This Week in the life of Georgia...

Reality check: a month's supply of diaps, wipes, and formula. Thank goodness for Costco. Although if they don't stop accosting us at the check-out with the same dang offer we've said no to numerous times, they might just witness our backs instead of our cash.

Those piggies! Georgia loves this strainer. We love it when she uses it as a hat! We didn't think she would leave it behind for anything, but she lost interest in it and became a girly mess when a financial advisor visited us this week. Granted he was young and handsome, but we were nonetheless astounded at this never seen before bashful, flirty side of her. Ironically, the same night a middle aged woman named Olga came to visit us for my life insurance exam and Georgia was completely happy to sit on the couch with Daddy and watch. Even when he put her on the floor she would not crawl over to us---for anything.

She now spends some time in baby jail--for her own safety--when we are cooking. She is her father's daughter and very mechanically minded. She wants to know how things work and she can destruct, open, and push a few too many things to be left to her own devices.

I have been thinking for several weeks that it was time for G's first hair trim. Her bangs were the only part of her hair left from her dark birth hair, and those strands were down past her eyes. Noah told me he almost did the trimming but decided that was a "moment" for me to share with Georgia. A few snips, a clean forehead, and some hairs tucked away for her baby book later she looked like such a big girl! The rest of her head is in transition--chick fuzzy as it grows in. It sticks up from her head and is adorable.

Just so you know, a blue paci trumps all other indications of a baby's sex in public with strangers. I learned this the hard way. Yes, she was dressed in purple and pink, but a blue paci made her a boy. I even referred to her as she and said her name in Georgia but she stayed a boy and was called George.

We're up for name suggestions for this pink bunny. Noah is no longer allowed to name things. He named her babydoll Elyse. That's a little confusing. The bunny needs a name because we are hoping to attach Georgia to it to help her cope with separation anxiety. So far, she's not interested. Perhaps a strainer or a spatula would work better, but an animal is a more friendly bedfellow.

In a grand baby way, Georgia has entered separation anxiety while also getting three top teeth and learning to imitate, all right on track at 8 months. So far her imitating is of Mommy sneezing. The anxiety is greatest at bedtime and we are trying our best to usher her through with assurance of our continued presence, even if unseen. If Mom isn't around, it's ok with her so long as she knows where Daddy or Jenn the sitter are. But when Mommy is home, she wants Mommy. Noah read that the more a child feels love, the sooner anxiety occurs, and the quicker she'll pass through it. In an odd way, that feels like a compliment. We tried the suggested ways of letting her cry it out, but that girl will not give it up and crash. Out of desperation I worked out a system that keeps her in her bed but allows her to see that mommy is close by. Noah saw it for the first time last night and agreed it the cutest, saddest thing ever. Her crib is in the middle of her room, pulled close to the bed in there. If I lay down on the bed and put my hand through the corner of the crib, she crawls over, and lays her head in my hand and goes to sleep. It feels bizarre--caged, zoo animalish--but it reassures her and then she can go to sleep on her own.

We are also practicing peek-a-boo furiously, letting her come find us when we leave a room, and always trying to remind her we'll be back. Remind us of this in 15 years when we are complete embarassments to our daughter and she wants to know when we are leaving....