Nora at 8 Months

Our little Norabelle is eight months old today! Last week at VBS, the nursery workers couldn't get over how ridiculously happy she is -- even when she skipped her morning nap! We're glad to know we're not the only ones who think she's the happiest baby on the block. Really, Nora is generally all smiles unless she's hungry or it's 6:15 and she's just trying to make it to her meal. What a great delight it is to be her mommy! At eight months, Nora is:

• Sleeping about twelve hours at night and about four hours during the day for naps. Sometimes she ends up taking two naps that are two hours in length each, while some days she takes a shorter (1 1/2 hours) morning nap and a longer afternoon nap. If we're out and about, she has a really hard time napping. This is just another reason we're trying to limit our days out of the house.
• Eating everything in sight. She takes four to six ounces of formula about every four hours, and she eats solid foods at her first three meals. I cannot think of a single food that Nora will not eat; she seems to love it all right now! We also give her small bites of table food while we are eating, and this is great fun for her. Nora especially loves her Cheerios and small bites of fruit. She wasn't so certain about today's black bean soup...
• Trying so hard to crawl. She hasn't figured out how to get up on her knees, and this is incredibly frustrating for her. She can scoot around short distances (forward and backward) and does a 360 degree spin move while on her tummy. She seems to prefer sitting up to being on her tummy, since not being able to crawl is so frustrating.
• Putting everything in her mouth. Everything. Somehow, she picks fuzz off our living room rug and tries to eat it. Gross.
  
• Toothless. I can see her little bottom teeth working their way up the gums, but she's still got a ways to go before they poke through. We're not in any rush! (Phoebe's first teeth didn't come in until 10 months)
• Not very talkative. She loves to do her best dinosaur impression often, and will screech and squeal... but so far, we aren't hearing much babbling.
• Loving to play little games. Anything repetetive that gets a clap and a "yay" is a winner for Nora! She loves to knock down blocks, give high fives, try to push the button on my watch, peekaboo... little things like that.
• In love with her big sister. And her mommy. And her daddy. When she sees one of us, her smile gets so huge that we think her face might pop off!
• Fanatical about tickles. She LOVES to be tickled. And once that giggle gets going, it's hard to stop.

We are so blessed to have our little Belle bringing sunshine into our everyday! She is a great big delight to all of us -- even Jake! Happy Eight Month Day, Nora!