Happy 8 Months! (A Round of Applause!)

Miles and Vivienne turned 8 months old today.  They are such beautiful, happy babies and I am so proud to be their mother.

They both love to sit up and play with their toys on the floor.  They can sit up for very long periods of time without falling over now.  They also like playing in their exersaucers and bouncing in the jumperoos.  (We have an exersaucer and a jumperoo downstairs and another set upstairs in our room.)  The babies are mesmerized by our cats, Chloe and Noah.  The cats have become more and more comfortable with the babies and will often lie down on the blanket beside them while they play.

Miles and Vivienne both make lots of sounds now - squeals and consonant sounds and razzing.  It's fun to hear them learning to use their voices.

Can... almost... reach... cat...

Vivienne loves frozen applesauce in the mesh feeder.

Vivienne is a delightful baby girl.  She is very easy-going and sweet, and she loves to explore our faces and necks with her hands and plant big wet kisses on us.  Vivienne loves her Sophie giraffe.  She's a great eater and will eat pretty much anything - sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, peas, green beans, cereals.  She has recently discovered that she loves frozen applesauce cubes in the mesh feeders.  I give her at least one of these per day now, and she is completely content until she has sucked every last bit of it out.

Vivienne has the cutest little blonde pixie hairdo.  Her granddad (my father) says he has a hard time imagining her with longer hair.  I have a hard time picturing her with long hair, too, but I'm sure it will grow that long in the blink of an eye and then we'll have a hard time remembering her with short hair.

Miles is a cuddly little boy.  He loves to be held and to bury his face in our chests.  He is very alert and observant, always looking all around and soaking in the world around him.  Miles loves to be outside.  Whenever he gets fussy, we can just walk outside with him and he's completely content.  He looks at the sky and the plants and watches the cars go by.  He loves when I put him in the carrier during our walks on the path behind our house.

Miles has a beautiful head full of hair.  He was born with a head full of very dark hair, and then he lost all of it.  It has grown back a beautiful light brown.  Everyone says that he has what looks like the "perfect little boy haircut."  Of course, I haven't cut his hair yet.


Miles isn't as excited about solid foods as Vivienne is.  He likes apples and sweet potatoes, but he doesn't care for anything with any texture to it (green beans, peas, etc).  He still wakes up once per night to nurse and then quickly falls back asleep.

Both babies have the sweetest, gummy smiles.  They don't have a single tooth yet.  I'm happy to hold onto their gummy smiles, but I'm also eager to see what they will look like once a few of their teeth come in.

Today, on their 8 month birthday, Vivienne learned to clap!  The four of us were sitting on the front lawn on a blanket and we started clapping.  Vivienne followed suit and started clapping her little hands together right along with us!  It is the cutest thing.  Yay, Vivienne!  A round of applause for your 8 month birthday!