Dear Laina (8 Months)

Dear Laina,

You are exactly 8 months old today, my sweetheart! I am sad to report that you are a little sickling on your birthday :(

You came down with a cold, and boy you are sick. I have never seen such a pitiful sight in my life. You cough and sneeze, and you have a sore throat. You are congested too. Thankfully, it is not strep and it should subside in a few more days. Even though it breaks my heart to see you in pain, I have enjoyed cuddling with you extra much these last couple of days. Your mommy is not a cuddler, however for you, my dear, I will gladly make an exception. You have not been sleeping well, so in the early morning hours I will scoop you up from your crib and you and I will snuggle in the guest bed until it's time to get up. We take sleep sheep along for the ride too. You just lay quietly in my arms and rest. You even snore, but I won't go into detail about that ;) I rub your back and run my fingers through your hair and kiss your forehead. I think daddy is jealous, but I'm not ready to give you up! I may even have a hard time not making this a daily ritual once you feel better. We'll see about that.


Although you are sick, you still posed pretty for a few pictures this afternoon...




And if I had just ONE word to describe you at this very moment (and thinking back to your seventh month of life) it would be...BUSY BEE! (ok, that's really 2 words, but who's counting?)

Alaina Brooke, you are busy almost all the time. Crawling here or there. Pulling up on this or that. Discovering new objects on the floor. Attempting to grab everything you're not supposed to. It's like you are on the go from sunrise to sunset. I must admit, I am having a hard time keeping up with you!

Case & Point: This afternoon during our photo session, you could not just sit still.

You found it necessary to do a little of this...

And a little of that...

And that...

Wait...where's Daisy during all this?

Found her!

In addition to being a wiggle worm, I noticed bouts of SASS during your seventh month.


You've knowingly thrown toys down, either in a fit of frustration or just to mess with mommy & daddy. Sometimes you pout, throw a toy down to the floor, and peer over like it just 'fell' (as if we did not see what happened). Then you look over at me with an angel face, hoping I will feel sorry for you and pick it up. It usually works, my sassy girl. I have not developed a defense for your tricks yet ;)


You also got in trouble several times this month because you would pitch a fit during diaper changes and used every (strong) muscle in your body to flip over on the changing table. Both daddy & I would sternly say "NO!" over and over, but you had your mind made up that flipping your bare butt over was what you were going to do. Since this was incredibly dangerous, you got a pop on the leg & hand a few times. You basically gave us a stare like, "That's all you got?" Discipline is not something I'm ready for yet, but thankfully this only lasted a couple of weeks and it's not really an issue anymore. Now I give you a toy to play with so you are distracted. Mommy - 1, Baby - 0!!!


Speaking of diapers, you are busting out of size 2's. But because we're cheap, we're using every last one of the size 2's until they are g-o-n-e! Size 3, here we come...soon! You still sleep like a champ, roughly 12 hours at night with 2-3 shorter naps per day. We recently dropped a feeding and you nurse once in the morning, then you have 3 bottles of formula throughout the day. You eat oatmeal for breakfast, a fruit for lunch and a veggie for dinner. Oatmeal is your fave, but you also can't get enough pears, prunes, squash and sweet potatoes. Peaches & carrots = a weird reaction involving orange spit up/vomit(?), so we have striked them from the menu!


You wear either 6 month or 6-9 month clothes, my tiny princess. I am looking forward to the spring weather so I can load your closet up with cute dresses! I'm also thinking ahead to a sassy bathing suit & flip flops. We already know you have some sweet shades to accompany your ensemble :)


And possibly the most alerting news is that you said your very first word this month...MAMA!!! It actually sounds like you are saying "My Mama" most of the time. Oh my. I cannot even describe how this makes your mama feel. The single most delightful feeling ever :)


You also say either "Bye bye" or "Baba", not sure which. Daddy thinks this is your name for him. Whatever the meaning, it is sweet nonetheless.


Alaina Brooke, just when I think I could not love you more, another day passes and you grow nearer and nearer to my heart. You are my sweetheart, my angel, MY baby. I have said over and over this month that your seventh month of life has been my absolute most favorite so far. I cannot wait to see what the next month unfolds :)

Love,
"Mama"