Whitney is 8 Months Old!

Yes, 8 months already. 66% of her first year has passed already. I think back to those first few days at home with her and am amazed at how much a little person can learn in just 8 short months. These have certainly been the best 8 months of our lives, and we look forward to each day, knowing what a blessing we have been given.

Our Daily Schedule:
Whitney continues to have a great routine, and is soooo great when that routine is thrown off. I know some babies can get cranky or fussy when their routine is thrown off or messed up. Not our girl! She rolls with the punches and goes with the flow so nicely! It makes it really easy to get back on track when life returns to "normal". Now that Whitney is mobile and getting more and more social, I am planning to join a mommy group after the first of the year. I dont know who will like the socialization more,...me or Whitney!

Activity:
Whitney crawls everywhere and anywhere. She pulls up on furniture, toys, chairs, tables, and even walls. :) She follows me around the house and did laps around the bed when I was taking the sheets off the other day. While she is busy, busy, busy all the time, she is also content to hang out in her carseat on trips to see Mac and Gramps or Papa and Nanny, and she still loves to sit and watch her LeapFrog DVD each morning. A lot of people told us we would have to redecorate our house and put stuff away once she was mobile (coffee table, picture frames, certain decorations), but we have found that letting Whitney explore (within reason) makes those "dangerous" items not-so-exciting to her anymore. Now that she's been allowed to explore the dog bowl, its not exciting or fun anymore. Since we let her have access to the entertainment center/DVD player/cable box, she has seen that its justn ot THAT exciting, and she leaves them alone. We've obviously baby-proofed the outlets and cabinets and truly "dangerous" stuff, but it has been fun to watch Whitney test her limits and see what she is capable of on her own (with supervision) :)

Sleeping/Napping:
So this month gave us two full nights of sleep in a row, but just as a tease. Seems as though, right when she is starting to get the hang of the sleeping thing, she gets a tooth or a growth spurt (or both), or we are out all day or late at night, or we have visitors, etc. She gets up for binky retreivals most nights, but occasionally has a 4oz bottle around 1am or 4am. She has really become an excellent napper. She was never bad at napping, but now she has two solid two hour naps a day. I can almost set the clock by her wake/sleep times. She's pretty consistant. :)

Eating:
Whitney has tackled all the fruits and veggies (Stages 1 and 2), and is not starting chicken and turkey. I gave her a small jar of turkey and refuse to ever make her experience ethat again. While SHE enjoyed it, I couldnt stand the cat-food-like smell. PUKE! So she has enjoyed a few of the turkey/apples combos and the chicken/sweet potato combos. Whitney could eat yogurt alllllllll day long if I let her. She loves it! She has also started eating more finger foods like puffs and yogurt melts and these yummy gerber things that taste like cheesy-poofs (yummm). We've been giving her tastes of our meals when appropriate. So far she's had green beans, carrots, pasta, bread, potatoes, pears, apple, banana, and a few other teeny tiny bites of real people food :) So far she hasnt hated anything. I have struggled to get Whitney to take more than 4 oz at a time, but I started giving her a 6oz bottle then waiting an hour and givnig her jar food. That seems to work best since she is filling up on formula and geting all her ounces during the daytime hours....fingers crossed that it will lead to sound sleep at night :)

Personality:
Whitney continues to get compliments wherever we go :) She is so easy and laid back. This month she has been to a parade, countless restaurants, a new church, the park, a beach house after an 8 hour drive, Disney World, and many friends' houses. She has spent time with my brother, Eric's family, and other people she doesnt see very often. She has never met a stranger :) The best feeling is when she LIGHTS UP from ear to ear when she sees my mom and dad, and Eric's dad and stepmom, her Aunt D (my close girlfriend/Eric's uncle's girlfriend), and when Eric walks in the door from work. She flaps her arms and smiles soooo big! Whitney really loves books, but definitely has her favorites. She LOOVES "Little Miss Spider", "Teddy Bear's Good Night", "Minnie's Rainbow", and the Little People lift-the-flap books. She likes books that rhyme and are sing-songy the best. When we read to her, she stares at her pile of favorites and grunts or whines until we put down the "other" book and pick up a fave. :) She also really like Little People. So far she has Noah's Ark that was passed down from Kathy's wonderful daughters who love to share :), and my mom just got her the Santa and his reindeer and sleigh set. She looooves them all. :) Minnie is still her favorite of all time, and we just love it! I always said i wouldnt let my kid wear characters on anything other than PJs. I just cant stand character outfits or clothing. However...Minnie is an exception to that rule since she loooves her and we live close enough to Disney (and are there enough) that its acceptable in my fashion book. :) (Thus, the personalized Minnie dress Whitney now sports on our Disney trips!)
Whitney has blessed us with some fun "words" in the past month! The clear favorite is "Dadadadadada", but we have heard a fair share of "mamama" and "neeneenee" and "bababababa" and "papapapa". On occasion Whitney will use her "words" in reference to "Dada" or "Mama" and we've even caught "NeeNee" (Minnie)...but its just as much fun to hear her babbling throughout the day. :)
Pictures:
Proof of her cuteness :)
Whitney, 4 days old:


Whitney, One Month Old:


Whitney, Two Months Old:


Whitney, Three Months Old:


Whitney, Four Months Old:


Whitney, Five Months Old:


Whitney, Six Months Old:


Whitney, Seven Months Old:


Whitney, Eight Months Old:



Our Family, 5 days old:


Our Family, One Month Old:


Our Family, Two Months Old:


Our Family, Three Months Old:


Our Family, Four Months Old:


Our Family, Five Months Old:


Us, Six Months Old:


Us, Seven Months Old: (these monthly pics are getting more and more difficult as Whitney gets more and more mobile!)


Us, Eight Months Old: (yes, Im wearing the same thing as last month...we did this at the last second because I alllllmost forgot)


Outtakes:










And I totalllllly should have waited to get pics like this for our Christmas card:

I was in such a rush to design, order, and get cards out this year, that I settled for pics that really arent my FAVORITES. They were cute, but they dont really show Whitney's big cheesy smile that I LOOOVE. These pics are more "her" :)

Eh...there's always next year... :)