Abigail: 8 months old

 Nicknames:  My most common this month have been Sunshine and Munchkin; I am using Abigaily less, and JP is still consistently using Sweet Pea as his favorite
Temperament: more opinionated all the time, but overall happy and very curious, continuing to be very watchful and observant, happy and chatty most of the time

Item/Toy We Love The Most: the new jumper, books, the new stroller, the rubber ducky song, everything that helps you stand up

Item/Toy You Love The Most:   anything that will help you stand up! this can be the couches, the coffee table, the dining room chairs, the bookcase, the wall, the footstool in your room, etc., the tiny hole in one cushion on the couch, the carpet fibers, and some actual toys, like the jumper, the spinning blocks, and the rock and stack, the rubber ducky song,

Things We're Loving Most Right Now: seeing you figure out a few more things every day about standing and walking with help and problem solving how to get toys and pick things up without having to sit down, anytime you laugh, seeing you figure out how to pick up little things with a developing pincer grasp,helping you walk all over the house and stand up whenever possible, hearing you say babbled phrases that sound like real sentences, singing with you

 Things You’re Loving Most Right Now: nursing, standing up and cruising and transferring, eating, jumping in the jumper, walks in the stroller, playing with the mirror baby, getting dried off with your ducky towel after baths 

As a side note, our monthly photo shoots have gotten more challenging as Abigail has gotten more mobile:

Eating: This month Abigail began eating two meals a day, one at school in the middle of the day and one at home before her bedtime nursing session.  She continues to enjoy a wide variety of foods and we are gradually working on more finger foods.  Abigail is continuing to have six milk feedings a day, although they may be a little bit shorter.  She continues to finish her bottles at daycare and usually gets up once at night to eat.

Sleeping:  Sleep has been a little all over the place but improved the last week of the month.  Abigail got two more teeth this month, which seemed to have some connection with her sleep difficulties.  Abigail falls asleep pretty easily at night but then had a pattern of waking up 2-3 times after a few hours of sleep. We rarely had to pick her up but it often took a few tries to get her back to sleep.  Then she would stay asleep until she woke up to eat later in the night.  The last week or so, she was more likely to stay asleep the whole night except waking up to eat.  Her naps have been about the same--short and infrequent at daycare--but her mood continues to be pretty good so we have not done too much to change them. 

Playing:  Abigail is so much fun right now!  She continues to really enjoy jumping in the jumper and is curious and interested in things.  She has started scooting on her tummy, a precursor to crawling, but is not that interested in crawling. Instead, she is totally interested in being vertical, and loves to stand up and cruise along the furniture or walk holding on to our hands. She gets better at picking things up all the time without having to sit down, and can sometimes sit down carefully from standing. She falls on occasion but recovers nicely.

She continues to enjoy looking at books and playing with balls and her rock and stack and animals, although one of her favorite things to do with all her toys is knock them off the table onto the floor. 

Growth:  No doctor's visit until next month, but we can see Abigail getting bigger and longer and stronger all the time.  We have retired most of the 6 month clothes for Abigail's baby cousin Laura and we have moved into mostly 9 month and some 12 month clothing.  

As I mentioned before, Abigail also grew two teeth this month! They are her two top front teeth.  We didn't notice the first one coming through until I was nursing Abigail one day and heard a clicking noise that sounded like teeth clicking, and once I pried her mouth open, there it was poking through!  We were not so lucky with the second tooth, which we could see pushing on her gum, but took a solid week to finally break through.  Other than her sleep possibly being disrupted, Abigail didn't seem too bothered by the teeth. She still likes to click her teeth together, and sometimes make little grinding noises, which drives JP crazy!   

Abigail also continues to chat more and more, and is saying lots of consonant sounds. She is also starting to say little strings of sounds that have the same cadence as sentences, although they are still clearly in baby-language.  

A comparison: