A Word from the Weathersbys: Ellie Grace : 8 Months

Ellie Grace will be eight months old tomorrow. I'm going to post a day early because I forgot how busy tomorrow is going to be. Clay and I both work, and then we are going bowling with my mom's fam. I'm pretty excited.

8 months old!!

I have no idea how much she weighs or how tall she is. We go in for her 9 month appointment next month, so I'll know then. But if I had to guess, she's well over 18 lbs. She is still wearing her six month clothing - it's starting to get a little snug, so we probably only have a few more weeks before I'll have to put it away. However, she's in 9 and 12 month jammies. She's still wearing size three diapers - and will be for awhile.

I haven't been able to take these monthly pics for awhile now with out that elephant ending up in her mouth.

I'm going to go ahead and say she's officially sleep-trained. She goes down every night at 7:30, and will only wake up once in the middle of the night - usually between 1 and 4 - to have a late night snack. Then she's back to bed until anywhere between 7 or 8. All in her crib. It's amazing. She'll take two naps during the day - a morning and afternoon nap. In true Ellie fashion - they are usually pretty short. Sometimes I'll get lucky and her afternoon nap will be a little longer, but it's rare. She sleeps on her belly with her legs tucked up under her and her butt in the air. It does not look comfortable at all, but it's adorable.

I'm still nursing her - but with where she's started eating more solids, I'm definitely not producing like I used to. (Sorry if that's TMI.) And quite frankly, I just don't have the time like I used to to sit and pump every three to four hours to keep up my "amazing" supply. My day is now spent chasing a mobile miss and cleaning up her messes. Soooo I think it won't be long before we will be using formula. She's had one can her entire life - we had to bust it open when I was sick last month. I felt a little guilty doing it - thanks society - but I had to do what I had to do. And guess what? We all survived. I feel really lucky I've been able to nurse her this long. It's been best for her and I don't even want to think about the money it's saved us. I'll continue nursing her as long as I can, but I've decided I'm no longer going to sit and stress about my supply anymore. If we have to start buying formula to get us through the next few months, so be it. I'm at peace with it. And I don't think little miss will mind as long as her belly is full.

Ellie is an amazing eater. She'll eat pretty much everything except bananas. She hates them. She loves sweet potatoes, corn and squash and loves pears, peaches and raspberries. We've been giving her yogurt bites and Gerbers graduates - and she loves those too. She loves bread. However - she can't chew. Haha. She hasn't quite learned this skill. She just expects whatever you feed her to dissolve in her mouth like her yogurt bites do. So if you give her something soft that requires a little chewing - she just looks at you like "what the heck did you just put in my mouth?" So hopefully she'll acquire that skill sooner than later.

She also has yet to master the sippy cup. She has shown interest in my water bottles, so I thought she might like a sippy cup. But she just throws it around and chews on it. So maybe one day she'll have that down too, haha.

The last few weeks she's been using her little car, shopping carts, and whoever will help her to walk around. If you follow me on Instagram (follow me @kortlw) - you've probably seen a few videos of her doing it. It's pretty cute. She's also stood up by herself for a few seconds a few times - but then she gets a little nervous and sits down on her bum. She will stand up to anything she can though if she has something to hold onto.

Classic Ellie "old grandma" face. Haha.

Right after I took the last picture, she turned around and immediately stood up. See what I mean? Standing on everything.

And then she turned around and gave me this "I'm a smarty pants" look.

She said "dada" for the first time on Wednesday - I blogged a video of that. Clay was SO happy. He's been waiting for her to say "dada" forever. She's a pretty serious little girl, but every once in awhile you'll get her to start talking and she won't stop. And her giggle is THE best.

She's quite independent. I often let her play in her room while I try to get a few things done around the house, and she's usually pretty happy to do her own thing and explore. However, she's also still in her "stranger danger" phase and prefers mom over anyone else. Sometimes if she can't see me - she has a melt down. And there are some days where she will NOT let me put her down. But that's all part of being a baby I guess. :)

She is getting to be so much fun.... I know I say that every month - but I swear, the older she gets and the more she discovers, the better this parenting thing gets.

She has started to wave "hello" and "goodbye". I'll take her into the bathroom and tell her to say hello to "the baby" and she'll wave and wave. It's pretty cute. A few nights ago, I went out to dinner with a bunch of gals from my dad's old ward, and a friend of mine brought her little boy. They were so cute together. I think it's going to be time to start getting some play dates in order. And have I mentioned how much I want summer to be here? I can't wait to play outside with this little girl.

She loves our dishwasher, and will pull herself up to it and play with the dials. Today, I had a load going and she pulled herself up and I saw her go straight for the dial. I moved her hands and told her "no" three times. On the fourth time - no joke - she bit me with those two little chompers. I didn't know whether to laugh or get mad. I was so shocked. Haha. I'm going to go ahead and say 8 months old is a little young to bite out of anger and blame it on the fact that she's teething and sticks absolutely everything in her mouth.

We gave her her first bath in the "big big" girl tub, and just bought her a bunch of bath toys. Bath time is becoming one of my favorite times with her.