8 is Gr8t

Alyssa just turned 8 months old! The biggest news is that her bottom 2 front TEETH came in! The right one is above the gum, and the left one cut through a few days ago. The teething rings seem to help relieve some of her pain since Alyssa is biting her fingers, and I think the top ones are going to come in soon too. She started eating 2nd stage foods when she turned 7 months old. As a result, she seems to have less diaper changes each day, but much worse messes. The new foods on Alyssa's menu consist of mixed foods and include apricots with mixed fruit; apples, bananas, and strawberries; spinach, peas, and carrots; sweet potatoes and corn; and green beans with rice, which seems to be her favorite. It is funny that she likes that meal the most since it is a very popular Middle Eastern dish, except with a tomato sauce. She is eating more oatmeal and loves it plain. Mommy has tried mixing it with fruit, but you can tell that Alyssa prefers it much more without anything in it. She just started eating meat and has tried turkey with squash and chicken with sweet potatoes. Alyssa has never had a disgusted look on her face after trying any of the foods (except maybe rice cereal) and seems to like all kinds of food. She just takes a long time to eat (like her Mommy).

Biting on my teething ring

Vegetable Mustache

In addition to Alyssa getting bigger and growing, her hair is getting longer, especially on the sides. As a result, it is starting to "feather" on the top and sides and even looks lighter in color in certain spots. Alyssa is wearing Pampers and Huggies size 2 diapers. She is wearing more size 12 month outfits and is more mobile now too. She is getting better at rolling (but only seems to do it when Daddy is around) and loves to lunge forward onto her stomach when she is sitting and playing. As a result, Alyssa incurred her first injury when she fell forward onto a block. She didn't cry, but she has a small cut on her forehead. She also does the "precrawl" exercise where she rocks back and forth on her hands and knees. She grabs onto anything and everything. If she sees you holding something, she wants to hold it too.

I'm cool like that

...and cool like this

Alyssa likes to imitate us when we wave to her and when we make silly noises with our tongues. She loves to stick her tongue out and curl it in all different directions. We finally found some of Alyssa's ticklish spots. She seems to laugh and smile more when we tickle her under her chin, her right underarm, and her thighs. She also laughs and sticks out her tongue when air or wind is blowing on her. She loves when a fan is on, and Mommy makes Alyssa laugh by squeezing her squirt toys on her arms and neck so the air blows on her.

Another video of Alyssa waving


Alyssa used to get fussy around 5:30pm, but now she gets slap happy before bedtime. It makes the evenings more fun with her. She loves playing with all of her new toys, especially the rings and blocks from Uncle Joe as well as the rubber ducky and squirties when she takes a bath. It's funny to watch her play with the tags, strings, and zippers on toys rather than the toys themselves. She also entertains herself by pulling Mommy's hair. Even if I have my hair in a ponytail, Alyssa reaches around my head to grab my hair. In the past week, she has started to hold onto the hair in the back of my head whenever I carry her as if my hair is a handlebar or leash. :)

Playing with the blocks from Uncle Joe

Playing with the Learning Farm from Uncle Patrick

Here is what we have been up to the past month:

We had our friends over for New Year's Eve. After the kids went to bed, the adults stayed up to ring in the New Year. It was a fun-filled night, and Alyssa had her first true sleepover since Mary slept in her room until her parents left after midnight. The New Year reminded us how fortunate we are to have Alyssa in our lives and in our family, and we look forward to all that 2010 brings us.

We tried to take Alyssa's Christening pictures when we took our Christmas pictures, but Alyssa was tired by the end of the photo shoot. As a result, we tried again after returning home from Cleveland. The pictures turned out great, and it was nice to see Alyssa in her beautiful dress again.

Alyssa's friend Mary had her 1st birthday party. The theme was Hello Kitty, and Alyssa enjoyed seeing the candle on Mary's cake and hearing everyone sing Happy Birthday. We cannot wait to celebrate Alyssa's first birthday in a few months!

The weather was nice for a few days so Mommy took Alyssa outside for walks in the stroller. It was amazing to see more homes that had been built in our development that were not there a few short months ago when we used to go for daily strolls.

Daddy went to Virginia for a couple days for work, and we missed him tremendously. It was just the girls with Alyssa and Mommy alone, but we had fun running errands and spending time together.

We started going to a local library for Baby Story Time that has a group for 0-10 month olds. Alyssa loves listening to the music and songs, looking at the books, and playing with the props. We cannot wait to go every week!

Getting ready to go out

Likes
Food
Being tickled
Blocks and rings
Tags, strings, zippers
Teething rings
Pulling Mommy's hair

Dislikes
Missing naps
Getting hurt

For some strange reason, Alyssa started laughing like crazy when I was using the paper cutter one day. This video is of her laughing after she had been doing it for about 10 minutes.