8 months old!

Well it has been another three months since I have posted, and in that time the summer has come and gone! Keira has changed so much in the past three months, it will be hard to recap everything! She is changing everyday, and becoming more and more fun! She has developed quite the personality. We had originally thought that she had more of Austin's temperment, quiet and laidback. However in the last few months it has become quite obvious that is not the case. She has turned into quite the energetic little girl, who refuses to nap frequently and always needs new things to keep her attention. She gets bored quite easily and it is a full time job to keep her entertained! She has dozens of facial expressions and a squeal to go with each one!

Keira started crawling around 5 1/2 months old. Within about a weeks time of figuring that out she decided she was ready to move onto bigger and better things. She then started pulling her self up on everything! She has taken quite a few tumbles since learning to pull herself up, but she has also gotten quite good and bracing herself and "falling gracefully". At first her crawl was quite awkward and she would move one arm at a time and then her leg, since then she has gotten quite fast and is a little crawling machine. I call her my shadow because she will follow me from room to room in the house crawling as fast as she can to keep up. She gets a little bit frustrated doing this after a while though, when she realizes that she can't keep up! Her favorite pastime in the morning is to see how much of the bathroom vanity she can empty out in the time it takes me to put on my makeup. Her other favorite thing to do is beeline for the dog's water if she sees it sitting out and try to dump it everywhere before I notice! She is very strategic with this, she won't dump the water on herself, but rather on the floor and then she will crawl in it and splash.

She has become quite vocal as well, she now "yodels" as Grandpa Dwight calls it. She will coo at different tones and it honestly does sound like she is yodeling! She also will make a noise that sounds like "yeah!" when you ask her a question...it is pretty fun to ask her something and have her respond that way. She has also started saying, " Ma ma ma ma" It is usually a whine when she is crawling to me and wants picked up. It is adorable in a pathetic little way and I usually can't resist.
The newest addition to her vocabulary is "the growl". She started doing this last week, where she will growl about anything and everything. She will growl when she is excited and can't contain herself and that is normally accompanied by legs kicking and arms waving. She also growls when she is frustrated as if that will help her solve the problem, or at least to vent! My new line to her is, "Keira, I didn't know you let a tiger in the house!" She looks at me like I am crazy when I say that. :)

We have decided that she is going to be a petite little one. She weighed 15 lbs. 10 oz at 7 months old and when I weighed her again yesterday at 8 months she weighed exactly the same! I am not worried, as she has quite the appetite. I think she is just not gaining much since she is so mobile! She is a very good eater though. She is not very picky and seems like pretty much everything! We have recently started giving her chunks of solids such as puffs, bread crust etc and she seems to do well and love it! She has been teething profusely and has just popped her second tooth in. Both of her teeth are on the bottom in the middle.

She has also become quite clingy lately, where she will only go to me or Grandma Jane when she is in a tired or hungry mood. She will cling to me, and it is just so hard to leave her! She loves spending time with Grandma Jane and Grandpa Dwight though! She goes on lots of errands with them while I am at work and loves to get out and being a celebrity with people! At Wal-mart she will sit in the cart and holler at people. Once they look at her she will smile and coo, what a little flirt, my mom keeps joking she is going to run for office now that she has Keira with her! :) Her favorite people to see are little kids though, I think she feels a bond with them. :)

She has also decided that sleeping is overrated. We have tried letting her cry to sleep and that lasted over an hour before I decided I was not going to do that. So, now we have a nightly ritual of me rocking/holding her until she falls to sleep. I actually enjoy this relaxing time where we have a little bit of peace and quiet together in the midst of our busy lives! I am cherishing the time that I can cuddle with her, before she gets to big and doesn't want to do that anymore. :)

We took a couple of trips this summer with her and she loved them! We went to the NE State Fair for the day and had a chance to see lots of people, animals, and shows. She touched a baby chick and just seemed amazed by everything, as she tried to take in the whole new environment!

We also took her to Lifelight in Sioux Falls. She did very well and LOVED the music. She would only complain when we wouldn't let her down to stand and dance or crawl. It was alot of fun to bring her with this year, as last year she was with us in my belly! It was crazy to think how much things change in one years time! Last year I was just getting over morning sickness, and this year I was dealing with a baby that was crawling away from me all over the field!

We are all placing bets when we think Keira will walk and I am guessing it will be when she is 9 months. She is already walking along things such as the couch or coffee table and we have caught her standing with no hands on something for a couple seconds until she realizes that she isn't holding on. :) She loves to be on the move and get into things that she can't have such as knocking drinks over, shredding the newspaper, and chewing on flipflops. It is bad, we often ask whether it was Keira or Kenai who caused the latest trouble! :)

I have two favorite times of day with her, the first being in the morning when she first wakes up. She has been waking up earlier, but not because she is hungry, rather because she wants to play! However, she wants to play in our bed, not on the floor or in her crib. She thinks me and Austin are just the funnest jungle gyms! Her huge smile with chubby cheeks as she bounces on the bed is a great thing to wake up to!

My other favorite time of the day is late afternoon when I pick her up from my mom's after work. As soon as she hears my voice she quits whatever she is doing and crawls at top speeds to me with a smile that makes her cheeks look like they are going to crack in half! She is just a joy and bring happiness to my day. We are so thankful that God has not only blessed us with a healthy little girl, but one who is absolutely adorable and so much fun as well!