Dear beautiful, busy, bubbly Cora Katherine,

You, our precious one, are EIGHT months old — and my oh my, you’re changing by the day. In the last few weeks you’ve gotten your first two teeth, mastered sitting, started babbling consistently, and have become a champion eater.

Your eighth month was busy (aren’t they all?!), including your first MerleFest, a big trip to Creedmoor, strawberry picking, and your introduction to swinging. Here’s what else you’ve been up to:

Weight: 18 pounds, according to our home scale
Length: Long and lovely (we’ll get measured at your 9-month appointment)

Eating
One of the highlights of our day is watching you eat, sweet pea. Bananas, carrots, and cucumbers have become fast favorites, although at this point you haven’t turned your nose up at anything we’ve offered! Your big sis would have nothing to do with eggs…but just this morning you gobbled one up. As expected, frozen peas are once again quite the hit — and thankfully your pincer grasp is impressive.

We’re handing you larger chunks of food and your two new teeth have helped make chewing more manageable. We just started offering you a sippy cup of breast milk (which so far you prefer to throw, rather than drink from), and we will try the spoon soon too.

Nursing is still going well, and we’ve spaced it out to three or four times/day. Our sessions are quick and rather clumsy, as you turn and twist at any sign of Daddy, Claire, or Pinot, but we’re still filling that sweet tummy, so I’m staying flexible.

Playing
In the last few weeks you’ve become such a hoot when it comes to playtime. You adore big sister’s toys, and squeal with glee when you get your hands on something that wasn’t intended as a toy. For example, your tiny baby shoes (which are spotless, since they’ve never touched the floor!) are quite the hit, while you also love chewing/exploring basting brushes, large wooden spoons, and tupperware of all sizes.

All that said, your very favorite thing in the world seems to be your sister. Claire can make you grin like no other, and it makes my Mama heart soar to see you two interact. The best is yet to come, for sure! You also have a passion for your chunky baby feet, which has started to make diaper changing more challenging. We call them your “ba-bas” because more than likely you’ll babble “ba-ba-ba-ba-ba” while playing/sucking/chewing on them. Too funny.

You haven’t made any moves to crawl. In fact, you hate tummy time so much that we rarely put you on your belly. Perhaps you’ll skip straight to walking?

Sleeping
Oh Cora. Mommy is trying with all her might not to compare you and Claire, but I just took a peek at Claire Bear’s 8-month blog post…and she was giving us 10-hour stretches of sleep each night. (Just sayin’.)

Thankfully you’re mighty adorable, so Daddy and I don’t complain too much about your wake-ups. But shew, we also wouldn’t complain about a little more sleep! These days we’ve been putting you down by 7 p.m., and you’ll average one or two wake-ups (around 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.) before getting up for the day at 7:30 a.m. Thankfully, after a dry diaper I can typically nurse you back to sleep within 15 minutes.

When it comes to napping, though, you’re quite the champ! We’re sticking to our schedule of 9:30 til 11, and then 2 til 3:30, which has worked beautifully with Claire’s school and nap routine, too. Thanks for that 🙂

Your big sister…
…is absolutely smitten. Claire will proudly introduce you to strangers, share her toys, and talk about all the things she’s going to teach you when you’re grown. In the meantime, she’s digging all the responsibility that comes with big sisterhood — and delighting in all the new hair you’re getting.

Summertime is fast approaching and we’re so excited about the many adventures ahead. What do you have in store for us, sweet girl? We can’t wait to see!

Hugs and kisses,
Mommy and Daddy