Maeve, 8 months

My sweet little peanut is now 8 months old.  Maeve is such a joy and such a blessing to our family!!!  There are so many things that make her so unique and so totally her own person and we love discovering them more and more each day.

Maeve is VERY "grabby" now and forcefully takes whatever is in your hand.  She is often lunging for my computer or phone and tries to grab hot coffee or anything around.  She is mastering her pinscher grasp and is finally able to pick up cheerios on her own.

Maeve is still such a happy (if tempermental) baby.  She wakes up from naps and night time with giggles and laughs.  Sometimes she'll roll around in her crib talking for a half hour or more and as soon as you walk in the room she grins from ear to ear and kicks her feel wildly.

At 8 months we have not been able to break her of the swaddling habit.  We have tried on so many occasions and the child WILL NOT go to sleep if she is not swaddled.  She will cry or play for EVER but will not sleep.  If I wrap her in her blanket, she is immediately asleep.  She is very close to being too large for the largest blanket and we're not sure what will happen then!  She is also struggling (read: NOT) to fall asleep in a pack and play which means going to someone's house has not been an option for us.  She'll sleep in the car and at home, but not anywhere else.  I'm sure this is a repercussion of being homebound for most of her life, but I hope she'll grow out of it!

Maeve is a tempermental eater.  She is certainly NOT a little peanut anymore and is quite rolly poly, but she is finicky about how and when and the position of her eating and is not consistent in any way.  She is eating a large variety of foods that tonight included mashed potatoes and yogurt.

Maeve is a pretty content and will happily sit in the stroller or her car seat for quite a while.  This is a dramatic improvement from her newborn days.  She has settled in many ways.  But, because she has been with us primarily all the time, she is a bit more weary of others holding her.  She will not give the nursery attendant at church the time of day and has a big old wrinkly lip that turns into a wail pretty quickly!

Noah has had his first two live interactions with her as another member of the family.  He has a habit of not sitting down on the stools in the kitchen.  He fell off one day and she started laughing.  He yelled at her -- Don't laugh at me Maeve!!!  and after a particularly large trantrum at a friend's house, we were in the car on the way home and Maeve fell asleep.  Annoyed that he no longer had her for an audience he started yelling at her "Maeve don't sleep!  You can't sleep now!!!!!'"  Overall he is still very good with her and still finds her quite novel.  Once she takes off crawling, I am quite sure this will change.

We are hoping to be out and about with her more and to expose her to many new things now that we can move as a family again!!!!  Happy 8 months baby girl!!!