Nora at 8 Months

This girl is becoming too much fun these days. Jason and I are constantly laughing at how funny her little personality is. I can't get over how much I love each age more and more. But 8 months old? She will be 1 year old so soon and not a baby any more so I'm trying to soak her up while she's still classified as a "tiny human."

At 8 months Nora is:

• Soooo happy! She smiles all the time-while playing, at strangers, when we play peekaboo, really just a lot of the day this girl is smiling! It's such a fun stage.
• She also loves to smile with this big open mouth grin now and her tongue out. It's pretty funny and you can see some below.
• Super curious. She can't sit still long without grabbing for anything and everything. She can't nurse for more than a minute or two before looking around and wondering what she is missing! 
• She still tries to eat everything or chew on everything. She's really become obsessed with my hair and wants to eat it every time she can grab it!
• She's LOVING food. She eats all of her pureed fruits and vegetables and is starting to eat real foods like bread, cheese, tortilla etc. It's seriously so fun. 
• She's working on her pincer grab for food but doesn't quite have it down yet. About half of the time the food makes it in her mouth but the other half misses her mouth. 
• She is rolling all over. She can make it across a room now just by rolling.
• She's working on standing. She can stand and play for awhile now but doesn't get the concept that she could pull up or stand on her own without us initiating it. She stood yesterday in the church pew looking back at her friends for about half of sacrament meeting. It was seriously so cute-the little boys behind us were flirting with her and she was eating it up. 
• She still loves when I sing her songs, her face lights up instantly to her favorites: "Popcorn Popping" "Slippery Fish" "The Wheels on the Bus" etc. 
• She is just starting to like to "read books." She will actually sit still for a few minutes in my lap and likes to grab at the books.
• Sleeping great most of the time. She has some nights where she wakes up and I nurse her and then she still won't go back to sleep. So she has to hang out with us for about 20 minutes (which she loves and is super happy during) and then she will go back to bed. She doesn't seem to do it on purpose but gets so worked up that she can't get back to sleep. It's max 1-2 times per week so I can't complain too much and it's always before we go to bed so it really isn't bad. Plus she's so cute and cuddly that we love it. 
• Still nursing 4-6 times per day and still likes it but definitely gets distracted lots and I don't know how much hindmilk she gets because I can't keep her on longer than about 5-7 minutes. 
• We try to feed her solids in the morning and at night but it doesn't always happen. We are introducing snacks during the day now though also so she's exposed to lots of food. 
• She's definitely still small for her age but she has her 9 month appointment in 2 weeks and we will see if there is anything to be concerned about and if she has been growing. She's still in size 3 diapers and can still wear a lot of her 3-6 month clothes but also some 6-9 month. People are always commenting on how small she is. I prefer to call her "petite."
• No crawling yet but she's starting to launch forward from a sitting position to get to things. A lot of the time though, she just whines to get something so we are trying to teach her to move and get it herself! 
• She's got a pretty good schedule: Wakes up at 7;30am, plays in her crib until 7:50 or later, eats and then plays until 9:30 or 10 with Mom or Dad, depending on who is home. She naps at 9:30 or 10 for 1-1.5 hours (some days she can't nap until 11 and it seems to work out but she is definitely VERY tired when we wait that long). Then she is up until about 12:45-1 before another nap. On really good days she naps for 2.5 hours in the afternoon but it varies anywhere from 1 hour-2.5 hours. Then we play or go out in the afternoon and then we usually wait outside for dad to come home around 5. Then Jason feeds her solids and plays with her and gets her ready for bed and they have "roly poly" time where they roll around and play before bed. Then I feed her, play a little more and then put her down right around 7pm. On a regular good night, she then sleeps until 7:30 the next morning. Recently though she sleeps until 8 or 9 and then wakes up but once we feed her or hang out with her she sleeps until morning. 
• Is getting her first tooth as of yesterday! It's on the bottom and you can feel it so I'm sure it will pop through any day now! Which is probably why she has been waking up at night more!