Annabelle is 8 Months Old!!

How is it possible that this precious little newborn...

...is now only 4 months away from being a year old?! I can't believe it.

Likes:
She still is in love with her walker! It's so great to watch.

Moving. She doesn't want to be held much anymore--she wants to be on the ground, on the go. Crawling, playing, walking in her walker...you name it.

Her bathtub toy shark. She carries that thing around everywhere!

Being naked.

Swimming! We started swimming lessons a few weeks ago, and she is a fish!

FOOD! See below.

Dislikes:
She is starting to dislike being snuggled during the day. She wants to be off and moving!

Sleeping...see previous post about sleep coaching. :)

Being away from mommy for more than .2 seconds (especially if she sees me leave the room).

Height: I'm not entirely sure. She doesn't seem much longer than her last appointment, judging by how her clothes fit.

Weight: 16.5 pounds. Not too much growing going on, but still healthy and normal.

New Things: WOW, this week alone has been a crazy developmental week. She has learned how to sit up on her own from laying down, crawl on hands and knees (though still prefers tummy crawling), and pull up on things. She also is eating a ton of grown up food, and rarely has a pile of food on her lap anymore. This leads to solid-food-diapers...wow. That deserves a blog post in and of itself, but I will spare you that.

Foods: We give Annabelle whatever we are eating. We skipped baby food. In my opinion, it's a waste of money, time, and effort. She has totally enjoyed feeding herself, and I love knowing she has an expansive pallet :)

Food list to date (that I can remember): Oatmeal, toast with nutella or tiny amounts of peanut butter, cheerios, puffs, mum mums, teething biscuits, yogurt, apples, pears, strawberries, oranges, kiwi, pineapple, bananas, raspberries, mango, rice, chicken (various kinds), fish (various kinds), potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, eggplant, pea pods, celery, carrots, broccoli, green beans, green peppers, tomatoes, peas, spinach, lettuce (and ranch dressing), applesauce, steak (just chewed on it, didn't actually ingest any), biscuit, pizza, breadsticks, curry, lasagna, ham and cheese sandwich (deconstructed), ....that's all I can remember... Anyway, she eats everything, and loves most things :)

Most interesting food she has eaten: Dog food. Seriously. She was playing on the floor while I was doing dishes, and the next thing I know she has one hand in the water bowl and one hand in her mouth--with dog food in it. Luckily she only ate a couple of pieces. She must have enjoyed it though, because she keeps trying to get it! Seriously though...Crock pot curry chicken and rice. She LOVED it.

Foods she seems to enjoy most: Strawberries, bread, pasta, pears, broccoli, steak, salmon, and her all-time-favorite--homemade yogurt (which she eats with her fist).

Foods she doesn't seem to like: Bananas. Gags and throws them on the ground every.single.time. Shocking, right?! Also doesn't seem to like apples (though likes applesauce), peas, asparagus, onions, tomatoes.

Fluff!