9.11.11 - 8 months!

I was visiting my cousin the other day and she asked how old Rori is now. I told her 8 months and her response was, "Wow! She's almost a year old already!" Seriously. Almost a year? Where has the time gone? Luckily we still have 4 more months before the 1st milestone birthday. My baby is still my baby, and she gets me wrapped around her finger a little tighter every single day. I admit it: I'm head over heals for our little lady. I love this little girl more than I can say, and I still have to pinch myself occasionally to remind myself that, "Yes, I am finally a mom to the best little girl in the world!"

At 8 months:
-Aurora is working on getting her 5th tooth!
-She's still not quite crawling, but she can definitely get to where she wants to be. Her little army crawl is adorable! (See pics below.)
-She prefers to fall asleep on her own most of the time now. We just lay her in her crib, play some music and she's out within minutes. I still try to rock her to sleep when I can and I love it when she lets me.
-She loves to yell and hear her own voice and loves it even more when we'll yell back with her. She can get pretty loud--especially in the car :)
-She's able to drink soy formula! We're working on switching her over to 100% formula now that we found one she can drink.
-She's still not really interested in eating solid food, but she does like her rice crackers. We're still working on the fruits and veggies.
-She gives great kisses and is working on learning to wave.
-Sometimes when she babbles it sounds like she clearly says her name. Other times when she babbles she sounds like an ewok from Star Wars. It's stinkin' cute!

Crawling:

She gets up like she's going to crawl all the time, and then gives up. Silly girl.

One way she gets around is by straightening her legs and pushing with her toes. I love seeing that cute little bum in the air! She can pull herself around pretty well with her arms too.

Bath time:

One of her favorite things

Swimming:

We haven't taken her to the pool a whole lot in the last couple months, but she still loves it when we do go. She likes to be as helpful as she can to get us out the door faster :)

Love her cute little robe! I love her face too...she's so inquisitive and loves soaking in her surroundings.

In her cute little swim suit. I love all her different facial expressions! She's such a serious baby too. Strangers will often comment on how serious she is. :)

Sleeping:

She sleeps for a good 10 hours straight at night, then takes 2 naps during the day. Usually between 1-3 hours long.

Mornings:

She usually wakes up before Dar leaves for work so she can say goodbye. She's started to cry sometimes when he leaves so we watch out the window so she can wave, or just watch him leave. To distract her when he's gone I sometimes turn on Disney Junior for her. She really likes Micky Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins (I promise I don't let her watch a whole lot). She also loves her giraffe pillow pet from Omie and Grandpa!

Dress Up:

I attempted to be crafty a couple months ago and made this cute pink tu-tu. She really just likes to eat it :)

Enlarge this picture and you can kind of see her two bottom teeth. I can't get enough of her little toothy grin!

We love you, sweet Aurora!! Happy 8 months, babe!