Little Miss Trouble McStinkypants

The diaper won the battle, but I think we know who's going to win the war.

Eight months

Our girl is eight months old already! I've been so amazed at Marla's growth and development lately. She's becoming so aware and responsive. I'll be honest, some of this makes our lives a teensy bit more difficult. For example, she often cries when we leave the room now. She also cries when I put her in her crib, take away a toy, or give her food she doesn't want. She refuses her pacifier most of the time, which has made naps more difficult. She stiffens her legs up to prevent me from setting her down on the ground. She reaches out to grab Betsy's fur. She hates having her diaper changed. She wakes up in the middle of the night. A lot.

And to top it all off, we've been seeing a lot of this face lately:

The noise that usually accompanies this face is a mixture of snorting (like a pig), snuffling (like a rhino), and growling (like a dragon). Adorable, right?

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great things going on with Marla, too. See for yourself...

Food has become a lot more fun. She was never a big fan of baby food, so we've moved from purees on to table food. It's awesome to be able to feed her from our plates for the most part. Plus, she's getting better and better at picking up chunks and feeding herself. Cheerios are a favorite.

This weekend, we gave her an apple from Grandma Susie's tree. She didn't make a peep for half an hour while she gnawed away at it!

She gets bored of the jumperoo pretty quickly now, but still LOVES to bounce, bounce, bounce all the time.

She can get onto all fours and rock a little bit, but doesn't crawl yet. She's gotten pretty adept at rolling, squirming, and stretching towards things she wants to get her hands on.

She also does a lot of leaning and lunging from a sitting position. Observe as she attempts to eat my foot. Mmmm.

Check out her pearly whites!

Her favorite word is "da." She says it all day long, in a variety of volumes and intonations, to express a multitude of emotions. Needless to say, all of this "da da da da da" is going to Jeff's head. However, yesterday I caught her saying "ma ma ma," and was further surprised to see she'd learned a new skill. Who would've thought spit bubbles could make me so proud?

So far, eight months has been pretty exciting despite some new challenges. I think we'll keep her after all. :)

Fall

I love early fall. It's seems so innocent and benign in the beginning, when it's only chilly at night time and it stays light until 8:00 p.m. It almost makes you forget what comes next.

Early fall is great for football games too. Marla's first game as a spectator was a success. She lasted an entire half and the Huskies WON!

Boating with baby

We took Marla on her first ride on my dad's boat a few weeks ago. Some of my fondest memories of growing up involve boating, so I'm hoping to instill a love for it in Marla. Unfortunately, we don't have a boat. Maybe someday. Until then, we get to hitch rides from other people.

Marla did really well, considering she needed a nap and was forced to wear a life jacket that restricted any ability to, well, move. Those infant life vests mean business. Seriously.

Still not sure about this whole thing.

We docked and ate lunch in Afton. Much happier.

After some lunch, she crashed and napped while we cruised up the river.

After that, she was a star! Happy to have a break from the life jacket while we anchored for a few minutes:

She loved the boat, especially when Grandpa let her "drive." She bounced and jabbered with complete abandon while my heart camped out in my throat. Should I learn the baby sign for "BE CAREFUL!" now, or wait until she can read and just tattoo it across my forehead?

 

Bayfield

We took our first vacation as a family of three to Bayfield, Wisconsin a couple weeks ago. We had such a blast on the shores of Lake Superior together. We walked all over town, visited Madeline Island (via ferry) and Little Sand Bay (via car), played on the beach, took a boat cruise around the islands, ate a ton of saltwater taffy, and just relaxed in our condo on the lake. Of course, Marla didn't get the memo about being on vacation... she didn't sleep past 5:30 a.m. all week. At least we were up bright and early to enjoy the town and the lake!

Our girl got to play in the sand for the first time! She was unsure at first, but by the end of the week, she was an old pro at digging, throwing, and eating it. I was hoping the water would be warm enough to take her swimming, but even Jeff couldn't make it past his waist. How come Lake Superior never felt so cold when we were younger??

Anyway, here's a video of Marla's first encounter with sand. I love the part where she "discovers" her foot underneath it.

I informed Jeff that I intended to eat ice cream every day of our vacation, and I made good on it. Our favorite place was a shop in Bayfield called The Candy Shoppe. They make their own waffle cones and have about a hundred flavors of ice cream. YUM.

Speaking of ice cream, Marla got to try it for the first time. I think it's safe to say she inherited my sweet tooth. She couldn't get enough of it!

As you can probably imagine, I took way too many pictures to share in one blog post. Here's a collage of some of them, to give you an idea.

It was hard to come home. We love Bayfield!



Seven months

The past month has flown by. Marla is still trucking along, getting more grown up all the time.

We're pretty excited around here this week, because she got a tooth!

"What IS that in there?"

 She can squirm around on her belly pretty well now, although it hasn't progressed to crawling yet. Is our house baby-proofed, you ask? Of course not!

 She's very interested in Betsy and laughs at just about anything she does.

 She sleeps really well... when it suits her mood. She goes down around 8:00 p.m., usually makes it through the night, and wakes up around 5:00-5:30 a.m. I guess I can't complain (much).

 

Jeff went back to coaching football this week, which means he's home a lot less than he has been throughout this spring and summer. She's still a daddy's girl despite spending less time with him every day.

And Mom's all right too, I guess.

We're still working on solid foods. Frankly, she's just not very interested. She does seem to enjoy playing with food, so we're hoping her appetite will improve once she's able to feed herself.

Her hair is growing all over her head, but still seems to sprout especially well up top, giving her a mohawk/toupee look. She pulls it off better than Donald Trump, and it provides endless bathtime entertainment.

If she's anything like me, she'll want to be an animal for every Halloween until she's 14. Here's her first crack as Marla the Mouse, wearing a cat onesie and attacking a sheep. Clever, no?

Gimme that tiger!

It's nice that Marla finds fighting for a toy so enjoyable. I'm guessing the novelty will wear off more quickly for Betsy...