Noelle recently turned eight months old. Anything I can think to say about my mothering experience so far has already been said before, so instead I'll share a few details about Noelle at this stage alongside a billion pictures. Prepare for a cuteness overload.
She is starting to sleep better, but it is still a bit of a roller coaster. Significant improvements include sleeping in her own crib in her own room and falling asleep without being rocked. It isn't uncommon for her to refuse an entire nap by hanging out in her crib babbling to herself for an hour, though. We just stopped swaddling her a few weeks ago and discovered, to our great surprise, that although she used to despise being on her tummy, she is decidedly a stomach sleeper.
She loves pizza sauce. She has strong pizza sense and always seems to know when we are having pizza and/or are withholding pizza sauce from her. Neapolitans think that it is extremely charming that a baby so small has such a deep love for their culinary staple.
Noelle is becoming increasingly chatty. She babbles and squeals and buzzes her lips. She recently started making a sound that is an awful lot like, “blah, blah, blah.” She's likely mocking me.
Noelle likes to hold onto things for physical security. When she is being carried, she likes to have a fistful of shirt or a strap in her hand to keep her safe. She loves holding onto the pole on the metro, just like Justin and I do.
Noelle is adept at rolling over and is on the verge of crawling. The alarming amount of tile in our apartment means most of her crawling experiments are conducted on the bed, but I know I won't be able to contain her there for much longer.
Noelle looks at everyone as a potential friend. She has developed a fan club at church (see recently tagged Facebook posts) and has been dubbed the mascot of the Napoli Branch.
Noelle is curious. I'm terrified of her achieving mobility because she is already into everything. She insists on touching everything in sight and likes chewing on cords, lunging at knives and leaning out over high ledges. She is a wily little girl.
We think we'll keep her.