Did I Mention My Baby is AWESOME??

I just can't believe how quickly babies learn.  Yesterday morning the quickest Stretchy could get around the house was by lying on her stomach, shoving her face in the floor and using her toes to push forward... inch by inch.

Then yesterday she somehow learned to crawl, pull up, stand and cruise.  All in one day.

So this morning, I started baby-proofing...

Is it the cutest that she crawls like that?  Definitely.

I Don't Mean to Brag...

but my kid is kind of awesome.  We had to make a trip to the doctor's office yesterday, and even though Stretchy was supposed to be acting fussy and rubbing her ears (inner ear infection?), she was all smiles and cuteness...

Now, typically, as I think most parents know, when your child can do something awesome at home (wave, clap, talk, walk, stand on their head...) they never do it in front of someone else when you want them to, which often makes the parent look like an idiot, especially if they person they are trying to show doesn't have kids.

Scenario: Stretchy learns to wave and I want to show it off at coffee with one of my friends.
  (arrive at coffee shop.  Stretchy waves at multiple strangers the cashier and the barista while I wait for my friend.  Friend arrives, we get coffee, make small talk.)
  Me: Guess what Stretchy learned to do this weekend?  She can wave! Wave hello, Stretchy!
  (I frantically wave my arm around in front of the baby)
  Baby: Gaaaaa.  Ba. Ba. (gives quizzical expression and drops toy to ground)
  Me:  Come on, wave!  Hi! (I wave more, people start staring)
  Baby: Ba. Ba. (bangs table) AAhhhh! (starts crying).
I look like a giant liar.

As we sat talking to the doctor, Stretchy started waving.  The doctor waved back and said, "wow, already waving, huh?"  So, being the proud mom that I am, decided to try to show off her latest skill.

"Watch this," I said...  "Clap your hands..."

And for once, Stretchy actually did something awesome in front of somebody else.  She clapped.  The doctor seemed pretty impressed.  I was pretty impressed.  Which made me extra proud of my awesome baby.  Just had to share...

The Ridiculousness Continues...

When I posted about the "Terrible Eights," I may have forgotten to mention a few key issues I have with my now-eight-month-old.

Issue 1:  I like my sleep.  Apparently, Stretchy does not like me to sleep.  This is apparent in the fact that she wakes up more now than when she was a tiny infant.  Like every 3 hours.  Or less.  Last night, SEVEN times... SEVEN.  Let me just write it one more time for emphasis:  SEVEN.  Which, according to my awesome new toy, the fitbit, means out of the 8 hours and 15 minutes I was "in bed" I only slept for FIVE. AWESOME.

Issue 2:  I like to eat breakfast.  Apparently, Stretchy does not like me to be full and would prefer I was starving all day.  In the past, I was able to make my breakfast and eat it while Stretchy ate hers.  Now, since she refuses to eat breakfast, I must either eat my breakfast (tasty warm oat bran) while playing on the floor (resulting in oat bran covered carpet and/or toys) or let it get cold and gross on the table and throw it away when it becomes inedible.  Thus, I am now looking for new breakfast options... I am also hungry.

Issue 3:  I like to walk in a comfortable and upright position.  Apparently, Stretchy prefers that I walk with an extra 18 or so pounds on one hip so that my spine looks like a fish hook and I'm practically hobbling after a quarter mile. Obviously neither stroller we have is comfortable or exciting enough for her.

Here is evidence.  Yesterday I planned on taking a nice relaxing walk by the golf course at the Saratoga State Park.  Stretchy started out happy enough in her stroller.

We even saw a bunny.

This is us in the same spot on the way back.

What's different?  Aside from Stretchy being out of the stroller, I look unhappy tired like I love my baby so much that when she screamed her head off as if her arms were being torn from her body, I carried her an entire mile rather than let her suffer in the torturous stroller.

Issue 4:  I prefer people did not think I abuse my child or endager her in any way.  Stretchy, on the other hand, seems to want people miles away to think that I am either lighting her on fire, or letting her be mauled by wild animals.

Evidence:  In the parking lot after we returned from the previously described walk, I placed my seemingly comforted baby in the safe confines of her carseat so that I could pack up our belongings and take her home.  No sooner had I put her down than she began screaming so loudly and inconsolably that I immediately picked her up for fear that someone in the vicinity would hear her and call 9-1-1 or rush to her aid and call CPS because surely a child can only cry like that if she is being severely injured or mistreated.

My only other option seemed to be to set her in the grass while I put the stroller away.

This was a miracle decision on my part because A) she stopped crying, B) she seemed happier than she had in the past few days, and C) we had an activity to entertain her for a good 30 minutes.

I also got some really cute pictures...

The Terrible Eights?

Stretchy is a whole eight months old!  Where does the time go??

She's working on crawling and wants to stand and try to walk all the time.  Which is super awesome.  I also found out she understands us.  You can say "clap your hands" and guess what?  She does!  Amazing.

She's also been incredibly fussy.  All. The. Time.  Or at least it feels like all the time.

It's probably cutting teeth.  Apparently, once they get teeth, anything and everything can be attributed to teething... until they're done getting teeth.  Awesome.

She also has the worst case of mommy-itis.  Ever.  I can't even leave a room in my house and go someplace else without evoking a screaming fit which must leave my neighbors thinking I have a secretive torture chamber.  Forget going to the gym and let her stay in the babysitting room.  The second I set her down she starts crying.  And continues crying.  Until fifteen minutes later (which is apparently the standard amount of time they must keep your screaming kid) when they have to come get me.

And now she's learned that if she wants something that I've taken away, she can scream and cry and most likely, I'll give it back.  This is inclusive of cell phones, toys, kitchen utensils, cameras, stuffed animals, dirty diapers and hair elastics.  It also applies to occasions where she is someplace she likes and I try to remove her to a new location.

She's so super cute that I can't be mad at her, but it can get kind of trying.

AND, as mean as it may be, I do kind of enjoy cute screaming baby pictures...

Taking a Break

After men working in our house to replace the windows and two sets of visitors, I was exhausted.  I mean, on top of already being exhausted because I have a baby.  So I decided to hop in the car and go home.  Sometimes even though I'm a mom and I have someone to take care of, I still need my mom to take care of me.

It was nice to spend some time at home.

We played a lot.

tired out

And Stretchy looked super cute, as always.

She got to eat in a toddler chair that I used to have when I was little (thanks mommy-brain for forgetting the clip-on high chair!).

And we even got to go in the hot tub (thanks for turning the heat down!).

She explored all the furniture.

AND the funniest thing happened.  A dragonfly landed on her head and stayed there for a few minutes.  She had NO CLUE.  Hilarious.

Another Boyfriend?!?

Thursday we had friends from college visit from NC on their way up to visit family.  We hadn't seen them in years but have been in touch on and off since we graduated.  They just had a baby also, 7 month old E.  We were excited to get the babies together for some quality playtime.

Unfortunately, it rained for the first part of their visit, but that gave the babies plenty of time to play.

I guess at this age babies aren't really into other babies because they mostly played near each other, but by themselves.  They did notice each other's pacifiers though... and even though we didn't get the best footage, this was hilarious.

Playtime!

Stretchy is trying really hard to crawl.  Most of the time it just ends up in a frustrated face-plant.  She'll get there though.

In the meantime, its adorable to watch her play... even if I do have to rescue a screaming baby from her tummy once in a while.

Cute things she does:

Plays with kitchen utensils... longer than any of the cute and awesome toys we bought for her.

Cries when I take something away that she wants (mostly the camera):

Tries to crawl:

Looks intently out the window:

Bounces.  In and on everything:

And is just super cute in general: