Eight Months!

Emalyn was eight months old on Saturday. I cannot believe how quickly the past few months have flown; we will be celebrating her first birthday before I know it. It has been so much fun. She has changed so much in the last few months. Here are all the new things she is doing:

• Her first little bottom tooth popped through the middle of August, and she is working hard on that second one (I had forgotten how rough teething was. I now remember why I was so excited when Maddie finally got her last moler). 
• She can push herself up to sitting. It is so fun to walk into her room to get her up from a nap and to see her sitting up in the bed smiling at me. We had a few rough days when she couldn't figure out how to lay back down, but she seems to have worked through it.
• She has started crawling! She is still not really motoring very far yet. But for the past week she has been getting up on all fours and rocking, and has gotten stronger each day. Her life and my life is about to really change once she can start getting into everything!
• She has starting pulling up on things. She pulled up on the coffee table last Friday, but she still hasn't quite figured out how to get her legs untwisted and stand up. But she is working on it none the less.
• She has learned to tip her toy basket over so she can reach the toys inside, which means all I have to do right now is set her in front of her toy basket and she is quite content.
• She has started patting me on the back when I pat her back, and when you ask her to “pat pat mama,” she will get a huge grin on her face, think about it for a second, and then bring her right hand around to pat me – she gets so proud of herself. 
• Gone are the days of setting her in the exersaucer for entertainment.(Thanks to baby Carrie for letting us borrow yours since ours got "flooded" as Maddie calls it). All Emalyn wants to do is to be on the floor scooting now.

She still loves being held and snuggled although she is quite the wiggle worm these days. And she is still is laid back as ever, but we are starting to see a little bit of a temper when she doesn't get her way. :) Bottom line, I am loving life with my sweet family these days. I was reminded tonight by an e-mail from a friend, that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month. And I spent a few minutes looking at YouTube videos of pediatric cancer patients, and it so quickly took me back to my precious patients in Atlanta, so many of whom are no longer with us. Chris and I are so blessed to have two healthy girls. I don't have to worry about white blood cell counts, shaving my child's head b/c their scalp is itching from their hair falling out, sores in their mouths from chemo, ports or central lines, emergency trips to the ER, hosptial bills stacking up, and so many other things. Puts so many of my "problems" into perspective!