8 Months

It happened again this month. Someone asked me how old my daughter was and I had to think about it...then realized she'd be 8 months...the next day! For me, it's not that time is moving quickly, it's that I'm losing track of the time that has passed. Does that make sense?

I was diappointed with my lack of pictures for the last post, so I've tried to capture our little darling doing what she does best....just being Rachel.

When Geri and David came to pick her up last week, Geri was sweet and got Rachel a few new clothing items. It's been so hot that I can only put her in little tank-top onsies that I got at a garage sale. And (this is horrible) I'm kind of getting tired of seeing them over and over again. She's just hitting that stage where she's growing out of her 6 - 9 month stuff and into 9 month stuff. Not quite, but I'm starting to weed out a few items here and there. Geri LOVES to shop at the consignment store for her (and I love hearing about the bargains!) This is one of the outfits she got. It's hard to see from the picture, but it's a really thin cotton dress with a matching...oh, what are those called? The little bottoms that look like underwear but they really are a coverlet for her diaper? I can't think of it right now....so we'll call it the diaper coverlet pantaloon. Anyway, this outfit is so cute! But it's hard to get pictures of her outfits right now. She doesn't want to sit still and when she stands, she's always hanging on to something. So I snapped the above picture, but you can't see her outfit! So I tried again:

....and again....

.....sigh. Close enough!

Once she got home from day care, Jason and I wanted to go on a walk. Check out this big girl in her awesome stroller without the carseat!!!

Oh yeah. This girl can totally sit up like a big kid. While this is really exciting news.....it's bittersweet.  It's sad because she's getting so big so fast.  It's great because she's growing just like she should and that's a blessing! But this also means we need to be keeping our eye out for her next car seat. My goal is to have the next one picked out by Thanksgiving (and hopefully found and purchased too!)

Next up.....a perfect, and I do mean perfect, find by Geri:

I have been searching for a tiny table and chairs all summer long. My thought was to get one of those plastic Little Tykes table and chairs....but I've found thus far ONE of these sets in all my garage sailing and consignment shopping and it wasn't in good condition at all. So when she came across this little gem and described it to me, it was perfect. Granted, it was kind of pricey in my opinion, but hey....when you live in the world of garage sales, even the Goodwill gives you sticker shock. And since I hadn't found anything else even close to what I wanted, I told her to pick it up. So bless their hearts when they brought Rachel they packed the car so full and left their poor dog at home so they could bring this little table and chair set. And it was worth it all because this little set is in great condition and absolutely perfect for her play area!!!

Next up in Rachel's latest shenanigans.....

Do you see what that little stinker has in her hand? Let me give you another look:

That should give you a better idea. Yes, that kid is in her exersaucer....with toys ALL around her to grab on, shake, spin, make noise, and even chew. The kid should be overwhelmed with colors, sights and sounds....and all she wants to do is pull on our plant. THIS is why we haven't gone (completely) overboard in getting her toys. She doesn't want to play with them! We give her a big basket of toys to play with...she plays with the toy basket. I let her pull her toys out of the diaper bag...she wants the pad of paper to chew on. And this one takes the cake:

We go to a restaurant this evening. She has toys. She's had her carrots. Yes, she's eating the table. THE TABLE. For a tablecloth it was covered in nice brown paper. She ate the paper. HAPPILY. Like it was a treat or something! It's too dang cute to be annoyed about!

She does have a tooth coming in, I'm fairly certain. Once in a while I'll rub my finger along her gums and I'll feel something, other times I won't. But she does have nights where her gums really hurt...most of the time it doesn't. And you can see the back of her gums something coming in. So I know we're right there. That tooth is trying to work its way through!

Another discovery she's made is her tounge. She'll be playing or eating and suddenly feel the need to stick her tounge out and lick her chin. And I don't mean a quick stick her tounge out, I mean it's out flapping like she's excited about something.

And the drool!!! It has begun. She'll normally have her shirt soaked before we've left the house in the morning for day care. However, I'll take the drool over the spit up ANY day!