8 Months, baby!

Dear Brooke,

We can hardly believe you're already 8 months old! It's been such a fun month - but so exhausting. You are crawling like a madwoman and getting into everything (especially things you aren't supposed to.) For example, just yesterday Mommy found you on the 2nd step going upstairs (when did you learn how to climb stairs?!) You are such a curious little lady, always wanting to touch things and figure out how they work - just like your Daddy! Your personality is hilarious. You make us laugh all day long with your crazy antics and silly faces. You think you're just as funny as we do, too. This month has been so delightful - here are the things you're into (and not) right now:

Favorites

Standing - You pull yourself up to a standing position any chance you get. We always find you standing when we come get you out of bed in the morning. Pretty soon you'll start cruising around the furniture you pull yourself up to and, then, next stop: walking!

Elmo - You are in love with this furry red friend. Oh how you adore watching your Elmo on TV! You are mesmerized by Elmo and the whole Sesame Street gang. We're not sure how it started, but every time we mention Elmo's name to you, you start waving to him. It's too cute!

Table Food - You love food as much as the next guy. Most specifically, you love "grown-up food", as Mommy calls it. While you'll eat the pureed fruits and veggies without complaint, you prefer to chew things with those 2 little teeth. Your favorites include celery & carrots, crackers, peaches & pears, bread/rolls, and anything frozen (popsicles, smoothies, etc.)

Waving - It warms our hearts when you wave "hello" and "goodbye" to us. You wave to anyone and anything you can. Our friends, family, and even strangers love it! You typically use the arm-flailing wave, but just learned how to do the open-and-close-your-hand wave. Both are too precious for words.

Doing Tricks - You're the biggest ham we know! You'll put on a show to get the attention of just about anyone. Waving is your favorite and most frequently used. But you also love to make your fishy face and talk to us. You just learned how to do "sooo big!" so we can add that to your list of tricks.

Not-So-Favorites

Being told "No" - Even at 8 months, you already understand what "No" means - and boy do you dislike hearing it! Mommy & Daddy firmly say "No!" when you get into something you're not allowed to be into. You quickly stop what you're doing and turn in our direction, but then half the time you go right back to doing it. When we remove you from that situation, you sometimes get angry. We know how much you love to explore, but it's our job to keep you safe and away from things that might hurt you!

Amusement Park Rides - You wanted no part of the amusement park rides we introduced you to. You were all smiles until they started to move and then you lost it! We're surprised you were afraid of them; you're such a daredevil when it comes to other things. Hopefully you'll grow out of this by next summer!

Diaper Changes - We hope you potty-train as early as you've done everything else because you hate diaper changes! You hate sitting still, so it's no surprise that you try to wiggle your way out of this every time. We used to be able to distract you by letting you play with something strange while we did it (like a comb or sunglasses,) but even this no longer makes you happy. Mommy reminds you every time that she is stronger than you and will always win, but you still fight her anyway!

You're growing up so fast, so we're trying to soak in each and every moment we have with you. Like this morning, when Mommy nursed you for the very last time. You were so happy and relaxed that you closed your eyes while you ate. It's as if you knew it was the last time you would bond with Mommy that way. She just stared down at you, cherishing every last second of it. And like this evening, when you looked at Daddy and said "Dada". His face lit up as much as yours did, just as it does every time you say it (Did I forget to mention you said your very first word this month?) You'll always be our baby girl, even as you grow up and become our Big Girl. We promise to keep cherishing these moments with you forever. Love you babe!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Kings Island :)

This past weekend, we joined my sister's familia and my BFF at King's Island. I haven't been in a few years (not since the magical pass disappeared, so sad!) so it was exciting for me to get back there. Plus it was the Big Lady's first trip, so I was determined to soak it all in with her. Of course, she couldn't ride much, but she did have a field day doing what I like to do best there: people-watch. And boy did she have a lot to look at! There are some winners floating around that place, my friends. I always leave feeling good about myself - classy, thin, pretty. I told Brooke about this before we went in and, sure enough, she left feeling average-sized :) (Don't judge me for judging others. If they didn't want to be judged, they should have thought about that before they chose to wear what they did. Way too much flesh was exposed!) Anyway, enough about the trash, I mean people, at KI...

Brooke's evening was fun-filled. She rode on a few carousels, which didn't really go well (the pic was taken before it started to move.) She got to try her first fried food: pink funnel cake! (Dyed for a breast cancer awareness event, not strawberry-flavored, though that sounds delicious...) She rode a few kiddie rides, including a big yellow airplane that went up in the air in a circle about 10 times. Sooo not a fan of this either, crying every time it came back down to the ground and she could see Mommy again. All-in-all, though, it was a delightful evening despite how late it was for the babe. She got in bed about 10:30, but was such a trooper! Hopefully this will be the first of many KI trips for the Reeder family :)

So many faces.

The Big Lady is a character these days. She is a ball of emotions and makes sure we know how she's feeling at all times. She's loud and sassy just like her mama! Each emotion has a "face" and she managed to give me a slew of them while sitting in her high chair at dinnertime yesterday.

The Happy Girl Face.

We get this one about 90% of the time. She really is a very good-natured, upbeat child.

The Angry Face.

This is hilarious! Whenever she gets mad or frustrated, she scrunches up her face like this and breathes loudly in and out through her nose. It's usually the result of not being able get to something she wants or that I won't let her have it.

The Mommy-You-Really-Don't-Amuse-Me Face.

My antics to get her to eat or to keep her happy are sometimes met with smiles and giggles. But sometimes, she looks at me like I'm a huge idiot. Which, sometimes, I am. Like when I sang Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl to get her to eat her bananas. Mommy = all sorts of crazy.

The Blowing-Raspberries Face.

Ok, so this isn't so much a face as it is an action shot mid-raspberry. But it's cute as hell.

The Fishy Face.

My new personal favorite. This picture kills me. The cheeks! She taught herself to do this. She can do it on command some of the time.

She pretty much has multiple personalities. Her mood can change in an instant. And she totally wears her mood on her face, which can make for some serious entertainment. Just tonight, one of her uncles said that he could just sit and watch her faces for hours. I couldn't agree more. Hilarious, I tell you.

Mommy's helper.

This is how Brooke helps Mommy bake cookies at 7.5 months old:

My response to this: "And so it begins..."

The husband's response to this: "We own a jello mold?"

Catch-up time.

I feel like it's been ages since I really blogged. Like really did it. It's been sad because I really do enjoy keeping up with the blog, both for your sake and my own. ("Your" being all of my faithful readers, the dozen or so of you that keep up with this silly thing. And, actually, three-quarters of you see Brooke on a semi-frequent basis, so none of this is really new to you anyway. But I digress...) I guess we've just been busy. So here's a little catch-up on the Big Lady's adorable little happenings:

- She is sleeping so much better these days! We get nice long stretches of sleep sometimes, like last night when she didn't make a peep from 9 to almost 6. We still have craptastic nights sprinkled in, but all-in-all the sleep department is good these days. (I'm sure I'm jinxing myself for tonight, but whatev.)

- Brooke waves hello and goodbye on command. It's heart-meltingly cute. (Yes, I just made that word up. So sue me, it's my blog.) See for yourself.

(Before you say anything, yes that was "The Story of Easter" you saw on our messy floor. She doesn't have many books, so we read the same 7 over and over and over again. That is one of them. One of her first words might be Resurrection.)

- She says both "Mama" and "Dada". At first they were just sounds rather than names for her beloved parents. But now I'm pretty sure it's appropriately directed at us at least some of the time.

- She is babbling so much more lately. She has mastered several letters of the alphabet, with her recent fave being "N". What sounds like "no no no" is part of her latest stream of conversation.

- She crawls up on her hands and knees a lot now. But if she's in a hurry, she plops on her belly and does the army crawl. She's much faster that way.

- Though I'm sure I'm soon going to be nicknamed "The Girl who Cried Teething", I am certain Brooke is thisclose to getting her top teeth. I really mean it this time. She's a MESS, especially today, and everything is getting gnawed on. Including Mommy, which is making nursing a very painful experience. I'm sad to say we may be nearing the end of this Mommy-Brooke bonding time.

That's all for now. More to come :)

A good morning.

Brooke was up at 7:30 this morning. This is early for us, y'all. She usually gets up between 8:30 & 9:30, so this was not the greatest. However, I can't be too upset about it because....

SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!

9 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. That's 10 1/2 hours, in case you can't handle that kind of math on a Friday. Seriously! I can't get over this. Because, you guys, she hasn't slept through the night since March. MARCH. Having gone to bed early myself, I got a solid 8 straight hours of uninterrupted slumber. This is crazy. I don't know what to do with myself.

I had a feeling this was coming. This was night number 4 of her skipping the middle of the night feeding, which means we are now 100% weaned from that one (yay!) The past 3 nights she'd woken up several times, but needed just a pacifier and a little back rub to get back to sleep. I guess last night she just decided she didn't need Mommy's help anymore. Fingers crossed this is the start of something great!

Pre-baby.

"I can't even remember what my life was like before I had kids."

You know you've heard it before. People drop this cliche all the time. As if giving birth suddenly means you develop memory loss regarding your pre-baby life. Well, let me tell ya: I remember 100% what life was like before I had my kid.

I slept. A lot. Like more than I needed to. I distinctly remember Sundays in college when I'd roll out of bed around noon, grab some breakfast/lunch, and then be back down for a 2-hour nap after that. Not only did I sleep, but I slept consecutively, sometimes 10-12 hours. And oh-so-soundly.

I relaxed. A lot. We spent weekends just lazing around the house watching Food Network. I'd get home from work during the week, grab a snack and curl up on the couch to catch up on my soaps. (From that day, not a week ago. I'm always a week or two behind now.)

I went out. An appropriate amount. And drank. More than one beer in a night. And didn't worry about what time I was drinking those beers and how it fits into anyone's feeding schedule or bedtime. And I saw my friends every weekend. And the husband and I went out to dinner and no one had to remember to bring the puffs and a sippy cup.

I remember my pre-baby life vividly. It was great. But it pales in comparison to my post-baby life. I gave up sleep and relaxation the day I had Brooke and I'd do it over again in a heartbeat. Nothing beats this life. Nothing beats hearing the word "Mama" come out of my daughter's mouth. (Note to self: update the blog with the latest and greatest in the world of Brooke, like her new "words" and the fact that she can wave now.) Nothing beats watching her eyes light up when I walk into her room in the morning. Nothing beats her open-mouthed kisses. Nothing. I'm obsessed with this post-baby life.

Reorganizing.

"Oh, hi Mommy. Did you not want me to empty out this basket for you? I thought you'd like to see all my headbands and the Qtips and the lotion and my brush strewn all about the floor. No? Silly me."

When I said she was getting into everything now, did you think I was kidding? So, so not.

Splish splash...

...Brooke loves takin' a bath!

Apologies for having to suffer through listening to my voice in all these videos. I can't keep quiet in them mostly because I am never quiet anymore. I dictate EVERYTHING I am doing to Brooke. I'm also constantly asking her questions, even though she never answers me. I then answer these questions for her. (Examples: "Are you a sleepy girl? I think you are." and "What would you like for lunch today? Peas and bananas? Good choices!") I talk to her all-the-live-long-day. They say babies should have heard 2 million spoken words before they turn one. Just making sure we meet this quota :)

Boredom.

Boredom can sometimes be a great thing. It was during an uneventful moment of boredom that Brooke and I ventured outside to play. She got to discover grass for the first time and had a great time with it. She loved ripping it out of the ground in handfuls and then watching it blow away in the wind. The pictures turned out so cute so I just had to share!