Merry Christmas + 8 months

 V turned 8 months, two days after Christmas. We had a really good Christmas. Most of Husband's siblings were in town with their kids in tow. The house was full -17 people on Christmas morning! So opening presents was nice and long and happy.

I surprised Husband with an iPad I had been saving up for for the past 7 months or so. He was so surprised. He surprised me with a cookbook that I have always wanted! Thank you Becky for tipping him off!

 V got a nice baby nativity that she loves to dance at. She loved all the wrapping paper and the ornaments and beads on the tree.

 She tried to eat this sheep every minute she could.

 Husband + siblings pitched in to buy his dad a real cotton candy machine. We tried it out a few days ago. It was perfect and a lot of fun.

 I FINALLY finished a pair of mittens for V that actually fit her. That's what you get without a pattern.

 Speaking of patterns, I made this little dress for her yesterday from a pattern in a book of girls clothes I got from Christmas money that my dad gave us. I know it is indirectly a present for me as well as for Vera, but she will be wearing all the clothes.  This "dress" is actually a shirt in a 4 year old size, so she'll be able to wear it for some time.

Look how big she is standing on that rocking bike! She really loved that thing.

At 8 months Vera is FINALLY crawling! Yay! she got little Christmas jammies with knee and elbow patches that i thought were a little silly until she started to crawl around in them. And then I thought they were genius.

She got her first cold, and apparently getting your nose wiped is the worst.

She woke up with enough hair the other day for me to put it in a tiny pony tail. Can you spot it?

She is babbling a lot, and she dances to every thing! Someone was playing a beat on a big balloon and she started to dance to the beat! I think it is the cutest. It makes her so happy too.

She has big smiles for all strangers, and if she's unsure, she'll look at me and I'll say "You can be friendly" and she'll smile at them.

When she falls asleep, she likes bury her face in a stuffed animal.

Her nicknames currently are "Chi Chi" or "Little Chi". "Hot Stink" or "Little Stink" and "Swiss Miss"

I love this little girl of mine. I love when she wraps her arms around my neck or when she cant fall back asleep because she's too excited to see me come check on her. I love to see her so excited about being able to crawl around. I do not especially love having to pull her little sticky fists out of the cats food...

And because I love it:

 Dinah and Vera at 8 months.

This photo sums up their relationship...