Claire turns 8 months old!

I've been trying to find the time to do a post to mark Claire turning 8 months since Tuesday night, and I'm just now getting around to it, even though I can think of 15 other things I should really be doing. It's 8:30 and Grant hasn't had sheets on his bed since yesterday morning, but it will get done tonight, as soon as I'm done with this!

Claire is now 2/3rds to One Year Old, and my how it's flying by! She is getting into everything, everywhere. I feel like I'm THAT frazzled woman everywhere I go because I don't feel like I'm the one in control with her (or Grant) most of the time. Claire is very into toys, especially Grant's. She's a playing machine these days. She pulls everything out and just goes onto the next room for more destruction. It does no good to pick anything up anymore. Poor Grant gets the brunt of the picking up duty, but he's starting to complain already that he didn't get it out.

My little stone face is starting to crack smiles at others. For the longest time, I didn't know if she would ever smile at other people. They'd talk and coo at her and she'd just stare them down. We have had this experience at several different photo sittings, and it is very frustrating. We did her pics and family photos on Weds though, and she did a lot better. She's also been cutting up with some of the people that sit behind us and make faces at her during church. I'm glad she's showing that sweet little smile to others finally.

Although little miss was pulling up last month, she now will let go for a brief moment. Mainly to reach both arms up for me to pick her up. She is a big time momma's girl. It's good and bad for me! I love it, but it makes it hard to do much with her on my hip the whole time I'm home. I think she's still weighing in at a little over 18 lbs, which is really building up my arms! Her 2nd tooth came in at the end of August and a 3rd is on the way. I can see one of her top teeth through the gum, but it hasn't broken through yet. She has also started pulling out all of her hairbows as you can see here. I love that you can see her teeth in this picture.

Sleep is still our main "issue." I am starting to wonder if I will ever get to sleep through the night again. I'm going out of town for 1 night in a little over a month, and was certain she'd be sleeping all night by then. Now, I'm really not so sure. God bless my momma while I'm gone. I don't know how she'll handle waking to someone other than me in the middle of the night. Of course, she'll probably sleep all night that night!

Claire really loves Grant, although sometimes I wonder why. Since he's in MDO two days a week now, she does not know what to do with herself while he's gone. Nanny said she crawls around looking for him and sometimes just stops in the floor and starts to cry. Hopefully, things between them will continue to improve. I still don't think it would be a wise move on anyone's part to turn their back on the two of them. He cannot be trusted not to injure her yet. She'll be holding her own soon I think.

I cannot imagine this little think walking around, but I know it won't be long. She is such a joy these days. She loves to cuddle and makes the sweetest little sounds. She regularly says mamamama, dadadada, and daddy swears she says ball, though I think it's just babbling. She does the cutest little think where she scrunches up her nose and breathes really hard in and out through her nose while smiling. If you do it to her, she'll do it back. I tried to get video of her doing it, but of course, she had performance anxiety so all you can hear on the video is all of us doing it...not so cute!

Happy 8 month mark baby girl! Nine months is right on the horizon, and that feels like such a huge milestone. I cannot believe we're almost there.