Sophia is Eight Months Old

As you can see, this little cutie is smiling and laughing a lot these days! She is truly a joy to be around, and I am treasuring every moment that I can with her because she is growing up way too fast for me!

** I don't know exactly how much she weighs or how long she is because we don't go back to the doctor until the end of November. That appointment will be for her nine month check-up, and also for Samantha's three year check-up (yes, I was able to schedule BOTH of them on the same day, back-to-back ... perfect!).

** She still has only her bottom two teeth (which you can see perfectly in the picture, above). No more teeth have come through yet, and the drooling has finally slowed down. In fact, I think that we only go through about 3 bibs a day now, compared to about 10.

** This weekend, Sophia hit a big milestone -- she is offically sitting up on her own now! I knew that the time was coming for that, and I was able to snap a few pictures:

She still topples over, every once in a while, but she can go for long periods of time (as long as she doesn't get too distracted), without leaning over to one side. This makes it even more fun to play and interact with her.

** We're still waiting for her hair to grow some more! It's definitely lighter in color than Sam's was, but it is not blonde -- it's dark at the top of her head. Of course, the limited amount of hair doesn't stop me from putting headbands on her!

** She consistently sleeps from 8 pm to 8 am now, and takes one morning nap and one afternoon nap. She might also have a little "snooze" after dinner for about 30 minutes; this seems to make her evening go a little smoother.

** There is not a single food that she won't eat right now. I make all of her baby food myself and she eats with us, three meals a day. In between, she still nurses about four times a day. In the next month or so, I am going to eliminate the nursing session right before bedtime. She goes down for bed so easily, that she almost doesn't need it. And this will make it a little easier for Steve on the three nights that I teach -- I leave a bottle with him to give to her, but it will be nice to eliminate that.

** We continue to work with her on a sippy cup. She isn't completely ready for it, but she understands the concept, and will drink a few sips of water out of it during mealtime. She loves her "puffs" and self-feeds with them. The other day, I let her (with close supervision) chew on an apple slice:

Sam started crawling shortly after she learned to sit up on her own, so I predict that before the holidays, Sophia will be crawling. This means that we will need to begin child-proofing the house soon, and I don't know if I am ready for that! Sophia rolls over and over again whenever she wants to move somewhere ... and she's FAST! Luckily, I do have a Big Sister Helper, and she is so great with her sister and helps to keep a close eye on her!