Eight Months

It's hard to believe, but Kira is eight months old today! This past month has been filled with lots of exciting developments, and seemingly before our eyes, Kira has grown out of her "infant" days.

We had a lot of transitions this month, including moving Kira from her infant carseat to the "big girl" convertible carseat (still rear-facing, though, until she's a year and 20 pounds). We also moved her out of the baby bathtub and she now takes a bath in the big tub like Ari and Alex. Recently Kira started trying a few "finger foods," too, namely puffs, dehydrated apple and wagon wheel snacks made especially for infants. She is constantly grabbing at whatever food we have in our hands- she is clearly ready to start eating with the rest of us! Kira also got her two front bottom teeth in this month. In the past week, Kira has also started clapping and is very proud of her new accomplishment.

Kira is also talking quite a bit lately. Her favorite phrases are "da, da, da" and "na, na, na." She can talk up quite a storm, especially at 5:30 in the morning when she wakes up and talks to herself (Mommy and Daddy don't go in to get her and she usually goes back to sleep until the more respectable hour of 7:00). She loves attention from her big brother and sister, and enjoys watching them play and entertain her. Her face lights up whenever she sees them and it's heartwarming to watch the bonds that are already forming between the three siblings.

Kira is ALWAYS smiling and laughing and people are constantly remarking on her good nature. She only cries when she's hungry or tired, and that's easily remediable (and predictable). Her schedule consists of waking for the day around 7:00, having a bottle (6 oz), taking a quick nap from 8:30-9:30 or so and then another bottle (this one is the biggest of the day- 8 ounces) at 11:00. She then takes a big nap with her big brother and sister from 11:30-2:00 or so. When she wakes up, she "lunch" of a jar of veggies followed by another bottle. She usually takes a third quick nap from 5-6 p.m. and then has her "dinner" of cereal and fruit. Finally, she has a final 6 ounce bottle at 7:00 followed by a bath and bedtime. Luckily, she's gotten into a pretty good routine that coincides with Alex and Ari's schedule pretty well and allows us to get in a morning activity, a good afternoon nap, and some afternoon activities.

Looking back at Alex and Ari's eighth month, it looks like we may see Kira start to try to crawl, holding her own bottle, and expanding her menu of foods in the next few months. We're excited to see what's in store!