Time continues to fly right on by, and Livia continues to grow like a little weed. She has hit so many milestones so quickly that I hope I am not missing anything in this post. And I really think that it is so funny that I was so concerned about the fact that Liv wasn't making consonant sounds yet at her six-month check up (even though I know I am not supposed to compare babies, I am totally comparing babies) because Livia can babble with the best of them now. When she's playing, she's babbling. When she's eating, she's babbling. When she's supposed to be sleeping, she's babbling. She has Ga, Ba, and Ma down, but Ma really only comes out when she's angry. Tonight at dinner it really sounded like she said Da-Da, but she only did it once, so I am not totally sure. She is also trying to stand up all the time; Liv gets quite annoyed with me if I don't hold her up so she can watch Roman or the dogs. She is obsessed with the dogs right now, especially Brock, which is interesting because Millie was clearly Roman's favorite, and she thinks everything that Brock does is hilarious.
I think Roman is having a bit of a hard time right now because Livia is finally at the age in which she really wants to play with his toys and can move around enough to get them, and he is not sure that he likes that. It must be a little rough to go from never having to share your toys to always having to share your toys. I am trying to teach him that if he wants something that she is playing with that he has to trade her a different toy. It's not perfect, but it is getting better. Although, on occasion, he'll show me that he has a toy and announce that he took it away from Livia and he'll seem far too proud about it. He also yells anytime that she starts to squawk because I think he's a little angry that she gets to yell in the house and he does not. Sometimes I think he's just "talking" with her, but there are definitely other times when he seems very upset that she's making so much noise. But he also has his very sweet moments when he'll come by and give her a kiss or try to share a toy or try to make her laugh all on his own. Of course once he realizes that I am paying attention, he goes back to being a little stink.
Livia has finally cut her third tooth, and I really do mean finally. That thing has been such a pain for all of us for the last month or so, especially poor Livie. She has been a drooly, grumpy, non-sleeping mess. In an effort to find her some more comfort at night-time, I bought her a new lovie, and her name is Ruby (thanks for naming her, grandma!). We realized that all of our current favorite lovies have R-names--Rawr, Raffe, Reno, and Rupert-- so we had to find another R-name. And Livia seems to really like having Ruby in bed because her sleeping got better almost immediately. We have a Ruby that stays in the house and goes to bed with her, and a Ruby who rides in the car and can travel to people's houses, this way, if I lose "traveling Ruby" I know I will still have one at home.
Our little monster is definitely on the move; she's getting quite good at the hands-and-knees bounce, and she's just beginning to do an army crawl. I give it a couple more weeks before she's really crawling, but that doesn't mean she can't get around quickly. If I place her in one spot on the floor of the living room and then walk into the kitchen, in the seconds that I am gone she can move to the opposite side of the room. I am guessing that she's rolling and crawling from place to place and not just army crawling because she is so fast. And she does the cutest little bounce while she's sitting down. If I say "bounce, bounce, bounce" she'll start bobbing up and down and giggling. It is the best. I will have to remind myself to record her doing that.
And Liv is starting to feed herself. We started with puffs because they are good and sticky, so they're very easy to hold on to, but the other day she was able to get peas into her mouth as well. I think she was a little frustrated at first with the peas because they are much harder to hold, but she's getting the hang of it. OH!! And Liv's hair is finally starting to grow back in. I was looking at her baby pictures, and I had forgotten how much dark hair she had and had lost, but now her hair is filling back out. It's much lighter than it was when she was born, but I still think she'll be a brunette as she gets older.
Our eight month old Livia: loves her Ruby; can feed herself puffs and peas; has three teeth (two on the bottom and one on top); is mastering the army crawl; can wave hello and goodbye; loves to play in the shower; is fascinated with her brother; is fascinated with the dogs; can say ga, ba, and ma; can stand as long as she's holding on to something; is sleeping through the night (but was having some trouble while her tooth was coming in); still has the absolute best dimples; gives the sloppiest kisses to "the baby in the mirror"; is a little flirt, and will smile and tip her head to the side when she's got your attention; makes this funny squishy face when she's been silly or is not happy with her lunch/dinner; has the greatest personality, but we just know that she's going to be a handful when she's Roman's age.