8 months

It seems crazy, but Rachael is 8 months old. She's 2/3 through the first year of her life. That's pretty big for me. My little baby I took home from the hospital isn't so little anymore.

Tori and Rachael 3 days old



  She'll be one before I know it, it seems. She is asleep on my lap right now, which means she still gets to be my baby for a little longer

Rachael has had her first two teeth come through. Rachael discovered what to do with them (besides biting mummy) while eating some pieces of raw apple for the first time. She seemed pretty proud of herself, and rather enjoyed the apple. It must be rather odd to suddenly grow teeth, having no idea what they are. As a result, she spends a good part of her day with her tongue out of her mouth, just feeling her new teeth. On the upside, she enjoys the fact that she has refound the art of blowing raspberries, which was out of favour for a while.





Rachael has also started to say "mum". I'm not getting too carried away with it however, as she only says it when she's hungry and demanding a feed. Mum mum mum mum is a continuation of the mmmmm sound that proceeded it. So "mum" pretty much means "I'm hungry, feed me NOW". Other people seem pretty excited to hear it though.

While still not crawling yet, Rachael is pretty proficient at rolling around to get what she wants. She has also hopped along on her bum- once, and that was to get to Aunty Katie's laptop cord. Feat has not been repeated since. Crawling is still only getting as far as getting her backside into the air, or her arms up, but rarely both at once.

For several weeks, Rachael's obsession has been standing, holding onto the hands of a parent. Any time you offer your hands to help her from lying to sitting, she pulls right up to standing. She'd spend the whole day standing if you had the stamina to hold her the whole time. Unfortunately, she has very little balance, but that doesn't stop her trying things. Her confidence is better than her balance, she insists on trying to climb (mainly up a parent's body), picking up toys, or just looking at her own feet.



Foodwise, we haven't found a meat Rachael doesn't like. Steak, roast beef, chicken, fish, lamb- they're all on the good list. Vegetables are ok, give her a lettuce leaf, she'll pound it into the table. Salads don't seem to be her thing. A girl after my own heart :) 

Rachael has a specific "look at me" sound to attract the attention of other people. She had a great time while shopping in her hug-a-bub this week. Every single store we went into, she made her presence known, and sure enough, got herself plent of attention. While she was very pleased with herself, she's getting a bit heavy to be carried around for so long, my shoulders still aren't loving me a few days later.