Addison is 8 Months Old!!

Well, time keeps marching on! And our sweet little girl turned 8 months old. This girl is a SERIOUS go-getter. She never stops moving. Changing her diaper is an olympic event, I kid you not. When we take her into stores in the grocery cart, she bounces up and down constantly and you can hear her coming because the metal is clanging so much, lol! Addison is determined and persistent. If she wants something, she just keeps moving and pushing and concentrating until she gets it. She is like me in that way - NOTHING will get in her way if she wants something bad enough. I love watching her as she fights her way to whatever it is she wants. Because I fought my way to her in the exact same way.

Addison is crawling all over and is very competent now at pulling up to stand - she rarely falls now. She can get up and down quite gracefully. She has moved between things - like from the ottoman to the coffee table, but she is still not quite cruising on a regular basis. She is babbling a lot now and it is so freakin' adorable. She says "ba ba ba" and "da da da" and "ma ma ma." She sometimes plays in her crib before and after naps now (instead of screaming) and we love to hear her squealing and babbling in there. She squeals and growls a lot in general, but getting her to laugh is a special occasion. She still only has her bottom two teeth, but seems to be working on her top two - she's been really fussy and clingy lately and chewing on her fingers a lot.

Addison is still not really a fan of baby food. We did move her to Stage 2 foods, but she rarely eats more than a half of a jar for each meal, and even a half jar is a good feeding. Usually she takes 1 or 2 bites, then just fusses until we let her out of her chair. She also has tried cheerios and puffs, but again, she hasn't quite figured those out. I guess we should just go at her pace and hope she eventually makes her peace with food. She will go a few days sometimes when she will eat really well and excitedly. But then she always goes back to refusing it. Addison is sleeping from about 7:30 or 8pm until around 7 or 7:30am (although she was up at 6:30am the last 2 mornings, hope this isn't her new wake up time!). She gets up twice during the night to eat, usually around 1am and 4:30am. I really hope she drops one of those soon, but she's really showing no signs of being ready yet. I've talked to lots of moms lately who have babies who do this, so I'm now thinking this is actually more the norm than babies sleeping through the night by 6 months old? Who knows. I like to think this is just normal - it makes it more tolerable for me:). My favorite moments with her are before nap times and bed time when I rock her and nurse her and she cuddles with me and falls asleep (because she is moving non-stop the rest of the day:)). Seeing how quickly Jackson has become a "big boy," I know that these moments will be gone before I know it. So I just study her face and soak in her scent and pray that I can somehow remember these moments when she is bigger. I just look at her in sheer awe. What an amazing blessing she is.

Well, I guess that's enough for now about our precious "Addy pants." I asked her today if she wouldn't mind just staying my little baby forever. Jason wasn't a fan (he, like most daddies, is looking forward to the older stages:)). I honestly can't imagine loving her ANY more than I do right now, so I just want to freeze time and cherish every second with my baby girl. I hope she knows, on some level, how very much I love her. It actually hurts to think about it, I love her that much. Happy 8 months, my sweet girl. We love you more than words could ever express.