8 Months

I haven't read the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block" but somehow I still ended up raising one! Ally is a seriously happy baby these days. Every time she makes eye contact with us she scrunches up her face in a huge grin. She also laughs all.the.time. Most of the time we have no idea what she's laughing at, but we can't help but giggle along with her. And she thinks everything Sophia does is hysterical.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL29B3OopLk


She's babbling all the time now, and Will is proud that the phrase she says most often is "dada." She's not crawling yet, but she's getting closer by the day. We're constantly amazed how much trouble she can get into just by scooting, rolling, creeping and reaching. When she is sitting, she'll lean forward, push one leg behind her, and rock back and forth. It looks kinda painful to me, but doesn't seem to bother her at all.

She also likes to straddle our laps and rock back and forth. We can't help but laugh when she does this because it's impossible not to compare her to an amorous little dog!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ4ZLmggweM
She can now hold a bottle by herself which has made life so much easier. We still snuggle with her during most feedings, but when we're in a hurry and she's hungry, it's really nice to have her feed herself.

Although she's still toothless, we've started giving her finger foods with every meal. I'm not sure who is more excited about this: Ally or Trent! And Sophia loves to help shovel cheerios and other munchies into her sister's mouth.

Ally and Sophia get along wonderfully most of the time, but towards the end of the day when Sophia starts getting grumpy, Ally often ends up being the target for Sophia's frustrations. Ally's only method of defense right now is hair pulling, but she's really good at it!

It's so strange to see Ally wearing some of the same clothes that Sophia was wearing when she started walking. They're such different girls, although somehow they both ended up with the same big blue eyes.

I'm not sure what the odds are of 2 brown eyed parents having 2 blue eyed kiddos, but I do know that we're incredibly lucky.

Snow Day

While Will was off of work last month, we finally had a day with no plans and no chain requirements, so we bundled up and headed for the snow. Sophia doesn't remember playing in the snow from years past, so she was really excited.

Ally...not so much. But these days she's happy no matter where she is (as long as Mommy or Daddy are in sight.)

The first order of business: snow angels. Poor Sophia has wanted to make snow angels so badly that she's been practicing on our kitchen floor for months. The sad thing is that there's usually so much Trent hair on the floor that it kinda works!

Next on the list was the snowman. The snow was so hard that it was near impossible to make one from scratch, but luckily Sophia was happy decorating a pre-existing snowman with Mr Potato Head parts.

There was also a pre-existing igloo, which Daddy and Sophia thought was the perfect place to eat their lunch.

And last but not least was the sledding. Sophia did really well climbing up the hill and holding onto the sled.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfstqd1xt0o

Despite my objections, Will took her to the top of the hill, and she actually came down asking for a bigger hill!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONOfxUmB2Aw

And Ally LOVED watching her big sister sled right up to her feet.