I've taken quite a bit of time off from blogging, and Clara baby is 8 months now! She's such a doll, and the cutest, sweetest baby. She has really been growing and developing in so many ways this past month, and she's definitely not so little anymore!
About a month ago we were able to wean Clara off her sleep sack! I didn't mind them (although it was kind of annoying putting her in them for every nap), but she was too big for it. It's SUPER nice doing our little story, rock for a minute, putting her down and then she happily goes to sleep! Woohoo! Her easiness getting settled down at night sometimes goes up and down. A few weeks ago she finally started making it through the entire night (until a 7:20 am wake-up-for-good) without a feeding! It was AMAZING to not have to be up with her at all until I was already up. The only problem was she was crying a lot after we first put her down. Every single night for about a week was like that, not sure why. Currently she is going down perfectly, no crying whatsoever, but back to waking up around 5:30 or 6:00 for a feeding before waking for good at 7:30. I'm of course so happy she's back to no crying, but boy I look forward to a time when there's no more early wake-ups! (If I'm able to fall asleep at all after that feeding it's just a very light partial sleep).
Video of her jumping and blowing raspberries (which she LOVES to do; the raspberries that is)--
Clara sits well on her own now, although it's difficult to get her to stay! She's also mastered going from laying down to sitting up, by doing the most adorable little backpedal up onto her bum. : ) She is definitely a mover, always in search of something to chew. The army crawl is her method of moving, and she gets around everywhere. If she's in the living room, she'll scoot to the kitchen, bathroom, etc. to find me. She's been close to being hurt a few times because she can climb up on things and also try to pull things down. She's also recently gotten very good at picking up tiny objects, and it's hard to help Eli remember to keep those small things off the floor.
Clara and Eli pics sporting the same jammies. Unfortunately only got a blurry picture of Clara, but still fun to compare.
I've tried giving Clara puffs/cheerios a few times. For a while she'd just gag, but she seems to be picking up the hang of it. When she eats them she acts like they're mini pieces of gold that she has to scoop up and get in her mouth as quick as she can. Of course most of what she attempts to eat just ends up stuck to her bum. : )
Clara adores being read or sung to. She's developed her own little squeal, that sometimes gets pretty loud (especially when Eli's involved in the shrieking). She's babbling a lot (especially "babababa"). David and I are in a competition to see who can get her to say their name first. She's getting a lot of "Mmm...maaama!" and "Say dada!" thrown in her face. : )
Little girl is SUCH a happy baby! As soon as you make eye contact with her she opens wide for a grin and will come crawl to you, then climb up your lap for you to hold her. She's bouncing all the time, especially when I'm spoon-feeding her (which yes, does often result in baby food being flung across my clothes). She's now ticklish, and has the sweetest little laugh.
Love this cute video of Clara dressed in her Sunday clothes and moving around--
Clara doesn't stay content with the same toy for too long. She moves on quickly, in search of something new and better. She seems to understand very well how precious Eli's lovies are, and tries multiple times a day to get her hands on them.
It's getting harder to nurse Clara since everything distracts her (and of course Eli often wants to be right there while I'm feeding her. I only nursed Eli til 8 months, so now it's new to me with her. She finishes each side so fast I'm always amazed (has between 4-5 feedings in a 24-hr. period). She eats a big bowl of oatmeal every morning for breakfast, and a Stage 2 jar of vegetables or fruit for dinner. It will be tricky trying to figure out a good time to feed her once she starts eating a lunch in a few weeks. I want to make sure she's getting the right amount of milk and food, but I don't want her to end up spitting up even more all over the carpets!
Enjoying a walk on a very strange and random warm day! She LOVES to be outside!
One of Clara's favorite spots to hang out is Eli's cardboard playhouse. She's crazy about that thing! Fun video of them playing in it together--
Baby takes three naps a day--an hour in the morning, 2+ hours mid-day, and an hour or so in the late afternoon. Having to take three naps really makes it tricky having much time for outings (especially including meals/feedings into the schedule). She sure as heck has to be at home in her bed for her to sleep, so some outings (like the grocery store or some playdates) we're in a mad dash to get back home after her "happy Clara" feelings have vanished and she's just crying. I feel bad for Eli when we have to leave places before he'd like to, but I know it won't always be this way and someday we'll be able to take our time more.
We tried a little photo shoot the other day. So much trickier now with a moving baby! David worked hard, and his pictures turned out so lovely!
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