Eight Month Snapshot: Alexandra

by biscuitsspace on March 14, 2019

I cannot believe it is already time again to do another post, Alex’s eight month blog post! The theme this month, summed up in one word, is headway, literally and figuratively. The changes this month feel big. Alex is on the move and there is no stopping her! She is literally chasing Victory with all of her might and she is crawling as fast as she can, as she really wants to ‘play’ with Victory. Alex seems pretty persistent and determined, and we will see how her personality unfolds. Victory is a little more apprehensive since Alex has become mobile! I am sure Victory isn’t sure what to make of Alex who has always been somewhat stationary since she came home from the hospital! We know Victory will adjust, in time. Alex still lights up and giggles when Victory enters the room or when she spots Victory from her high chair. It never gets old! She still loves to give Victory treats, and thinks it is so neat when Victory licks her hand to get the treat! Doug is currently getting some final gates to put up in our home. Alex is quick and she now likes to pick out her own toys and she loves that she is able to move and really explore her ever-growing environment!

This month, she has really enjoyed playing with water bottles, shown below, along with her toys. She especially loves knocking down her blocks! Doug just got her a whole new block set with letters and numbers that she is enjoying. (Doug is in charge of all of Alex’s toys.) Alex is also often pulling herself up in addition to crawling around! Additionally, she is on the move and she loves her new walker that we just got her as well, although Victory is a little apprehensive about it! She is still eating a variety of foods and she loves to feed herself, and her pincer grasp is getting better each day, and she is usually successful in getting the food into her mouth most of the time! One of her favorite foods that we always keep with us on hand are the puffs! She absolutely loves them! Alex also moved into her ‘big girl’ car seat, shown below, that we got for the cars, and, so far, she seems to like the extra space and she is much happier riding in the car! (Our infant car seat did not last as long as we had hoped — I had no idea she would be this big!) She just keeps growing. She is already about 22 pounds and she is in 24 month clothes for the most part, heading to toddler size before we know it! It is unbelievable!

Additionally, we are also making more headway with our schedule, and we have more of a schedule these days, but each day is unpredictable, of course. She still goes to bed early, even with the recent time change. We hope, eventually, she will go to bed a little later in order to sleep in a bit later in the mornings. She still takes naps each day and she is out of the swing and in her crib for naps, which is great! Alex is taking the best naps that she ever has, which is very much welcomed. Alex still usually gets up once a night. We packed up the baby gear she no longer uses along with clothing that no longer fits. Unfortunately, however, it has been a rough month with illness (again). Alex has pneumonia, and it took a little bit to get her diagnosed, including a chest x-ray. We are now on the third antibiotic in an attempt to get rid of the infection and she also has a virus in addition to the pneumonia. Earlier this month, Doug and I did a week of nebulizer treatments with Alex prior to her being diagnosed with pneumonia. It was absolutely awful. Alex cried, cried, and cried, and we had to nebulizer her five times a day, no less! We felt like it was torture for all of us and I think we were all very exhausted by the end of that week. We are so glad that we are done with those treatments, for the time being, and we just hope that she gets all better soon and we do not end up having to see a specialist. (I likely caught her virus, and it has been terrible getting over it.)

We are really ready for spring to arrive, and we hope that it really shows up soon, as spring is officially next week! We look forward to better and warmer weather to get our cherubs out for some outings! Doug got us tickets for our first Pups in the Park as a party of four, and it should be fun! This month has been full of some exciting changes and Alex will continue to keep us on our toes. Our baby Alex is worth everything that we faced on the road to get here; and, I would walk that road a thousand times over. We love our girls and we are embracing it all, and we feel extremely blessed!

A few highlights from Alex’s eighth month include:

-she is mobile and she is getting into everything and putting everything she can get her hands on into her mouth!

-she is sleeping well in her crib in her sleep sack!

-in short order, we are on our way to finishing our baby proofing.

-she is still making lots of different sounds and she loves to laugh and giggle!

-she is still ‘throwing raspberries’ often, and she thinks it is hilarious!

-she loves music! And, she especially loves it when she is sung to and loves to hear the ABC song!

-she still loves to be read to each day!

-she still finds the mirror to be very captivating and intriguing, especially after a ‘melt down!’

-she loves to play with her toys and now she likes to pick out her own toys to play with! We don’t have to set them all out anymore! She really loves when her Daddy builds her a tower out of blocks that she quickly knocks down and she thinks it is the best!

-she is enjoying eating and trying new foods and she likes to feed herself and she likes to share her food with Victory, many food droppings find their way to the floor!

-she loves playing with her water bottles after dinner on the kitchen floor, which usually keeps her occupied for enough time while we clean up!

-she is still very alert and observant! She still loves to play with other kids and observe them!

A few highlights I would like to remember:

-photographing and making videos of Alex — I want to remember and capture as much as I can!

-remembering her crawling for the first time!

-remembering how she sleeps with her legs tucked under her with her bottom in the air!

-remembering that she likes to have her back rubbed once we put her in her crib to help get her settled.

-remembering that she likes to hold her bottles now to feed herself!

-remembering that she always likes to hold a burp cloth while she has a bottle and when she falls asleep.

-remembering her giggling when she gets the soap lathered on her during her baths. She is so ticklish!

-remembering our bedtime routine where she just laughs and giggles before bed during which she loves to crawl into our laps and give us hugs right before bed.

-remembering our walks together around the neighborhood in her Bugaboo, which she loves!

-remembering how we say, “It’s time for sleepy time,” and then Alex makes the biggest smile!

-watching her explore her environment — which has grown ten-fold for her because she is on the move!

-watching her feed herself for the first time!

-watching her ride on her Daddy’s shoulders, which never gets old!

-watching her try to chase Victory in order to try to catch up with her only to have Victory hop on the sofa!

-greeting Alex in her nursery each morning. It is and adjustment to see her sitting up waiting for one of us!

-loving how she smells after her baths!

-loving how her hair is so fluffy and soft against my skin! It keeps growing and growing! It will be neat if she gets some curls, but we will have to see.

-loving on her long, velvety and smooth body!

-enjoying our morning time together, where Victory joins us each morning whereby she licks her sister, Alex, from head to toe!

-loving her giggles!

-marveling at her smile — she has the most wonderful smile that melts our hearts, and her little lower chompers now show when she smiles, most of the time!

-admiring her eyes — they are the prettiest deep blue eyes I have ever seen!

-loving her long and lovely dark eye lashes!

-loving her rosy red cheeks!

-knowing on the days that I feel totally exhausted, that I will someday really miss these early days, and I need to remind myself, at times of this fact.

-still asking myself what will I miss about this time of my life when it’s all gone? This question keeps everything in perspective.

-most of all, we are cherishing getting to be Alex’s parents!

Doug and I are very grateful for our little girl and our little family! We feel so fortunate. We look forward to seeing Alex’s little personality continue to develop and unfold. Below are a few images: Alex’s monthly portrait; Alex and Victory’s monthly portrait; followed by photos of Alex throughout this month; and some iphone images during her eighth month with us! You can read our birth story along with viewing images from Alex’s birth here; you can read Alex’s one month snapshot here; her two month snapshot here; her three month snapshot here; her four month snapshot here; her five month snapshot here; her six month snapshot here; and her seven month snapshot here. The monthly photos are getting a bit more tricky; Alex is on the move and she tries to pull on Victory’s legs and then Victory runs away, and Alex crawls after Victory, and so it goes…I just hope to capture these photos through 12 months!

It has been quite a bit of work keeping up with Alex’s monthly photos; printing of the images; creating her photo book for her first year; creating blog posts; and writing Promptly Journal entries. However, this time will only happen once, and we want to record and remember it, so we are going to keep going with this process through the first year, where so many changes occur, sometimes seemingly over night!