8 months old

Another month has gone by already. It's hard to believe Lily is 8 months old already. She's getting so big so fast and it seems like she learns so much so quickly. This has been a busy month for her. She really started crawling and now she's pulling herself up to her feet and even starting to walking while holding on to things. I'm sure she'll be walking before we know it.

She celebrated her first Chanukah and her first Christmas with lots and lots of presents. It took her a little while to figure it out but by the time we got to the last night of Chanukah she unwrapped presents like a pro. And she got just as much enjoyment out of the wrapping paper as she did the present that was wrapped inside.

She enjoyed spending a week with mommy's family up in Redding. She spent a lot of time playing with her cousin, Isabella. She's only 20 days younger than Lily but Lily's still much bigger than her.

8 month weight - 19 lbs 1 oz (official since we made a sicky trip to the doctor's office)

Milestones
Crawling! (12/13/08)
Learned to clap and now claps all the time. (12/12/08)
Pulls up onto her knees a lot but it still a little unstable
Wears a size 4 diaper
Wears 12-18 month clothes
Starting to voice her opinion more
Absolutely does not want to go to sleep on her own any more
Starting to learn sign language; we're working on "milk" to start with
Favorite toy: her Fisher-Price "iPod", it plays nursery rhymes and she thinks it's fabulous. It was a Christmas gift from grandma.
Loves reading
Still likes to do things with her feet. Sometimes tries to pull mommy's hair with her feet while she's nursing.
Survived another cold! Thanks cousin Isabella!
First tried meat- some Christmas turkey on Christmas Day
Loves music. Even if a car ride has become very frustrating Raffi always seems to stop the crying. Usually in just a few bars of music.
Crib was moved down to it's lowest setting. It's too dangerous now that pulling up is getting easier and easier.

Where did all these toys come from? Yikes! Toy storage has since been purchased and utilized.

Lily with mommy, Aunt Melody and Isabella.

Cousins in their matching Christmas pjs on Christmas morning.

Opening a present on Christmas morning.

Taking a break from unwrapping to do some finger chewing.

Lighting the candles on the 2nd night of Chanukah.

You got a problem with me, Penguin!?!

Isabella needs her older cousin to take make sure she's doing OK.

Lily thought that Isabella needed to be rocked.

The airport isn't such a bad place to hang out.

Trip to visit mommy's family

We took a long drive up to Redding this past weekend because mommy was in her good friend, Mary's, wedding and to visit mommy's family. Lily did surprisingly well on the drive. On the way up and back she slept 5 of the 8 1/2 hours!

Sleeping in the car while daddy was driving.

We had a wonderful time seeing Mary and witnessing her marriage to Jeff. It was a long time coming! Lily and I with the beautiful bride and another one of mommy's oldest friends, Emily (next in line to get hitched!).

Grandma and grandpa were looking at Aunt Melody's camera but Lily couldn't take her eyes off her mommy.

Laughing with Aunt Melody.

Lily with her Great-Great Grandma Flora. She likes her grandma because she lets her rip up magazines. Lily liked sitting in a chair on top of the table in front of grandma and talk to her.


Lily is still a lot taller than her cousin Isabella.
And we also like hangers apparently. It's fun because we can hold them with our hands and our feet.

Phew!

We are finally home safe and sound after 4 flights, 3 states, 2 National Parks, 8 grandparents, 7 aunts and uncles, many, many hours in the car and too many other relatives and friends to count.

It was a long 2 and half weeks but so much fun to spend time with family and friends and it really solidified how lucky we are to have such a good baby. Lily did remarkably well on all legs of the trip. We really couldn't have hoped for a more well-mannered baby. Her worst moments bookended the trip--puking all down the front (and inside!) of mommy shirt while waiting to head to Maui in the terminal of LAX and then a little bit of fussiness on the flight back from Sacramento to LAX. Overall a great trip. Lily's a star traveler already.

So what's new in Lilyland? She's smiling up a storm. It's the best feeling in the world to see her smile. Hard to ever be upset or sad when you see that every day. She makes HUGE laughing faces but so far no sound comes out. I'm sure any day now the giggles and belly laughs will start. She awake a lot more during the day. She loves to play on her floor gym. She reaches for toys and grabs a hold of them. She's still figuring out that she can move them once she's grabbed a hold; but she loves to look at her toys. Sometimes she gets a little fussy just because she wants to lay down and play. She loves the flow in the dark planets now suspended from the ceiling in her (and our) room. She finds them hilarious and loves to watch them.

A review in photos...first stop Maui.

Lily with Daddy and Uncle Gary on his wedding day

Chilling in Lahaina


Hiking down to the blowhole that wasn't really blowing


The whole family in front of the Iao Needle


On top of Haleakala, Lily's first National Park. Yes, we are still in Maui, just 10,000 ft up.


Then on to Northern CA and Oregon.

Meeting her Great-Great-Grandma Smith


Aunt Melody with cousin Isabella, Lily and mommy, and 2nd cousin Stacy with 3rd cousin Jacob


A short hike to a waterfall


Crater Lake with Aunt Anna


Hard to believe Lily's cousin Isabella is only 20 days younger than her.


Isabella prefers sleeping on her side while Lily prefers the "touchdown" position