8 months.

lookie who decided to edit a picture?  

it was fun, but took quite a bit of time 

and that's not something i have a lot of these days.

plus, both ben & i are fans of the un-edited.

but i might do it every now and then, 

it sure makes life look a bit prettier, doesn't it?

so here we are, just keeping up with tradition, and posting this a month late.

there have been hundreds of moments this last month where i find that i'm squeezing my eyes shut hard, trying to make a permanent memory about june.  the way she smells, the feeling of her little arms gripped tightly around me, her soft and chubby legs, the feeling of her fuzzy, baby-fine hair against my chin.  

time is moving too quickly for me with this little one.

junearama began moving her little body around at just under 8 months, doing this hilariously strange go-into-a-pushup-position, then move her little toes up a couple of steps, then would put her knees down like she was going to crawl, but nope!  

down into a plank position as she pushed herself forward.

during the 8th month, she got fully into crawling and you can tell how excited she is at her own mobility because she squeals and laughs as she goes. until she pulls herself up to standing while holding something and falls.  but she now standing and is cruising along furniture and i am honestly considering buying a helmet for her little noggin because most of our home has tile floors. 
we're finding out quickly that her head and the floor are not friends..  

she loves to dance and sing along with us and clap for herself all of the time.  she wave's bye-bye, can say "hi" back to us when we say it, and is actually doing word association now.  she babbles a lot but can now say 3 or 4 words and knows what she's saying.  da-da {anytime ben comes into the room}, ba {for bath}, ba-ba {for bottle} and says mama when she is really sad, hurt or tired.

she gives the best hugs.  she's so so snuggly, more so than my other two ever were,
and wraps her arms around me tightly 

and holds on while laying her head on my shoulder.    

her laugh still sounds like a machine-gun popping off, and she is extremely ticklish. she is also finding her temper, and is vocal in letting us know when she's angry about having a certain "toy" taken from her chubby grasp.  luckily, she gets over it quickly.

she is healthy.  she's had a couple of colds in her life but
has never had to go do the doctor for a sick visit, 

and for that i am extremely grateful.

she has light blonde hair and hazel-ish eyes, and the rounder her cheeks become the deeper the dimple on her right cheek becomes.  no teeth yet, but there have been times when we were sure they were coming, so we keep her amber teething necklaces on to help with the symptoms.

she is so fun, this is pretty much my favorite time with a baby.

i'll be honest though, her night sleeping has been challenging.  some nights are great, and others are not so great.  and i mean rough.  so we've changed things up; at one point sleeping in her car seat in our rocking chair for a few weeks, then in a pack 'n' play in our room, and now she's in the pack 'n' play in our walk-in closet.  we just set up her crib a week ago, but she and caleb are going to share a room and i want to get her sleeping back to being consistent before we move her in. 

the other challenge we've had is eating.  she started out like a champ, but like her sleeping, some days are better than others.  so we're just taking it slow, not worrying about it, and being flexible. 

and now, here's just a whole bunch of pictures.

until she caught up with me, and came in for the attack.

kind of reminds me of her older sister, at 6 months:

same double chin.

even though i love my kids in all of their stages,

8 months needs to go down in the record books

as one of my favorites with june.