eight months

dear Victoria,

sometimes I scoop you up and can't stop myself from squishing your little body right into my chest, and nuzzling my face into your neck until you squeal with giggles. you are just so darn cute! you can spend up to an hour scooting around the family room playing with various toys -- recently you've started to be interested in baby dolls and the Fisher Price doll house. you mostly army crawl, but sometimes you pull yourself forward when you're sitting, too, and a few times you've been able to launch forward an inch or so from a bona fide crawling position. you can stand supported for a little while, but you're not close to pulling up by yourself yet. 

we had another wonderful report from the orthopedic surgeon this month. both hips remain in place. your left hip has what they call a "delayed ossification center", meaning that it's still primarily cartilage since the hip socket didn't form properly to begin with, but the doctor said that's to be expected and you don't have to wear a brace or have any restrictions on your activity (besides tight swaddling, which we wouldn't even attempt to do at this age anyway). he wants to see you back shortly after you turn a year old, and then he said he will likely follow up with you on an annual basis for a few years as long as everything seems okay. I just wish I could go back in time to last July and tell my freshly postpartum self that everything was going to end up being fine! we are so grateful for the topnotch medical care you have received. 

you are wearing 6-9 month and some 9-month clothes, although most of the clothes I have in that size are summer styles (since all of your sisters were winter babies!). you still have plenty to wear, as anyone who has seen the collection of clothing storage bins in our basement could attest. 

you came home from daycare one day with these ridiculously cute space buns!

whenever you see Daddy, you crinkle up your nose and give him the biggest smile that you reserve only for him (seriously -- you do it every time he looks at you, while I've only gotten to see it a few times!). we're teaching you how to wave and clap, and Elizabeth loves to play paparazzi with you. my phone contains dozens of blurry videos with her coaxing "Bictowia!! Bictowia!! Cheese!! Smile! Smile, baby!" she's always ready to give you your bottle or your binky, and once she got halfway through undressing you before I could intervene. 

cheering for Greta's basketball tournament

this month, you've had more solid foods, including macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, salmon, and yogurt. you're still working on your pincer grasp, so most of the cheerios or little puffed star snacks on your high chair tray end up being batted to the ground or into your seat. a few times, you've gotten your hands on Elizabeth's sippy cup of milk and tried to gulp it down. you can drink water from a straw sippy cup but don't really like it that much. still no teeth! 

we love you, sweet baby girl!