Eight months

Joy kicked off the week of their 8 month bday by producing her first two teeth on Saturday! She laughs at random times and especially when tickled- the kid is soo ticklish, and sometimes she smiles so big you think her face might break. She talks LOUDLY and frequently carries on conversations with Abby Jane and Blythe when Abby Jane says these magic words: "ba ba ba." Our home is going to be SOOO noisy when all three are actually using words. Joy is fantastic at sitting up and is content to do just that- seems to have no desire to crawl or scoot.

Blythe continues to just be a nut. She still smiles at anything that moves and thinks a lot of people are really funny. Jake thinks she said, "Mama" the other day, and I think she sometimes is looking at me when she says, "Maaaa" but it's not official yet. One of her current stunts is pulling down the bumper to look out of the crib, which makes it tricky if you're trying to sneak in to do something for just Joy! She will crawl at any second now. I think she's waiting for a big audience this weekend with my family to officially do it, but she is definitely on all fours, rocking, scooting, spinning on her belly, lunging, trying to pull up... the kid is rarely still.

They play decently well together, though they frequently steal each other's toys. Blythe is better at getting finger foods in her mouth, but Joy is improving. They eat anything I feed them, and in large quantities! They get really excited about the blueberries, cheese and Puffs that come out after all their veggies.

Joy is still our snuggler- at baby storytime yesterday, all the other kids wanted to pat the librarian's stuffed gorilla, but sweet Joy just leaned in for some snuggle love.

Abby Jane got consistent about differentiating between the little girls when they were about six months old, and she is FANTASTIC at helping when they're in the car! She makes them laugh, gives them pacis, tells us who's awake or asleep, and gives them toys. At home, we're working on not grabbing toys out of their hands, but for the most part, she's kind and gentle to the girls (though she did tell me the other day, "I don't want to be kind.") She ALWAYS can't wait to see them when she wakes up and gets so tickled by their funny talking and when they reach out to her.