catch up post #2: reese - 8 months

 Oh how I love this little munchkin. Those cheeks. Those eyes. That look. That smile. The kisses.... Love it. All of it. {Except maybe not the teething bit.} Every month I think to myself, "This month has totally been my favorite." And this last month was truly no exception. Reese has been an absolute delight in {almost} every way. I really don't want to sound like one of those obnoxious bragging parents that think their children are nothing less than brilliant perfection. But... ummm.... guilty as charged. I know, I know. Soooo obnoxious.  Here's a token eye roll for you. {Eye roll} Feel free to just stop reading now, because all I do is gush about our little pride and joy for the rest of this post. Gushy. Gushy. Sappy. Sappy. Stop. Reading. Now.

Ok. You've been properly warned.

One of the biggest accomplishments of month 8 was the literal anniahlating of the binky. Can I get a Woot, woot?  I'm not gonna lie, I feel rather proud of myself for getting rid of it so early. Granted, Reese has never been one to ever be orally fixated on anything. Instead of most things going immediately into her mouth, she'll just pass in from hand to hand, rotating the object and observing it from all different angles. So, that probably helped my cause. But still. Quite proud indeed. I found a method online {Bye, Bye, Binky} that I thought sounded like a good plan and followed it to a "T". Basically, you just cut a little bit off of the bottom of the binky every few days until the child doesn't want it any more. Worked like a dream. Before we started the weaning, Reese had started waking up at night crying for her binky to be put back in. We're talking like up to 6 or 7 times a night. Not fun. Not fun at all. The very night the binky was gone, she slept the entire way throught the night {10-11 hours}. It would be an understatement to say I absolutely LOVE that we're binky free. One less thing for the diaper bag.

Her hair is finally starting to grow!! Maybe people will stop mistaking her for a boy. It's happened several times, despite the pink and the bows she's been wearing. Seriously.  I got a little over excited and tried putting her meager strands in an elastic.  This is how she felt about it:

She's learned how to do 2 things on command.  1: Saying "Hi" and "Bye" via a little wave of her hand and 2: Handing out "Kisses" or "Sugar" by the dozens. Melt my heart. I live for those kisses.

She's graduated to the big tub.

Her primary vocabulary consists of "Et, et, et, et..." and "Da da da da da da da" and squeals of delights, followed by blowing raspberries by the hundreds.

She's discovered the little toy piano Nan & Grumpy gave her for Christmas. She LOVES pounding out notes.

She loves being outside and discovering things like grass, rocks, sticks, etc...  What isn't cool about stuff like that? Her very favorite thing to do is swing with Daddy. She sits on his lap and laughs and smiles as they swing back and forth.

She's officially down to 2 naps a day. Between the 2 naps she usually gets about 4 hours of sleep during the day.

She's just about the cheeriest little gal there ever was {again... excluding the week that she was teething. UGH.} She'll usually hand out smiles to anyone willing to give her attention. Her laugh is music to my ears. It doesn't get better than hearing her squeal with delight and bust a gut over something Daddy, or the ball, or the ceiling fan, or other random somethings did. She completely content {most of the time} to just hang out and play on the floor. This has proved to be a lifesaver since I'm still working part time - and part of that part time is from home.

She hasn't made any real effort to crawl forwards. If she sees something she wants she rotates her body to the angle she wants to travel, and then she just rolls. Sometimes she'll crawl backwards. Sometimes. She's one funny little bean.

I think Reese's greatest joy in life is, who else? Her daddy. The chica absolutely adores him. And I certainly don't blame her. From the second he walks in the door after work, she has eyes only for him. I can't feed her a bottle if Deek's anywhere close because she'll just squirm and protest until she gets his attention. And the greatest part? Deek's just as smitten with her as she is for him. They're quite the two peas in pod.

When I think about Reese, I feel nothing put pure, blissful joy. Who knew such a small little something could shower so much sunshine into every little corner of my soul? I love her. The other night Deek, Reese, and I were all sitting on the floor. Deek had her laughing up a storm about something. We were all 3 just hanging out and being happy together. It was one of those moments I wished I could have taken an emotional snapshot of. Almost like the pictures in Harry Potter that move, but being able to capture the feeling along with it. It was the feeling of perfect joy. My little family all together just livin' and lovin'. I'm pretty sure that's what life is all about.

It certainly doesn't get better than that.