Perspective

Sometimes all it takes is a little perspective.

Brenna slept horribly last night. She was up WAY more than she's ever been in a night during her 8.5 months of life. We were all sick. She was crying, and I was grumpy.

Tonight's bedtime started out the same. She would fall asleep fine as I carried her to bed - but woke up and wanted to crawl and stand in her crib. She can't breathe well out of her nose, which makes sucking on her paci difficult as well. She finally fell asleep, but I don't have high hopes for the rest of the night.

But, when I came down here to do some school work on the computer, I ended up on a blog I read every now and then about a little 2 year old with cancer. He died last week and his dad was writing a heartfelt letter about all their emotions right now.

I have a happy, healthy, growing baby girl and I am irritated that she just wants to be held in the middle of the night. Oh, what I'm sure those parents would give to just hold their baby one more time. So, for tonight, I will hold my baby tight and thank God that she's cancer-free. And I will do my best to remember to not take this time for granted.

8 Months Old!

*She wasn't really feeling the photo shoot this month!*

Dear Brenna,

Happy 8 Month Birthday! I know I usually say it doesn't seem possible that another month has gone by, but this time it actually does. It seems like quite a bit of time has passed since you turned 7 months old. It's a been a busy month for us, and you keep changing all the time.

Physically, you are still developing so quickly. You've perfected crawling and you can sure get around quickly! I love it when I leave you in the living room playing to go do something in the kitchen and then I hear your little hands and knees hitting the floor as you hurry to get to me - and usually pull up on my leg. You're a handful and I just love it! Speaking of which, you are pulling up ALL THE TIME now and you've even let go (on accident) a few times and stood for a few seconds before you grabbed something or fell down. I have a good feeling that you'll be walking by Christmas - you've got pretty good balance already!

You've also stolen our hearts by "talking" so much more. You started by saying "dada" and I think you finally figured out who that refers to. You've now got the "mamamamama" and "babababa" sounds down too, but we're still working on those meanings. You definitely are developing your voice and can connect syllables and everything. I can't wait to really talk with you, but I'll miss your baby jabbers, for sure. You waved for the first time last Saturday to Nana and Maw-Maw - when they left the room Maw-Maw waved bye-bye and you copies her. You don't want to do it again, but we'll keep "practicing". You've also given me a few "kisses" but nothing consistent there yet, either. I don't mind practicing, you are just so kissable!


You're still a great sleeper at night and your nap schedule is about the same, although you've taken 2.5 hour morning naps for the past couple of days. I'm wondering if we are moving to a 4 nursing/bottle schedule instead of our current 5. I was wanting to do this anyway, so it sounds even better if it's initiated by you! You are eating about 1 or 1.5 ounces of babyfood for lunch each day and then another 1.5 ounces or so for dinner. You've added lots of fruits (apples, bananas, peaches, pears, mangos), meats (turkey and chicken), and even some rice cereal to your food experiences. You pretty much like everything but peaches and I think mangos and apples are your favorite. We keep trying to get you to eat some Puffs and/or Yogurt Melts but you just don't like the texture. You like your food really good and pureed - which works for now but you can't eat purees forever! We'll keep working on it - we aren't in a big rush on the food issue anyway. Not to mention you don't have any teeth yet - but we're waiting for them any day now!

You're wearing all of your 3-6 month clothes now and most of them fit really well. Your cloth diapers help out when we need your clothes to fit - it seems like they are too loose when you are wearing a disposable diaper! You've worn a few 6-9 month things (some PJs and 2 pairs of pants), so maybe you're on your way to getting back in the "right" size for your age. I guess that would make shopping in advance a lot easier! You wear shoes every now and then, but you

aren't a huge fan of shoes OR socks. Sorry, baby, but that's the way it goes here in the winter! You are, however, a huge fan of your paci when you're sleepy. I'm okay with that since you don't really need it when you're awake. I may eat my words later, but for now it's a pretty handy tool. Almost the only time you wake us up at night is when you lose it and need some help finding it. We'll take that.

We've had so much fun playing with you and interacting with you - although you seem to prefer to just play with what you want to instead of being bothered by us! You got to go to your first 2 birthday parties - London turned 1 and Grandma Abel turned 80. We also celebrated your first Halloween and you were the cutest little giraffe (and bumblebee) that I've ever seen. We took you to Pine Mountain to visit with your grandparents, great-grandparents, great aunts and uncles, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was a great time and a great memory for Mommy and Daddy to have. Nanie, Aunt Mal, and Grandma Abel came to visit on Halloween Day and enjoyed just spending the day around the house with us. You sure are loved - and maybe a tad bit spoiled! I look forward to all the memories our family will get to make over the next two months - your first Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is the time when we get to make traditions for our family and we are really looking forward to sharing these with you.

Here's to another month of growing and experiencing life together. Being your mommy is my proudest accomplishment.

I love you, my little Sprout,
Mommy