emmaline – 8 months old – The Shaver Crew

Emmaline spent most of this past month sick with bronchiolitis, but once she recovered, she was her happy little self again.

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Likes:

putting everything in her mouth
playing with Rylie’s wooden kitchen
talking (cooing, yelling, saying “da-da-da-da”)
rolling over

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Dislikes:

not having someone right next to her at all times
baby food
being set in her crib for nap / bedtime

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Food:

Emmaline’s sickness took away a large part of her appetite, so we decreased her bottle quantities a lot and slowly worked back up. Right now she’s eating 6oz bottles every 3ish hours.

We have tried various baby foods multiple times and Emmaline does not care one bit. She takes one bite, makes a yucky face and then shuts her mouth, unwilling to give any slip that you might be able to poke through and force-feed her more. I originally thought she didn’t like the texture because she often gagged, but she is obsessed with the food on our plates and anything we might give her off of it, so I don’t think texture is her problem. Honestly, I think Emmaline is being Emmaline and just doing things differently. She is our predictably unpredictable baby after all 😛

Sleep:

While Emmaline was sick, she slept A LOT! I’m talking a majority of the day in addition to all night.

However, on a normal day, Emmaline goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:30pm and sleeps through the night. Lately she’s been waking up around 6:15am, so we’ll see if she stays with this “early bird” routine 😝

She still has a morning nap and an afternoon nap, but the times vary so I couldn’t tell you what time they are at.

Life:

I absolutely love this age! I love every baby age for different reasons, but this age is so fun. Emmaline can sit up unsupported, loves to play with baby toys and look at books, and her cries are pretty distinct so we can almost always solve her problem quickly. It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago I was struggling with her and now she brings so much joy to my heart.

She still only has two bottom teeth, but everything, and I mean everything, is going in her mouth these days and droll is definitely a thing so I think we have some top teeth on their way. I’m singing, “all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth.” 😛

Emmaline is working diligently on crawling, which is very exciting! Aaron and I feel like she is on the cusp of it and are anxiously awaiting her movement. She teases us a lot which causes us to yell for the other to come see and then she just kicks her legs behind her and eventually face-plants into the ground and fusses hahaha.

And I mean, look at this encouragement from Rylie! <3 What a great big sister.

Rylie’s dream is starting to come true – Emmaline can play with her and she is seizing every opportunity she can to play with her sister. It’s still very one-sided as Emmaline doesn’t follow instructions well and gets very upset when Rylie forces her to do something (a good example of this is Rylie pushing Emmaline to the ground insisting that she plays “night night” – the current favorite. Aaron and I have had a couple talks with Rylie about how it’s not nice to force Sister to do things and Rylie moves on to another option quickly after that talk.

But Emmaline absolutely loves playing kitchen with Rylie and they love looking at books together. I know their imagination and games will only continue to grow together the older Emmaline gets.

Me:

Every month is my favorite when it comes to babies, but I love how interactive and happy babies are at this age. It has been so fun to be able to play with Emmaline and watch her work on her depth of field, hand-eye coordination and tummy time. I have loved having her on some form of a routine, especially when it comes to bedtime.

I’m really just in a season right now where I want to take it all in. I want to be fully present. I want to snuggle with her well she lets me. I want to memorize the way her big eyes stare at the Christmas tree and reach for the ornaments. I want to laugh at how she shoves everything into her mouth and smile at her toothless (aside from her 2 bottom teeth) smile.

I’ve been chuckling at how this time last year I knew she would be 8 months old and I was so excited because I knew that would be such a fun age to have a “1^st Christmas,” and so far it has been such a joy!

Every night, I put Emmaline down in her crib and pray over her. I love thanking God for her and what she adds to our family. She really has been such a blessing and it’s hard to imagine that we ever did live without her.