8 months

Ella turned 8 months today! My little baby is becoming such a little girl. We finally got Ella a high chair and she loves it. At 8 months, she is eating solids - carrots, peas & brown rice, squash, sweet potatoes, pears, avocado, rice cereal, and her FAVORITE, bananas. She is so good about trying anything and everything and at this point enjoys whatever we give her.

Ella is developing like crazy. Every day brings on something a little bit different, whether a new sound or just a little bit more mobility. Ella still loves to practice her walking but also loves to try n pull herself up, sits without toppling over, loves to explore her surroundings, and is *almost* crawling. Always happy and smiling, Ella is really giving back now. You can rough n tumble with her and cuddle with her. You can tickle her and she laughs. You can talk to her and she babble back at you. She is really fun and every day is simply another adventure. Ella is not a great sleeper however. The girl *maybe* naps 20 minutes 2x a day (doesn't seem to slow her down a bit though) and does not sleep through the night, still waking a couple times and is early to rise. But, even though the lack of a good night's sleep can be exhausting at times, it's so worth it. At the odd times Ella does fall asleep, we miss her and look forward to playing with her when she's up again.

I have gone back to work part time and while it was tough at first on both Ella and I, things are a lot better now and her separation anxiety isn't as intense as it was. She is used to Babcia Beata watching her now and my days at work go by pretty fast. The tough part is only having an hour or so with her when I get home but luckily this only happens 3x a week and I get 4 day weekends to spend with her. I'm sure it's good for us both to practice time away from each other since time is flying by so fast it won't be long before she heads off to day care, pre-school, college. I love my baby girl and love every minute as her mama.

Today Ella supervised while Uncle Mikey helped with Grandma Marilyn's big move to Rossmoor - an awesome retirement community where she has a beautiful new house Ella can't wait to visit her in.