month being able to sit up. I would set her in a sitting position and she was awesome at holding herself up. She could lean over and grab things and return to her sitting position and had pretty great balance. About halfway through the month she started leaning over onto her hands and one knee like she was getting ready to crawl. Pretty soon she could lean forward into crawling position and then return back to her sitting position. It was so exciting to watch her make those first few movements into crawling! She still can't crawl quite yet, but she will stretch out and lean forward onto her knees - then pull her legs under her and sit back down. It's slow going - but if she is patient enough and doesn't get distracted she can move around and get to what she wants.
--If you stack up her little wooden rings, or her little plastic blocks, she loves to knock them over. It's so funny to me because I will stack them up and before I can finish she has knocked them over. But then, once they are scattered she looses interest. It's like she doesn't like them stacked, but once they have been knocked over it doesn't need her attention anymore. We play this game over and over again- and I giggle every time.
--Sometimes when she sleeps she kicks her feet so hard that her legs come up into her pajamas. It's so sad because she gets distraught. (I'm sure it's not very comfortable.) This happened a lot more towards the beginning of the month when her 6-9 month pj's were still a little big.
--She loves to grab at everything. One of her favorites has got to be the strap of the camera. I'm happy with that because it keeps her attention focused on the camera.
-She loves her little sit-to-stand toy. Her favorite part is definitely the telephone. But like with her blocks, she really only pays attention to it when I hang it up in its spot. She pulls it off, sucks on it for a second, then drops it to the floor with disinterest. But you better bet the second I put it back, she grabs right for it. The same thing happens with the little red barn door on the left side of the toy. Swing it out, and she immediately will swing it back in - but other than that she won't play with it.
-- Oh here is another one of her little toy. Now hardly ever sits to play with it - she always always pulls herself to standing.
-- When cuddling in bed, Lydia loves to play with our faces. She giggles to herself while exploring eyes, noses, and lips. One morning when David was still sleeping, she cuddled up to him while playing with is face and started sucking on his nose. Not just slobbering on it, but totally sucking on it. I couldn't stop laughing as I watched him wake up and wish his baby girl a good morning.
-As far as schedule goes, Lydia still isn't sleeping through the night. She has gotten a bit better but still wakes up 2-3 times each night. Most of the time I nurse her and put her back in her bed the first time, then the second time I usually fall asleep in the rocking chair while holding her. Finally when she wakes up at 6ish I pick her up and bring her into bed with us. I really love that time that we all have to cuddle as as family. December was especially awesome because David didn't have to work for the last 12 days of the year - which meant lots and lots of cuddle time.
--One day I was doing a little sewing and I set Lydia in her crib to watch while I worked on my project. I noticed that she was leaning forward to grab the rails of her crib, so I immediately raised the side of the crib. (After snapping this picture because she looked so cute.) I knew she couldn't crawl, but I didn't want her to get momentum and fall out. She was squealing at my sewing machine like she was excited and nervous all at the same time and I was laughing at her while I was sewing. And then I watched her grab the railing with both hands and pull herself to standing. I stared in shock for a couple seconds before erupting into cheers and grabbing my camera! I'm so glad that I caught this on tape. Her second time standing up - ever. I love how proud she is of herself. She just starts smiling and is so happy! (Also, don't mind the fact that I keep filming when she falls over - she was still happy and I was too excited to stop.) Now Lydia is a pro at standing. She pulls herself up on anything that is available, boxes, couches, people. She can even balance herself with just one hand at a time.
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| Whoah mom, what are you doing back there? |
--L loves to eat food. She also loves to chew on spoons or anything else remotely similar to that. Another of her favorites is to chew on a toothbrush. Obviously, I don't let her chew on our toothbrushes but after seeing how interested she was in ours I opened a brand new one and let her have it. She loves it. It makes me laugh, but if she likes it - who am I to complain?
--She still loves tags. Anything resembling a tag somehow finds a way into her mouth. Tags on toys, presents, clothes, boxes, or really anything. Something that resembles a tag? A zipper.
--She still hasn't quite figured out how to crawl. Many times she leans over and gets onto her hands and both feet. It looks like she is trying to stand up straight from sitting. My little sister Melissa laughs and calls it her "Downward Dog", which is a position in Yoga that looks similar. And who knows? Maybe L really is just working on some yoga moves. Either way it's funny and darling.
-- I already wrote about this, but because it will be printed into a separate blog book - Christmas was awesome with Lydia. She was the perfect age to be interested in the presents, wrapping paper, and ribbon - but still dependent enough to want to stick close to me. I love how much she loves me and how dependent she is. Don't get me wrong, it's nice when she can play by herself, and she definitely gives her dad lots of lovin' as well - but I love that she wants me to be close to her.
--Another thing that Lydia likes to play with is my necklace. Whichever necklace I happen to be wearing at the moment. Some people say that I am brave to still wear necklaces - but I enjoy wearing them (even if they are small) and I don't mind when she plays with them. I watch her really close to make sure that nothing breaks, and enjoy talking to her about the necklace when she discovers it.
--I just love that she is so interested in the world around her. The other day when I was getting ready to feed her - she reached her arms back behind her highchair and grabbed hold of one of the decorative sticks that I keep in the corner. I couldn't believe that she was able to reach them, and the look of wonderment and curiosity was so fun to watch. A couple of times she accidentally let go and it flipped back into place leaving a startled Lydia in its wake. It's amazing how they learn and figure things out.
--Just a couple days after Lydia figured out how to go from sitting to crawling position, back to sitting she figured out how to go from tummy to sitting. It was like overnight. This was awesome until we discovered that Lydia knowing how to sit up on her own = no more falling asleep in her bed. Instead of just laying there and falling asleep like she used to, now she sits up and cries (leading to standing up and crying). I've found her like this over and over again over the past week. She falls asleep sitting up and ends up with her head between her knees. If I try to move her, she wakes up so I just let her sleep there as long as she can. (It can't be very comfortable.) I decided that I had to snap a picture for proof. Even though I was very quiet she still woke up. Looking at this progression of pictures makes my heart smile. She wakes up and first thing she does? Smiles right at me. So sweet.
-- We are just starting the process of packing up our apartment in preparation for moving to our new house. Lydia has been a champ and so far has been pretty cooperative as far as hanging out while I am busy packing. I'm grateful that she is so easygoing because we have a lot of packing that needs to get done and about one month to do it.
-- Lydia has started to do the funniest thing. When she gets excited she starts breathing in and out really fast like she is panting or hyperventilating. It's totally on purpose, and if you do it back to her she will laugh and do it again. It sounds like heh-h-heh-h-heh. I don't know where she picked it up but she does it all the time when she is happy or excited or proud of herself. (She looks a little tired in the pictures below but she really was being happy and excited.)
I'm sure that I could write much more, but this post is already getting super long. So, here are some more pictures of our Lydia Elise from 7-8 months:
We love you sweet Lydia and are so grateful that we are your parents and we get experience life along side of you as you learn and grow and find joy in every day. You have made our lives so much better and we couldn't have picked a more wonderful baby girl to have in our home.
