I hate to post without the official 8 month photo, but as hectic as things have been lately - I found this little pocket of time to sit and write out her last month... so I'm going with it.
First and foremost, FINALLY a tooth! Numero Uno! It's been highly anticipated for many many weeks, and we'd just about given up on seeing it any time soon. There had been plenty fussy nights and lots of drool, and then it all stopped out of the blue. No drool, sleeping through the night and tons of napping... and
then suddenly the tooth appeared. We're happy to mark it's arrival just a few days prior to her 8 month birthday!
So many firsts this last month in addition to the tooth - new foods like blueberries, mangos, Gerber puffs and yogurt bites - and even a greenbean! We went to our very first wedding, first hiking trip to Turkey Run, first bike ride (last week did our first 12 mile ride!! WOO HOO!), first time pulling herself up to stand, first time holding the bottle all by herself too!
The house just feels different now that I have an active crawler around. It's funny to look around with a new set of "baby eyes". When she's given free range to crawl, there's a list of things to check... cat food/water needs to get picked up, basement door closed, shoes put away. Outlet covers went on this week too. By default the house stays pretty clean and picked up for that reason. Her favorite place to crawl is under the kitchen or dining room table - usually chasing after her furry buddy Ernie. Luckily she hasn't figured out opening of the kitchen cabinets yet... but I know that it's coming!
We've really enjoyed the warmer weather and hanging out outside on the back porch or under a shady tree. I finally got my wish of an porch swing for Mother's Day - and there's nothing better than swinging my sweetie pie to sleep in the afternoon breeze. Josie loves crawling around the grass and will sit content for quite a long time. I especially love being home more often to spend time in the garden and working in the yard and am so lucky J enjoys being out there by my side.
A few weeks back, Ed had a pretty great idea and planned a special Mother's Day for the three of us. Turkey Run State park is pretty amazing, a place I'd gone a few times when I was in high school and many times "back in the day" when Ed and I were dating. The hiking is amazing, unlike anything imaginable in Indiana of all places - much more like something you'd think to be found out west. The rock formations, waterfalls, cliffs, caves and riverbeds make for some pretty rugged hiking, especially with baby in tow, (Josie is just about maxing out the baby bjorn - we have a Kelty Kids carrier on order ;)) even so we fared pretty well! I'm so glad I had my wide angle lens in hand to capture the depth and breath of what I'm talking about. That little bitty person there is Ed...
That's Ed maneuvering up the waterfall...
