Baby Gates, Bumped Heads, and A Lot of Iced Coffee... Emi is 7...oops... 8 Months Old

August 28, 2014

July 28, 2014

I blinked and my baby went from 6 months old, to 8 months old.  Oops! It probably has a lot to do with the fact that she learned to crawl, stand up, balance, cruise, and walk with help in the last two months.  It has literally been insane, but both Emi and I have been SO much happier now that she can get herself where she wants to be.  I've only heard how hard it is when they become mobile, and I have to say, it's made my life so much easier. I'll let you know if I feel the same way when she takes off walking on her own, but for now, crawling, standing, cruising Emilia is a happy Emilia. And a happy Emilia is a happy mama.

Emilia is full of personality.  Every fiber of her 15.5 pound body is made up of a combination of tenacity, humor, and determination.  The other day at Target, Emilia insisted on "holding" the 12 pack of paper towels.  When I say insisted, I don't mean she threw a fit when I put them in the back of the cart... that's not her style.  She simply turned around in her seat and tried to lift said 12-pack back into her little section.  After a few attempts, I just let her hold the damn paper towels.  I mean, once she had them, there is no way she'd want to keep them, right? Well not only did she hold those paper towels the whole Target trip, every time someone walked by our cart, she flopped to the side and made this face, which I believe translates to, "Help! My parents are crushing me with a 12-pack of store-brand quicker picker uppers!" Yeah, tenacious, hilarious, and determined.  That's my girl.

Since Emi has been crawling, she graduated from her baby gymnastics class to the "explorer" class filled with teeny tiny crawlers and walkers. I am consistently blown away by how fast she picks up on things.  The first week, Emi was quiet and observed every.single.thing that was going on.  We've been going for about a month now and she jumps on the trampoline on her own, can climb up the ladder, hangs from a bar (which is by far my favorite thing to watch... it is hilarious), and is able to grab a swinging ring mid-air and hold on.  She has amazing coordination and determination. She really admires the bigger girls in the class and I can see that she tries to emulate them.  It's not only sweet, but very impressive, because some of those skills are way beyond her age.  This video isn't the best quality, and she's progressed to hanging on her own now, but how cute is this little monkey??

Emilia also has quite the vocabulary.  She calls Dan "dada" and me nothing.  Haha, oh being a mama ;)  She says "hiiiii" and has said "papa" to my dad quite a few times, which is the cutest.  My absolute favorite new word is "otay!" She says "otay" at remarkably appropriate times, including when I told her to take her bunny and play by herself when she was being a wild child during nap time.  It went something like, Me: Fine, Emi! Take your honey bunny and go play by yourself! I'm done! (Parenting win, right there.) Emi: OTAY! Yeah, not the response I expected, Miss Independent.  I have been determined to teach her pretty, which was my first word beside mama and dada (explains a lot, no?), but so far we only get a "ttt" :)

I love this girl with all my heart, and being her mama is my jam.  I can see her personality developing each and every day.  To say she is feisty would be an understatement.  Emilia knows exactly what she wants and is determined to get it.  She listens to me for the most part, but is known to furrow her brow and look me straight in the eyes with her big baby blues, as if to say "Really? We are going to play this way?" I adore her and see so much of myself in her. She is inquisitive, funny, and smart (see... all me... just kidding!).  But, truly, watching her grow into a little person has been the highlight of my life thus far.

Until next month... xoxo!