you are eight months old {dear beautiful little lady}

dear little Quinny,

It is crazy to think you're eight months old already... in another months time you will have been out in the world longer than you lived in my tummy, and that's such a mega milestone! But that's a month away, so I'm not going to let myself think about that too much. It actually feels like ages ago that I wrote your last monthly letter, so maybe life is finally listening to my requests for time to slow down a little. In actual fact it's probably just that we seem to have crammed quite a lot into the past month.

I think I can finally say that we've found our groove with weaning now. You're eating three (albeit still quite small) meals a day now; and you definitely seem to be loving food more now. You start your day with porridge, which you generally wolf down at speed. Lunch time is still quite a snacky affair; you might have a cracker, breadstick or some toast - all of which you seem to enjoy gumming, chewing and generally making a mess with - and you will have some puréed fruit, as well as some softer fruits to chew on. At dinner time you tend to have some concoction of puréed vegetables, maybe some plain pasta, and then a yoghurt - which is definitely your favourite food of all. I don't think I've ever known a child that doesn't enjoy a yoghurt, and this is definitely true with you too.

Sleep is still one of your favourite things, and you sleep through the night now quite consistently. And you are in a pretty set routine now of having a longer morning nap, followed by a shorter lunch time nap, and sometimes a mid afternoon cat nap if you need it. We have been having a few issues with getting you settled some nights, which is frustrating for us and exhausting for you as we watch you get more and more overtired. I think it's partly because as a third baby there are always times when your routine simply has to fit in with the older two, and because they both go to bed for 7, it's hard for you to get to bed then because you have such a long last breast feed before you go to bed. I'm not really quite sure what we can do to improve things, and it doesn't seem to bother you because you just sleep later in the mornings. But we really would like to aim to get you into a routine of having a consistent bedtime, instead of you falling asleep for 8pm some evenings, and then fighting sleep until 10pm on other evenings.

I know that backwards crawling was something I mentioned in your last letter, and part of me kind of expected to be reporting that you had mastered proper crawling by now. But no... you still crawl backwards, sometimes at speed, and you can roll around and rotate yourself around perfectly. So much so that a part of me wonders whether you are getting so effective at your own way of getting around that you may not bother with standard crawling. Although in the last week or so, you are getting up on your hands and knees more and more, and getting a bit frustrated with not getting exactly where you want to be, so I think I still reckon you'll be a crawler before very much longer.

You are a super sturdy sitting now too. Last month you were still a bit wobbly, but not anymore. You sit and play with your toys for ages now, and can even lean over to reach toys that have rolled away, and still sit yourself back up again instead of falling over. You seem to really adore your new view of the world, and the fact that it's opened up so many opportunities for you.

One of your favourite sitting up opportunities is to grab any cat that is brave enough to come within your arms length. You absolutely adore Darcy and Wentworth, and they are both so good about coming over to see you and letting you stroke and grab at them. It's generally only when you start to get carried away and begin squealing with excitement that they tend to scarper, and we can't really blame them for that. You would seem to be a bit of an animal lover in general, or at least you are very interested by animals. You enjoy watching the birds on the bird table in Nanny and Pops' garden, and you giggle at the ducks and the dogs we see on the school run. Dylan was the same as a baby, and it still animal mad now, so we wonder whether you may be the same.

By far and away your biggest perk to being able to sit up now, is the increased interaction that you are getting from your big brother and sister. Now you are sitting they seem to see you as a fun play thing a bit more; you aren't just a boring sleepy baby to them anymore, and they are seeing you more and more each day as a friend and a play mate; they both totally adore and dote on you. They would both do anything for a smile from you, and are honestly such a help to me in keeping you entertained when I need to get something done, or if you are bored in the back of the car. Dylan likes to do crazy dances and sing silly songs for you, which never fails to get you totally hysterical with laughter. Everly on the other hand likes to cuddle you; she will snuggle in behind you when you are sat on the floor, sneaking her arms under yours to give you a cuddle. The cuddling quickly turns into her rocking you back and forth which will lead to laughter and then tickling and then generally me having to step in and remind everyone to be careful. Of course while I am reminding your older siblings to treat you more gently, you are generally grinning and giggling away which doesn't really help to discourage them. That's siblings I guess, and we know that you're a tough little thing and you'll quickly let us know if something is happening that you don't like.

In honesty, it's been a fairly quiet month in terms of new milestones and development. No new teeth, no new skills (although obviously you have built on ones that you were just learning), but you have had some exciting new experiences. Summer has set in, and it's meant that you've enjoyed some lovely firsts. We had a trip to the beach which meant you got your first play in the sand, and a first paddle in the sea. While the sea wasn't the biggest hit (it was probably a tad chilly when you're used to water being body temperature), you did love playing in the sand and sat happily digging your fingers into it and spreading it all over the place. You also had a first dip in Nanny and Pops' hot tub; you weren't too sure at first, probably because a certain little fish brother was splashing around all over the place, but then you decided you quite liked it, all snuggled up in the warm water in my arms.

We all love you so much our little Quinny Quinn, you are such a total delight with such a happy nature. I'm so so proud that you are mine.

mummy xxx

You can read her letters from months one, two, three, four, five, six and seven by following the links.

An eighth month in photos...