Happy 8 Months Stella!

Eight months already! I really don't know where the past year has gone. Stella is doing so much and has her own personality! It is so hard not compare her to Madison especially since they are sooooooooo different!

Stella is very, very vocal. She is already saying Da Da Da repeatedly (especially when she is angry) along with a few other consonant/vowel blends. She also loves to squeal at the top of her lungs and blow raspberries until she is dripping with drool. She tends to get louder when she is angry or frustrated. She has got quite a temper and it has been coming out more and more lately because she just wants to get down and go but hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. Madison was a very quiet baby and did not speak her first word until 16 months. Such a difference.

Stella has gone from a stationary spud this past month to a rolling fool. She does a combo roll/scoot on her butt thing to get to anywhere she wants. Several times in the past day or two she has also gotten up on all fours and rocked back and forth so I think it is only a matte of time before she crawls. No attempts to pull herself up yet but I'm sure that is just around the corner. Another difference from M. 'cause she crawled at 6 1/2 months and walked at 9!

Stella loves, loves, loves food! We haven't found anything that she doesn't really like although she prefers her fruit. I'm pretty sure that is most babies though. She has also started with her sippy cup this month. Still working out which end is up but it is a start. Are you tired of comparisons yet? Madison couldn't be bothered eating. Besides having a milk allergy she always seemed to busy to be bothered.

Her sleeping pattern is also pretty good and close to on schedule. She usually takes a three hour nap from 8:30-11:30 am (although this is more typical of when she is with my mom) and then a brief 20-30 minute snooze in the afternoon. Bedtime is around 8:00 and the most exciting thing is that she now falls asleep on her own in her crib!!! You have no idea how big this is for me since I gave into cosleeping with Madison which I feel still negatively affects her sleep routine. Madison still needs someone to snuggle in bed until she falls asleep and every night she still finds her way into our bed because she CANNOT sleep alone. I know there are advocates of cosleeping out there but is just not for me. Stella had been getting into a cosleeping habit for awhile which resulted in a kiddo on either side of me. This made for one sleepless, cranky mom. I couldn't take it so we used the cry it out method with Stella . It was hard to hear her cry the first few times but soooooo worth the results. I feel like she gets a sounder, more complete sleep compared to Madison. She also sleeps through to usually 7:00 am. AWESOME!!!!