An 8 Month Post

"Wait, I'm not that old yet!"

Maia's eight months old now.  It almost doesn't seem possible that she's been around that long; yet its hard to imagine life without her now.

It feels like the last month has seen Maia change/develop in so many ways.  While she is still the wonderful overnight sleeper, she has changed from where she always slept on her back, to now always sleeping on her stomach.  It was such a shock to us that the first several nights we kept flipping her back over out of worry.  But Maia went ahead and kept rolling back to her stomach, and has continued to sleep that way.  Often times, when checking on her, we find that her sleeping position can often be similar to various yoga positions.  Its as funny as it is cute; and just something else we'd like to remember about this early time.

"Okay, yes I am!"

Maia also, after several months, finally had that first tooth come in, followed immediately by the second.  Its good to have something to show for all that slobber and drool ;).  Growing up, I was never really around babies before.  Really, my only experience prior to Maia was my nephew and niece, and because of distance and life, I don't have significant memories of when they were this age.  I say this, because it always floors me when I look at the two teeth and see how small they are.  Everything's a miniature version; and just how the small hands and feet and fingers and toes can be something else, seeing those two little teeth often amazes me - its growth right before my eyes; so, utterly, amazing.

Sitting up like a big girl.

While Maia is not yet crawling, I can't imagine her being any closer to figuring out.  We've had some days where we have spent so much time trying to figure it out that her knees are red at the end of the day.  And while she may not be crawling, she figures out how to get where she wants to, via some combination of rolling, lunging, and scooting.  It has become apparent to Jackie and I that the days of being able to set Maia down for "just a second" are soon over, if not already.  The days of the mobile Maia are coming.  I remember a friend telling me last year, when her son was just about this stage, saying "it is scary that he is mobile."  I understand that now.  As such, we've begun the process of trying to secure things appropriately, and making sure nothing harmful will be in reach.  I think the most fun will be trying to keep Maia away from Ellie's toys (although, since Ellie wants Maia toys, I'm sure they would attempt to negotiate a trade).  A while back we also bought two gates to put up for our stairs (tri-level house).  I will soon be putting the gate in place upstairs, though we will have to wait to put it in our main level separate the downstairs due to some major reconstruction work that will be taking place downstairs in the next month (another blog post).

"I'll figure out this crawling thing, just you wait!"

We've also noticed over the last month how her sounds, which have generally just sounded like shrieks, cries, or laughs, now include more language sounding babble.  There are no words yet (obviously), but its just one more way to see Maia's personality come through, and its both hilarious and exciting, and amazing to watch/listen to change so quickly.  If the last month is any indication, we will have a little talker on our hands (or ears, as it were).

Meal times are always a favorite.

During the last month Maia also got two more "experiences," as I like to call our trips.  She took her first ever visit to the Elkhart County 4-H Fair (a very big deal in our neck of the woods).  I was at the Fair for about 25 hours the last week of July, helping out a couple different service clubs I belong to, most notably preparing burgers and corn at the Kiwanis food booth.  Maia (along with Jackie and other family) came to visit one of those days.  After briefly saying hi to me while I was shucking corn, Maia visited some of the exhibits at the Fair, particularly enjoying the Young McDonald's farm area and its assorted animals.

Enjoying the fair.

She also took another trip to up New Buffalo, Michigan (quickly becoming one of our favorite places) to visit the beach and Lake Michigan.  She also joined her mom and dad as they enjoyed a stop at one of my favorites restaurants in the area, the Stray Dog Bar & Grill.  We followed that up with a dessert run to Oinks Ice Cream, where, while we savored our ice cream, Maia got a kick (worth several belly laughs) at the various pig themed memorabilia.  It was a good way for our family to commemorate the end of our first summer.

Maia (and her two little teeth) having
a blast at the beach.

"Ommmmmm"

School started this past week for Jackie, so our household is slowly adjusting back to that schedule.  But we had a good first summer as a family, and the last month's been a lot of fun.

"Oh, hey there."