That's an 8 Months Bubbush!

Elly is now 8 months old and cuter than ever, pretty much. These are some highlights from the photo shoot we had today. She is growing so fast and learning like crazy!!! Her latest accomplishments include: waving hello and goodbye and tummy scooting backwards. She actually knows that she's supposed to wave when someone waves to her and says "bye bye". It always takes her a second to process the wave she's receiving, though. There's usually a 10 second delay. But, she comes through in the end. She now also scoots. She can only scoot backwards so far. She pushes up with her arms and just pushes backward, sliding along the floor until she hits something and can't go anymore. I think she's confused that she's not going forward, but she is excited that she is moving around at all.

She's got the whole sleeping thing down. When we put her in her bed after the nighttime routine, she pretty much just closes her eyes without crying most nights. She also goes to sleep in her bed for about a 2 hour nap each afternoon. Just in case you are wondering, the routine consists of brushing her teeth (she does it herself and she LOVES it). Mostly that means she chews on her toothbrush. Then, we change her into her jammies, which she doesn't like at all. Then, we read a story- usually Goodnight Moon, which she loves. She likes to turn the pages herself and lately for some reason she wants to turn the entire book over to see what's on the back. Then, we have family prayer. Then, we turn out the light, sing a song and put her in her bed. I think because she knows all the signals, she goes to sleep easier now. She used to cry herself to sleep in her bed after the routine until she got used to what was coming.

Her favorite toys ever are Mom and Dad's toothbrushes. She sits on the bathroom counter, looks at herself in the mirror and bangs our toothbrushes together and on the mirror. She loves it and even if she's really crying, the toothbrushes will calm her down.


She is so smiley most of the time and has a very serious face, too. She can seriously make us laugh and sometimes we miss her while she's sleeping. She's going to talk in about 5 minutes because she babbles all the time. I even think she's singing sometimes. Still just the two teeth on the bottom, but more may be joining them shortly. Sometimes she gets entranced just looking at her hands, opening and closing them. She seems to have qualities from both Brandon's and my personalities. She loves to be where the action is, wants to be with all the people (me). Even now, I am sitting by her on the floor with my wireless keyboard and mouse because she doesn't want me sitting at the computer desk without her. She likes her space, though, and doesn't like being squeezed or cuddled too much (guess who). She doesn't yet seem to have my sweet tooth, but isn't a very picky eater. She loves music like both of us do. She now tries to do actions when I sing Itsy Bitsy Spider. She can't do specific movements at all, of course, but when I start singing it, she raises her arms and moves them around like she knows exactly what she's doing. She still has this love affair with water. She will drink water anytime anywhere from anything. She knows the word and sign for water now and she loves it. Her way of saying "yes" is by smiling super big and almost laughing. It's the best. What did we do without her?