December-February 2008 Gabby Update

Gabriella is 8 months old now and full of so much life and personality! We went to the doctor this week and she’s 19.5 pounds (75th percentile) and 29.5 inches (97th percentile). As with all babies, lots of “firsts” have been happening… A week after she turned 6 months she was crawling, which quickly became standing-up, and then cruising all over the place. Just two days shy of turning 8 months she took her first steps. Although not officially walking, I’d say we’re well on our way but who knows. She’s been standing by herself for longer and longer periods and every day she does something new or looks different. Her speech is sounding more like words as well. The day she turned 8 months (February 28th) was when she reached out to Travis and said, “Daddy!” Travis and I both agreed we’d consider that her first word and it’s now officially in the baby book. However, she did say “Hi!” to a real estate lady back in December but Travis won’t count that. The teeth are coming in, which I felt first before I saw them. I like to kiss her on the lips (Oooh, those sweet kisses!) but just last week she bit down on my lip really hard and there was no mistaking that two little teeth are starting to poke out. Eating is going well, except she really doesn’t like bananas, which I find strange. She’ll eat these nasty pees but not mashed-up bananas. What? I haven’t given up yet, though. My mom said I didn’t eat bananas either so maybe it’s genetic. She has such a wonderful laugh! I’ll get up close to her face and say “hi!” and she busts out laughing. I think she’s going to be a really fun kid. We celebrated Chinese New Year in February and stayed at a hotel down the street from Tiananmen Square- but too bad we all were sick… I took Gabby for a walk and she got a tiny bit of wind burn on her cheeks because it was so windy. Oh well, the weather is getting better here so there’ll be time for more walks.