8 Months Old

Aubrey Nicole, you are 8 months old!  This post is a little late, but you make it very difficult to take your pictures now.

You are about 18 lbs and 28.5 inches long.  You wear size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 at night, 9 and 12 month tops and 12 month or 12-18 month pants and pajamas.  You have such long legs.

Things you have learned/do this month:
 - Dada is currently your favorite word.  You said it a lot for a few days, then suddenly stopped for over a week.  Then we "talked" to Daddy over Skype and now 3 days later you are still saying Dada all the time. During that week break your favorite word was "hiynya" which I thought sounded like a Chinese version of "hi ya" like if you were karate chopping something.  It was so funny that almost everyone would repeat it when you said it.
 - You touch everything with your pointer finger.
 - You just started clicking your tongue but as soon as I try to get it on video or do it back to you, you stop.
 - You area pro sitter now.  You still tip over every once in a while.  Mostly when you get really excited and wave your hands in the air.  You don't quite know how to get down to the floor gracefully so that looks like you are falling over as well.
 - Your favorite game is sitting on the ground and reaching for my hands to pull up to stand.  You are still very wobbly when standing but apparently you don't know that b/c you'll let go fairly often.
 - You have started to respond to my talking.  You will say something and I'll repeat it and you stare at me trying to figure out what I'm doing, then you'll say it again a little louder and I'll do the same.  You start going quicker and then just grin really big.
 - You realized you can reach the top of your head and that there's something soft up there.  You are not a fan when it hurts after you've pulled your hair though.
 - You have started to make this really funny face that looks like you think something stinks.  You scrunch your nose and upper lip together and despite my best efforts I haven't been able to get a picture.
 - You eat a lot of new foods now but your favorite is still carrots.
 - You tried your first solid food (puffs).  Not a fan.  You don't quite know how to chew it yet so even though it dissolves pretty quickly you act like it tastes gross and is choking you.
 - You have started to hold you bottle by yourself.  You won't take it and put it in your mouth, but if I make you put your hands on it then you'll stick it in your mouth and hold it.
 - We spent a whole week apart and I think you did way better than me.  You had started taking naps better at home and did great the whole week.
 - One day after your 8 month birthday you started Army crawling.  Since I hadn't got this posted yet or taken your pictures, I'm going to count it here.  I've been trying to get you to crawl for several weeks, but you didn't really like my help.  Then you just decided you were ready to move forward and crawled all the way across the room.  You are pretty quick but you're going to be fast once you figure out how to get your belly off the ground.

I want that paper, Mom!

E

7500 Miles

Well he made it.  He's at his "home" for the next 8ish months in Afghanistan about 7500 miles from Aubrey and me.  So far we've been able to communicate pretty easily and regularly, but he hasn't officially started his work since he's still learning the area with the unit that's getting ready to leave.  In the next week or so he'll get on his work schedule and we'll better know how/when we'll get to talk.  He's 9.5 hours ahead of central time right now.

For the most part it's good accommodations for being deployed.  It's super super hot which I don't think he's enjoying that much and because there's no rain or grass everything's covered in a layer of dust and is gray.  Other than that he said the food's not that bad and as long as the power is on, the A/C is running and the tent stays fairly cool.  We've only had a couple issues with communication so that is going much better than I anticipated.

Leg 1 of the trip over

Leg 2

 

 

The base

"Home"

 

E

7 Months Old

Aubrey Nicole, you are 7 months old!

You are about 17 lbs and 27 1/4 inches long.  You wear size 3 diapers, 9 month clothes and even some 12 month pants and pajamas.  I can't believe you are wearing some 12 month clothes.  The 9 month pajamas were getting kind of tight but the 12 month ones looked huge.  We put them on and the top half is still kind of big, but the legs are the perfect size.

Things you have learned/do this month:
 - You screamed Dada a couple times when you were really angry.  I think it was an accident and you were more trying to catch your breath, but I liked it because it was only a day or two after Daddy left and so it was exactly how I felt.  Since then I think you've said it a couple more times when you're talking but nothing consistent that I can get on camera yet.
 - You signed "milk" to me this morning.  It was so sweet.  You were scratching your crib when I went to get you up so I lifted your hand and you stopped, then I signed milk to you and you did it back.
 - You can play peek-a-boo.  You will put something on your face and pull it off all by yourself.
 - You act like you're teething just by the amount of drool and all the things you are chewing on, but no sign of one yet.  You have been chewing on your tongue a lot which looks really cute with your cheeks.
 - I will call you a soft surfaces sitter (because you're still a little wobbly sometimes and you'd hurt yourself on hard surfaces).  You can sit up for long periods of time as long as there is something right in front of you that you want to play with but can't move.  You get really excited when you grab something and swing your arms out and drop the toy.  Then you fall over trying to get it back.  You will also try to lift your feet and stick them on top of things while you're sitting which causes you immediately to fall over backwards.  You did sit for over 15 minutes on a blanket outside last night watching the neighbor kids run around and play.
 - You can push on all the way with your arms now when on your tummy and I've also seen you bring your legs up under you and get to your knees but never both at the same time.
 - You love carrots!  They are by far your favorite followed closely by peaches, sweet potatoes and squash.  You also eat prunes, peas, rice cereal and green beans.
 - I've tried giving you some milk in a sippy cup a couple times but you want nothing to do with it.  One day you were pretty hungry so I got your milk ready and put just a little bit of it in the sippy cup and even took out the spill proof part that makes you actually suck on it so the milk just came right out.  You let the milk pool in your mouth and then stuck your tongue out making it slide out down your chin.  I laughed so then you thought you were funny and kept doing it.
 - You are able to grip and move things with your feet.  You were laying under your play gym and the toy you wanted was down near your feet so you brought both feet together around the toy and pulled them toward your head so you could grab it.  I thought it was just a fluke, but you accidentally lost hold of the toy a couple minutes later and immediately grabbed it with your feet again.
 - You got to spend a week with your Daddy this month.  You had so much fun for about 2 days and then you got sick.  I think you two look a lot alike.
 - You took your first trip to the hospital (besides being born) and I was completely serious when I said you weren't allowed to ever go back.

E