Happy 8 months, Alice!

Seriously, why can't 8 months of pregnancy go by this fast?! I'll be the first to admit that my pregnancy seemed to fly by, but it didn't go by as fast as the past 8 months has. I swear she was just a tiny little thing not that long ago! Now look at her, she looks like such a little person now. Laughing, talking, clapping, crawling (well, almost), it's just unbelievable how fast she's gone from the baby stage to toddler.

SO WHAT'S ALICE BEEN UP TO

- Not sleeping well for one. Apparently infants go through another sleep regression at 8 months and it looks like Alice just got there a few weeks early. Let's just say the one thing that ALWAYS puts her back to sleep when everything else has failed (sleeping with mommy) doesn't work. I can't tell you how many nights I've been up with her at 3AM just watching her play and roll around until 5AM.

- Taking baths in the big tub. Yeah it's been a while now that I gave up on bringing her into the shower with me. She just got too big so once she was able to sit we switched to the tub. I thought for sure she was going to hate it because she loathed them when she was a baby, but she LOVES it. She's definitely a water baby and I can't wait to take her in the pool.

- Feeding herself. She'd love it if I'd let her spoon the slop she eats into her own mouth, but I know better. I do however let her hold her own bottle. I just have to put her high chair back a bit and she will drink the whole thing on her own. She's also started eating some finger foods. Since I don't think she's quite ready for cheerios we bought some baby puffs that dissolve pretty easily so she can practice her eye-hand coordination. She usually gets about half of them in her mouth and the other half end up on the floor.

- Talking. She's been saying "mamamama" and "dadadadad" for many months now, but just recently she's shortened it to "MOM" or "MAMA". She's in a clingy phase right now and she hasn't said "dada" in weeks.

- Not crawling. But boy does she want to. She'll get up on her hands and try to get on all fours, but she just hasn't quite figured it all out yet. So far her biggest motivators to get moving are the cats and the remote. Put one or both just out of her reach and she'll try really hard before giving up and rolling over. Doesn't bother me really, the less places she can get into the better I say, at least for now anyway.

- Her current favorite toy - paper. Any and all kinds. I can't tell you how many magazines I've thrown away because she's gotten a hold of them. Maybe the kid just needs some extra fiber.

- She's a tooth factory. Ok, maybe not but she does have two and two more on the horizon. I can't wait to see a toothy grin from this kid. Right now she looks like she got in a bar brawl and lost. She makes looking like she belongs in a trailer park damn cute though.

That's just about it, or all that I can think of at this hour anyway. Oh and just a side note: Dad, in case you were wondering, I didn't ruin dinner. :)