Fun Flashback

My, how things have changed!

8 Months Old

Our little 8 month old is a smiley, fearless little explorer. She loves crawling towards cords, electrical outlets, staircases, fragile objects that tip easily, and just about anything considered dangerous for babies. She also loves peering over the edge of furniture if she's on top of it (we no longer lay her on the bed…). I'm thinking we should probably childproof the house. I already plugged most of the electrical outlets, but that's about it. We'll be ordering baby gates and rearranging some things very soon.

8 months old… such a big girl!

She was crawling away from me, stopped, and looked over her shoulder with this pose:

Trying on her adorable new hat that one of her mama's old coworkers/friends made for her:

Good news! She LOVES the mall! She smiled and kicked her legs the whole time we were there:

Rough housing with papa (she can't get enough of it):

Sound asleep.

Grabbing a fistful of her very patient puppy's fur. She yanked pretty hard…poor, sweet Cash.

34 Weeks Old

When we first had Delaney, friends (and complete strangers) told us, "Just wait, it keeps getting better and better." It's so true! Watching her grow and develop a personality has been so much fun. She's developing a goofy sense of humor and giggles at the littlest things. She also knows how to make us smile and keeps us laughing all the time. Right now, she absolutely loves her jumper and will jump like crazy (arms flailing and head bouncing everywhere)…stop, look at me…then burst into giggles. Then she does it all over again, and again, and again. Sometimes seeing me laugh makes her laugh. She's also ticklish! Tickling her tummy and under her arms makes her squirm and let out a squealing grunt/laugh, which kind of sounds like she's thinking "this is unbearable but I think I love it."

She has really become comfortable in swim class. This week, she smiled the entire time and loved kicking her legs under water. Brad said she was being pretty goofy with him throughout class. She was talking, splashing, and trying to stick her face in the water. I love that she's getting more comfortable in the pool, and I'm so glad we're taking her to this class! It's such a great experience for her - especially seeing how much she's learning and enjoying it!

I've recently realized Delaney isn't sitting up yet - not because she can't, but because she doesn't want to. She's capable of it, but every time I put her into the sitting position, she arches her back and slides into a lying position. Instead of sitting, she likes lying on her side. She'll rest on one elbow and use her top leg for balance (see picture below). I guess she'll start sitting when she wants to.

Delaney's sleep schedule just recently changed pretty drastically. She was taking 5-6 naps each day, but all of the sudden she decided she wants to take 1 nap - sometimes 2. She falls asleep sometime between 9-11pm (she can be quite the night owl!), wakes up sometime between 6-8am for a quick bottle and diaper change, then goes back to sleep until 9-11am. Then she's up for a few hours and takes a 3-hour nap. Depending on how late she naps, sometimes she'll squeeze in one more short nap later in the day. Sometimes she won't. I let her determine her own schedule. I'm fortunate enough to be able to stay home with her all day, and we don't have a reason to get up early/at the same time everyday, so I follow her lead. She knows how much sleep she needs, and she's happy and healthy. It works for us. :)

Time to cover the electrical outlets! ASAP.

After petting her buddy Cash, he rolled over onto her. Crazy kids.

This is how she "sits." It's more of a pose.

Groggy in the morning:

Best friends.

Out to dinner with Grandpa and Noni. She loves them!

Loving her Wisco cap:

Happy Valentine's Day from Delaney!

32 Weeks Old

Delaney has been crawling so much! If she sees something that interests her, she'll go for it. It doesn't matter if it's two feet away or across the room. The more interested she is, the faster she crawls. It's still sort of an army crawl, but she just started practicing propping herself up on her hands and knees, so I'm wondering if she'll start crawling on her hands and knees soon. Her favorite word is still "mama." She LOVES saying it, but I still don't think she knows what it means.

In the past week and a half, both of her top two incisors have made their appearance! She was much less fussy as these teeth broke through than she was when her bottom teeth came in. She loves grinding her bottom teeth against her top teeth, and the sound of it kind of makes my skin crawl. It's like nails on a chalkboard. I'm getting chills just writing about it. Moving on…

Laney has started swimming classes! She has already been swimming twice. She's enrolled in a class with about 6 other babies and their parents. The first time we brought her, we changed her into her little pink, ruffled swimming diaper :) and brought her into the pool area. She became really nervous and panicked a little bit. Brad took her into the pool and we both tried to calm her down. As soon as he dipped her legs into the water, she started to relax. Once she figured out she was just getting into the pool for fun, she really started to enjoy it. She was all smiles! At the second swim class, she seemed much more comfortable. She loves kicking her little legs under the water! Brad will hold her out in front of him, submerged up to her armpits, and pull her around in the pool, and she'll smile and kick her legs the entire time. It might be the cutest thing I've ever seen.

A little unsure about the swimming pool...

Getting the hang of it:

Loving it!

Best buds.

Her thoughts on mango:

She found the perfect spot for a nap: