8 Months and Mobile (posted by Daddy)

I can't believe that our sweet "baby girl" is 8 months old. Lydia is officially mobile and our life has changed forever. She is now very quick with "momma" or "Dada" or "ball" when she wants something and has taken to eating her solids like a champ. She loves "puff's" and "wagon wheels" and appears to be using both hands when she eats, so we don't know whether she will be right handed or left handed at this point.

The biggest change this month is that she is officially crawling. Gone forever are the days of putting her on a blanket and expecting her to be there when you come back. We have to put the baby gates back up and try to contain her to one room at a time.

She gets so proud of herself when she sees something she wants and can push, pull, and drag her little chunky legs to whatever she wants. Lately she has developed a love of all electrical cords. She sees them and wants to chew on them. Lindsey even hid a lamp cord under an end table the other day and Lydia crawled under the table trying to get to it. Then Lindsey stuck it behind the couch, and she crawled back under the table and was reaching her little fingers behind the couch. She couldn't see it, but she knew it was there. Of course that comes with added risk and more bruises as she goes from crawling to pulling herself up on everything. She "bonked" her head last night trying to sit up on the hardwoods, so those little victories, like all things, come at a price.

Lydia still has the sweetest little personality at only 8 months. She loves Atticus (our Springer Spaniel), but mostly she loves to watch her brother. She could stare at him and laugh at him all day long! She still grins ear to ear when you peek over the crib at her. However, she has gotten a little difficult when it comes to bedtime. She has figured out that sleeping means that you'll be missing something, so she fights it like the devil. Bedtime, is definitely the most difficult part of the day. Especially when it might take an hour and a half to put her to bed. She has also developed a bit of separation anxiety this past month as well. We have had to come home from two dinner dates because she sort of had a freak-out session. That was actually the first time she said "Mama", in the middle of a crying fit. We have yet to let her spend the night away from us (much to her Gigi's dismay). We just aren't ready to let go yet.

All in all she is doing great. While I am excited that she is reaching a new milestone everyday, it makes me sad to see our "baby sister" getting so big. I can't wait to see her walking, talking and chasing her brother around the house, but I am in no hurry to have her get so big that she can't snuggle her little head right under my chin and go right to sleep on my chest.

Here is a video of her "first crawl" in Tennessee at her Nana and Pop's house a couple of weeks ago. This was sort of the beginning of the crawling for her. She is much more efficient with it now.