Lucy at 8 months.

Eating:

Lucy is up to eating 3 meals a day. We give her very little “baby food”- we find purees practically unnecessary (I do keep some around for the sake of convenience). She prefers to feed herself, and if I want to successfully spoon-feed her, I have to give her something to play with to distract her. It’s much easier to let her take care of business! I am continually amazed at her hand-eye coordination, and Lucy has a very good pincer grasp as well. She’s very good at picking up even the smallest bits of food and getting them into her mouth. Sometimes Lucy will fill both hands, and stuff one at a time in her mouth. Just when you think she’s forgotten about the other hand, it makes its way in.

Lucy eats a wide variety of food, and increasingly her diet is pretty much whatever we eat, cut into smaller pieces. She loves banana, avocado, mango, cheese, and even spaghetti (she gets noodles cut-up with a small amount of sauce). Heaven help you if you eat in front of her and don’t offer her a bite!

She also loves to drink water out of a cup. We bought some sippies, and then I realized they were difficult for her to use, and she did much better with a regular cup. So now I just pop the lid off of the sippy and use it that way. No big loss- I’d prefer her not to carry one (unless we’re in the car, or anywhere else where a spill would be very bad news) anyway.

Nursing:

Lucy still nurses before I go to work, after work, before bed, and a couple times during the night. Believe it or not, Lucy is down to one 4 ½ oz bottle while I’m at work. For a while she was taking two- one in the morning, one in the afternoon. I think this is due to the fact that she is eating so many solids now, and is often too busy playing to be bothered with a bottle. This is actually pretty wonderful for me, because pregnancy has definitely affected my supply. I am only able to pump 6-7 oz a day (2 pumping sessions), so this enables me to provide that one bottle, plus freeze a little more than a feeding per week. Every time I put a little (even an oz or two!) in the freezer, I feel so happy and grateful, because I know that there may come a time soon when my supply drops to the point that we have to supplement. I figure that even once we get to that point, it will be nice to be able to give her a small amount of milk, and of course I’ll keep nursing, even if it’s just for comfort. We only have a couple more months until she can theoretically go straight to milk (no formula), so here’s hoping we can make it! So far we haven’t had to touch that can of formula I bought a couple of weeks ago, and I feel so blessed.

New skills:

Lucy isn’t crawling yet, but she can pull herself up. I am really starting to think that she is going to be one of those babies that skip crawling in favor of cruising and then walking. If she’s in the sitting position and reaches for something, she’s very good at keeping her balance. If Lucy does fall forward reaching too far, she immediately rolls onto her back. Little thing HATES being on her belly! When there’s a pillow behind her (like her boppy), she can pull herself from laying on her back to sitting (like a sit-up), and I think that soon she will be able to do it without even a pillow to help.

....And as of this afternoon, she has started to "cruise" the furniture and stand by herself for a few seconds at a time- I think my jaw dropped. Where did my baby go???

Her favorite things are her puppies (my, does Savannah love her!) She will play with and pet the dogs for as long as they’ll stay there. Lucy even pulls on Savannah’s ears and face, which Savannah graciously allows. Lucy especially loves it when we put her exersaucer in the backyard and let her play with the dogs out there, or to swing outside and look at the birds. Lucy is quite the outdoorsy girl and will often pitch a duck-dying fit (in the words of Brett) when we bring her inside.

Our little girl has been talking up a storm lately! So far she mixes “BA” and “MA” sounds- like “BA BA MA” or “MA MA BA.” She has definitely cried “mama” and reached for me (this tends to happen around bedtime), much to Brett’s dismay. Lucy has also learned how to hissss, and funnily enough directs her hissing towards whoever is making her mad (i.e. changing her or taking away something she can’t have). She is definitely starting to show a bit of a drama-queen personality.

Health:

We are so, so blessed that aside from a few days with a stuffy nose (easily fixed with the humidifier), Lucy has never been sick (PLEASE DON’T JINX ME NOW!!!) This is especially surprising considering how many times I’ve been sick recently- all hail the power of mama’s milk! Of course, it also helps that she doesn’t go to daycare, and so isn’t often exposed to germs that I am not- and therefore can provide her antibodies for.

The last time I weighed her, Lucy tipped the scales at 17 lbs. 10 ounces, but that was a few weeks ago. I am looking forward to her 9-month well-baby appointment so that we can see exactly how much she weighs, and to measure her length. She is wearing mostly 12-month stuff now, because her 9-month clothing is getting small (remember, those cloth dipes add some bulk!), and I have stopped buying anything smaller than that.

So far, Lucy has only two bottom teeth- no complaints here! She’s only bitten me twice, and it’s actually been weeks since it happened, which I’m very grateful for.