8 Months

Mari is now 8 months old!  Craziness!  Here are some of our highlights:

• Mari loves to stand!  She will stand holding on to something for so long and just be perfectly content.  She loves to stand and bounce, stand and reach, stand, stand, stand...
• STILL no crawling.  STILL no rolling over.  However, I must say, she does look the part.  She doesn't yell as much when we put her on her belly.  She'll get up on her hands and knees and look like she's ready to take off, but won't go anywhere.  If you put her on hardwood floor she'll push with her arms and go backwards.  Still hasn't figured out how to use those chunka munka legs yet. A lot of our family has commented that she wants to walk. If you hold her hands she'll move her feet like she's walking.  Who knows... maybe she'll walk before she crawls.  At this rate, it wouldn't surprise me!
• Mari has ZERO teeth.  Every time she gets fussy we say to each other, "Maybe she's teething??"  I guess that'll be our excuse until those puppies pop out!  We feel in there and don't feel anything... it may be a while!
• This girl continues to have a very healthy appetite!  She's getting tired of the purees and loves to feed herself.  She wants to eat real food!    We still nurse 4 times a day but I can definitely tell she's starting to wean a little bit.  She doesn't nurse as much and definitely doesn't seem as interested as she used to be.  She wants her milk in the morning and after bath but really could go without during the day... I have to prompt her usually.
• We have a talkin' talkin' girl... She jabbers all day long.  Lots of "da-da-da", sounds like a bird, or high pitched screams. 
• Mari is such a happy baby.  She really is.  She gives you a big gummy smile all day long, and will laugh and laugh.  She loves to laugh at Huntley and loves dogs.  Yesterday we were visiting a friend who has two dogs.  Someone came to the door and the dogs started barking.  Mari just smiled and laughed... she thought it was hilarious!
• Mari wears 12 or 18 month clothing.  She's really between sizes... 12 seems tight most of the time but she sometimes swims in the 18 month clothing.