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To my silly, silly little girl:

This month I promise not to fill your letter with my sob story of being so sad to see you grow up, because lets face it O, you are whether mommy likes it or not! You have grown up so much this past month and you make me and daddy so proud of you. You keep us laughing and on our toes every day, and we really could not imagine our lives without you. I am so excited for what our future holds with you as our littlebig girl, it is all so exciting to think about. Daddy and I giggle thinking about taking you on your first trip to the zoo, putting you on the swings for the first time, taking you to Disneyland, baking cookies with you in the kitchen, splashing around with you this summer in the pool, taking you to the beach and watching your little toes in the sand for the first time. We look forward to every single second of our days that we get to spend with you, and even on the days that seem like they will never end, kissing you goodnight is my most favorite part!

At 8 months you are:

Eating much better, so far you like pureed prunes, applesauce, peaches, banana, sweet potatoes, squash, peas and carrots. You also like any foods you can shove into your own mouth (puffs, yogurt melts, and your MOST favorite mum-mums!). I have given you table food here and there, like noodles, rice, soft bread, toast, mashed potatoes, cous-cous, yogurt, cheese, turkey, and beans. You seem to like the taste of most things, but are really not all that big of an eater (which kinda explains why you are a whopping 16 pounds at 8 months old).

Drinking water out of a sippy cup (which is the cutest, most ‘big girl’ thing I have ever seen!)

Drinking about 6 six ounce bottles of formula with rice cereal a day

LOVING Kobe (the dog). Your eyes light up when he comes into the room, especially if he is running around like a mad-man (which is almost always!). You love when he gives you kisses and eats all the crumbs/spit-up off you, its pretty funny to watch

Pulling yourself up on things, every morning we come downstairs and you crawl right to Kobes crate. He is always sound asleep and you make the cutest little screech so he knows you are there. You pull yourself up on his crate and wait for him to lick your fingers. Its my favorite part of the day because you are just so darn cute. You also pull yourself up on the couch, coffee table, stools, chairs, ottoman, my legs, anything and everything you can get ahold of pretty much!

Finally sitting up 100% without toppling over or leaning on your elbow

Crawling up the stairs (with mommy or daddy 0.0001 inches behind you to catch you if you fall of course!)

Babbling away, but no real words yet. Last month I swear you were saying ‘dog’ but this month you stopped

Have 2 bottom teeth, and a third on the bottom is sooo close to popping through!

Waiting for your cousin to be born, and learning to play with your babies. I am teaching you how to hold them, rock them, feed them, and kiss them. You laugh whenever I have your baby, apparently I am pretty funny

Very resistant to naps these days, you will not go down without a fight!

Loving all your toys that sing songs and light up

Rocking a pony. Most days I am not lucky enough for you to sit still enough for 2 seconds to pull it up, but when I can find something that interests you enough I can pull it off, and its sooooo cute!!

Starting to enjoy cartoons, right now you watch Dora and Wonder Pets. And you love the weird moose that sings on the commercials

Still playing in the jumperoo and exersaucer, I am sure in the next couple weeks you will be over that and onto something else more exciting

Wearing 3-6 month clothes, and finally fit into shoes! I have super cute shoes and am so excited you can finally wear them

Finally OK with being in your car seat. You slept the entire way to California and all the way back just fine. Makes the drive so much less stressful

Very independent, you cant stand being held down and you are not one for cuddling at all. I was so bummed that you stopped letting me put you in the baby bjorn and wrap, I just love holding you and being close but you want no part of it. You hate being rocked, wont let me feed you your bottle anymore, wont sit on my lap. And kisses? Forget about it!

Speaking of difficult…you will not lay flat long enough for us to change your diaper, unless we give you something really interesting to play with, you are flipped over in about 2 seconds and halfway across the room. This can make for changing a dirty diaper a very interesting task!

Laughing out loud when we do silly stuff

Loving dancing and watching people dance and making loud sounds

Enjoying walks, especially with Kobe

Splashing like a wild woman in the bath tub. Grandma Suzanne got you bath toys and you LOVE them. You hate to see them floating around in the bath, they have to be within your arms reach or you yell

The sillest thing you are doing at 8 months: standing up in your crib when you are supposed to be going to bed or napping, and yelling at the top of your lungs to get our attention. You have not yet figured out how to plop yourself down, so you yell until no avail, then we come in to rescue you, pat your back and give you the binky, and 1 minute later you are at it again. It is a viscious cycle but it can be pretty funny. The best was the day daddy came in and you were standing up, with your head resting on your arms, sleeping!

You really are Gods greatest gift and I thank him for you every single day. Every day I spend with you makes me that much more excited to experience the next! I love you to the moon and back Olivia Bea.

Kisses,

Momma

(All of the below pictures were done with a very chipper daddy standing close by bribing with treats, toys, silly songs, faces, dancing, anything to get you to look at me!)

Snacktime!

Oh-My-Gawd this is good!

LOVE this baby booty!!

Aaaaaand a typical end to any photo shoot

I think that is her signal for “I’m done momma.”

I love love love this girl!!!