Cate at 8 months

~Cate is seriously the sweetest, most content baby!  She still so so so easy too.  Such a blessing when there's a three year old boy in the house!  

~Cate is so content to sit on the floor and play with her toys.  She has a variety of toys she likes to play with, but mostly her rings, blocks, and egg shakers.  And mostly she just likes to taste everything.  She also likes playing in her exersaucer.  

~Cate is very ticklish especially on her neck, thighs, and belly.  She has the cutest little laugh.  

~She thinks Luke and our dog, Ralph, are the funniest things!  Ralph will just walk by her, and she'll start giggling.   

~Cate is finally rolling over consistently!  She really only does it in her crib though.  Then she gets mad because she's not quite skilled enough to keep rolling so she's stuck on her belly.  She's still immobile when we put her on the carpet.  Once we sit her down, she stays.  SOOO different from what Luke did!  I have to say I'm enjoying these last few weeks and months of her staying put!  

~When I took her to the dr last week, she weighed right at 19 pounds!  Wowsers!  She's gained two pounds in two months so she's gaining weight steadily.  When we're out and about, we get stopped all the time by people that want to talk to her and talk about her cheeks and thighs.  Yesterday a woman followed us around a little boutique discussing her thighs and how cute Cate was.  She even made all her friends come look at Cate saying "I've never seen a baby with thighs that big."  Thanks lady.  Usually Cate will smile at people when they talk to her, sometimes just a shy smile, but I think she likes the attention.

~She's finally getting used to the nursery at church and isn't have stranger anxiety as bad.  I knew that we just had to keep taking her, and it has finally paid off.  We've gotten good reports for the past three or four weeks! We're so proud of her!   

~Cate finally, yes finally, sleeps in her crib.  I really can't believe we waited until she was almost 8 months to put her in her crib.  But she hated it so much that neither one of us thought it was worth letting her cry it out for very long.  We tried it numerous times, but gave in pretty easily.  About two weeks ago, it was very apparent that she had outgrown the bassinet thing she was sleeping in.  And the transition to the crib wasn't really that bad this time.  I think she realized quickly how much bigger and more fun the crib is!  She'll put up a fight occasionally, but I'm sure it will get easier and easier.

~She's starting to like baby food more and more.  Sometimes she scarfs it down, and other times it takes her 30 minutes to eat a fourth of the jar.  She still really really loves her milk.  She's had some finger foods--cheerios, bananas, avocados, and beans.  She's loved all of those SO much!  And she doesn't seem to be very picky about the baby food now.  

~Her napping and sleep schedule has been all out of whack this month with her being sick.  She usually cat naps throughout the morning (mostly because we're usually on the go), and then takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.  She goes to bed at 7:30, wakes up once or twice, and then gets up around 7:30.  Ready for her to sleep through the night, of course.  

~She's wearing a wide range of sizes right now--some 6, 9, and 12 month stuff.  I've bought her a lot of bubbles to wear this summer (gotta show off those thighs!), so I'm buying 12 month to last through the summer since it doesn't really matter if the bubble is fluffier.   

~She loves to be held, but I don't think she loves snuggling that much.  Luke is THE biggest snuggler, and he always has been.  Cate definitely wants to be held a lot, but Cory and I have decided that she doesn't enjoy being snuggled with.  Believe me, I've tried!  ha!

~Cate says dada, mama, and a few other consonant sounds.  Mostly she says dadadada all day long.  It makes Cory so proud!

~She can wave bye bye.  She doesn't always like to perform but it's pretty cute when she does!

~Cate Cate is such a blessing and it was been so amazing to watch her little personality develop.  We love watching her grow and change, and we're so incredible thankful for our sweet baby girl.

****

I'll post some pictures of her in the next day or so.  I keep forgetting to take her monthly pictures so I'm a little behind on the posts.