8 months!

As my maternity leave/summer break come to an end (boo hoo!), I'm getting ready to say good-bye to Miss Vivien for 8ish hours a day!  I haven't been away from her for more than 3 hours so far, so it's going to be an ADJUSTMENT!  Luckily she was with my mom for all of those 2-3 hour stints away from me, so hopefully the transition for her won't be too bad.  I can look at pictures and watch videos on my lunch break, but I won't be able to smell her or feel her soft skin.

Vivien is still the most smiley baby I've ever met.  The most she fusses is when she wants to be held but we can't hold her.  Ryder is actually pretty good at getting her to stop crying, which is helpful.  He makes funny faces and sounds at her and she starts smiling and laughing.  She definitely enjoys being around him, despite that fact that he likes to bite her (!!!) and I think that will help when she goes to my mom's.

She is all about the food nowadays.  I think the only new foods this month were apples and peaches, plus another variety of infant cereal.  She only liked the new fruits mixed with her cereal, but at least she ate them.  She absolutely loves sweet potato and oatmeal.  She really eats those up quickly.  This next month she can eat more solid food vs strictly mush, so that will give her a little more variety.  After we finish eating, I let her play with the spoon and she's gotten really good at maneuvering it around.

She's much more interested in her toys this month, and Ryder's too, which can pose a problem!  She will grab any and all toys that she can reach, and of course put them in her mouth.  She has really started to enjoy jumping in her little jumpy thing.  She likes it even more when Ryder bounces her up and down in it!  She doesn't jump as hard as he did when he was a baby, but she is content to chill in it, play with her toys and watch what's going on for a while.

She can just barely sit up on her own now, but she seems to prefer laying down.  She rolls all over to get what she wants and has just started to move around due to the arm and leg flailing that she does.  She's also much more comfortable on her tummy now, which is good for movement and sleeping.  Speaking of sleeping, she's back to waking up twice a lot of nights- around midnight and then 3-4am.  Hopefully it's a growth spurt and she goes back to one, or even none soon- parents can hope right?!

Most of that sitting is on her own!

She always puts her arms up, I love it!

Smiley for tummy time

Always waving her arms and legs

Ooh, a hand!

Shouldn't have tried to do a "photo shoot" when she was tired, most of the pictures were wonky!