eight months old.

On our journey back from Idaho, we had a stop in Dallas. The plane that was to take us from Dallas to Knoxville landed and everyone got off. The pilot of that plane came off, and I instantly recognized him as the same pilot who had flown us from Knoxville to Dallas a week earlier. After he got off the plane in Dallas, the pilot came right up to me and Carly as we sat in the airport and, looking at Carly, said "Hey, I remember you! You rode on my plane last week. You're so pretty! You must be a frequent flier!" I was shocked. I remembered him easily, but how many planes had he flown, how many faces had he seen, how many babies had he smiled at?

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Carly is just that memorable.

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Carly, at 8 months old you . . .


*are officially crawling everywhere and getting into everything. You especially love to pull the DVDs off the entertainment center and the books/magazines off the bookshelves.


*have developed a preference for one parent or the other depending on your mood. If you want to play, you crawl over to daddy. If you are tired or hungry, you crawl over to mommy. But you do crawl to both of us when you are just happy. You love being by us.


*prefer to be standing while holding on to the coffee table over any other position.


*continue to sleep 9-12 hours a night. And when we come get you, you pull yourself right up in the crib and smile and screech. We love that you are happy to see us.


*love to play "fetch" with daddy, where you throw something on the ground, he picks it up for you, and you throw it on the floor again.


*love your bottle when you are tired. And love to drink cold water out of a cup. But I can't get you to even consider using a sippy cup.


*make all sorts of sounds. My favorite is when you talk in this low guttural voice. It sounds like you are a "demon baby". Its hilarious.


*are very friendly. You are such a ham and smile so big at strangers. You are good at making new friends . . . as long as mommy or daddy is holding you.


*enjoy all foods . . . except green beans. You literally cry between bites when I feed them to you. But I do think your favorite is apples, and blueberry/apple.


*find things humorous. Like the tape measure or mommy saying "boo". Its so funny when you laugh (or grunt-laugh) at particular funny things.


*really love vanilla ice cream. We probably shouldn't know that. But when we give you tiny tastes your eyes go wide and you wave your little arms around so excitedly.


*make every day fun. We can't imagine our lives without you.


Happy 8 months, Car. We are glad you joined us.

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