Eight Months

Already? Really? It can’t be. My precious, tiny (kind of) 8lb 5oz baby girl is already eight months old? No!

Alas, it is true. I feel like these monthly milestone posts are coming closer and closer together. I’m pretty sure it’s just my mama brain feeling the looming one year birthday barreling at us like a freight train.

I know everyone has their favorite kid ages. Some people love newborns, some love toddlers. And although they may love their children, lots of people don’t care for the first year because it’s so much “work”. I am not in that group. I looooove every single month, and I know I said a few months ago that five months was my favorite, but I think now it is eight months. If it were up to me, which it’s not, I would make the first year last twice as long. I think I have “savored” Presley’s baby-hood a lot more than I did with Mattie’s, maybe because she’s my second and I know from experience just how fast it all goes. I just can’t get enough of this:

And this:

The bubble blowing, spit covered face. Those big blue eyes. And that curl. Oh, that curl. It owns a very big piece of my heart forever. I am so in love with that one lock of hair. Please don’t get any bigger, Presley!
Well, Miss PK, what do we find you up to these days?

-You are weighing in at a whopping 21lbs 13.5oz. This is easily above 95th percentile for your age. Yet, as heavy as you are, you still seem so little to me. I think it’s because Big Sister is around, and she makes you seem tiny.


-You are a funny girl, sure to be a clown just like sister. You like to make us laugh, and it takes very little to get you laughing. You are happiest when you are happy. Aren’t we all?

-This month, you mastered sitting on your own, with no help. It’s like a whole new world to you, seeing things in an upright position.


-No crawling yet, thank you, Lord. I think I’m dreading this milestone so much because I remember how when Mattie started crawling, it was like my baby was gone and a toddler took her place. I just want to hold on to my baby a little bit longer. You are starting to raise up higher and try to get up on your knees though, so I think you’ll probably crawl about the time Mattie did, which was 9.5 months, if not sooner.


-Your hair continues to amaze me. The whole time I was pregnant, Daddy teased me that we were going to have a blond headed baby because after having our black-headed baby Mattie, that just didn’t seem to be a likely possibility. However, your hair continues to be pretty light, especially in the sunlight. And it is curling more and more. I can’t hardly picture what you’ll look like as a little girl. I just can’t. Maybe because the images in my mind of what a little girl should look like are dominated with pictures of Mattie, and I think you will certainly look different than her. No doubt beautiful though.

-Still not saying “Mama. There have been reports of hearing you say “Papa”. Still saying “Dada” ALL the time. Mattie and I are both ready for some recognition! This week Mattie told me she thinks she heard you say “Ashley”. She was so sure!

-You only have two teeth, but they have grown in quite a bit. The gummy grin is officially gone. I *think* you may have another coming because the drooling and chewing has started again.

-Nicknames: Pres-Pres, PK, Lovey Kate. When you were just a few days old, Mattie instructed us that when we were lovin’ on you, we were to call you Lovey Kate, not Presley Kate. It stuck. And I swore when I was pregnant with you that I would not call you PK, because I hate when girls have initial names. And now, I call you PK more than anybody. And Sister started the Pres-Pres, but we have all picked it up too. Although she says “Pwes-Pwes”.

-Even though you’re not saying “Mama”, you are showing some real attachment to me and even some mild separation anxiety at times. You want your mama. All the time. Which is fine by me, and very flattering, thank you. Except when I have to put you down in order to do something important, like tend to your sister, and your screaming at me. That’s not so nice.

-In the picture below, you were trying your hardest to eat your dress. Please don’t do this at your prom. It may get some laughs, but it won’t be worth it.

(Those thighs! Kill me now. I could eat them up!)

-Eating all kinds of fruits and veggies, and crackers, and sampled sweet potato fries this weekend.

-Taking four bottles a day, usually 8oz each, sometimes less.

-Size 3 daytime diaper, size 5 overnight diaper.

-Wearing a range of clothing sizes from 6mos to 18mos. Mostly 9mos stuff though. Size 3 shoe, although your feet rarely see shoes. I just can’t put a shoe on a baby in the summertime. Church is the only exception.

- Tomorrow will be one year since we found out that the baby we were expecting was going to be another little girl. No mama has ever been more excited. Little did I know just how blessed I would be. I was excited about the matching sister clothes, and getting to doll up another little girl, but you have added so much more to our lives than all that. We are all so, so in love with you, sweet girl. So in love.

When I made this collage, and found the four month picture on my computer, I was SHOCKED at the change in four short months. She was still so teeny tiny at four months and still didn’t have a neck or much hair. I just didn’t realize until I looked at this what a change we had made. Which is exactly why I take these pictures.