Family First: 8 months

Dear Madison,

Has it been another month already? You are 8 months old! I am so proud of your every accomplishment, but sometimes it is just a little overwhelming that you are so close to turning one! It seems like it is just around the corner.

This month you have completely mastered sitting up. You can sit for such a long period of time now. Heather said to me just a few days ago, "It's still so strange to me that she's sitting up all by herself because she still seems so tiny." You are also standing all by yourself for short periods of time while holding onto something. I don't know why it seems so crazy to me that you can do that now, but it does! You aren't crawling yet, but you've gotten really good at rolling to get to things. We often place objects in front of you to encourage you to scoot or crawl toward them, but you always just wiggle and roll instead until you get to them. Maybe you'll just skip crawling all together.

You've been imitating sounds, and it's so cute. I love to say "bay-be" (baby) or "a bay-be" (a baby), and you always try to repeat the sounds back to me. Sometimes you do it really well! It seems as if you're almost always babbling/squealing/singing. You love to play pat-a-cake and sing the itsy bitsy spider. I think your new favorite thing, though, is sitting on Daddy's shoulders. You smile and laugh and bounce the whole time!

You had 2 teeth come in this month (the bottom front teeth). Teething hasn't been a problem for you so far. I really hope it stays that way! You look so cute with your little teeth!

This month, we celebrated your first Thanksgiving. You loved to watch your cousins play - you were so amazed by them. It's so fun to watch you around other children. You're always smiling at them, and it often looks like you're just studying them - trying to figure out how to do the things they can do. You also attended your very first parade this month - the Christmas parade in Marietta.

There is no way that I can even put into words what a joy you are. You truly are such a happy baby. You are always smiling and being silly. You get so excited over every little thing. You are very funny, and you are starting to realize it. When you make us laugh, you will do whatever it was that we were laughing at over and over and over. You're turning into quite the little ham!

We love you so very much! Happy 8 months!