Dearest Luna Mae Zhu, 

Happy Eight Months to you! What a beautiful month this has been with upcoming holiday celebrations, holiday music in the mornings, extra coffee for mommy, your first ever Christmas tree, new solid foods and so much more. This month there have been so many changes, we simply don't know where to start. You still love your bottle, but we just started trying a sippy cup with a little water, and you are loving the "adult-like" nature of the cup. You open your mouth and want to try anything we are eating. You seem to love solid foods more and more. We have tried and really like apples, bluberries, strawberries, pears and peaches. We don't love bananas (a girl after mommy's own heart.) We also love little bits of pasta and chicken, peas and hummus, peanut butter, homemade tomato soup, beef, eggs made any which way, avocado, bits of bread here and there, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, purple yams, bean soup (a little bit) and much much more. It's been fascinating watching you try new things and for the most part, it does appear you will eat just about anything. 

You had your flu shots and handled it like a champ, and you still continue to grow at a ridiculous rate. Everyone who sees you comments on how large you are for a baby (And we love the fact that you are thriving and healthy!) Hilariously, mommy was only about 19 pounds at the eight month mark, and you seem to be clocking around 24 pounds. You have built mommy's biceps and quadriceps of steel, and she is forever grateful. We think you will be as tall as Uncle Nick, and we chuckle at the fact that your daddy may one day come up to your waist (but we are okay with that.) Language wise, you said baba for the first time this month and now have started to say 'ma' or 'mama' when you are sad and need some comfort. You love to clap when we say "yay, Luna!" and you also just started waving hello and goodbye and sticking out your tongue when someone else sticks out theirs. We look forward to hearing your vocabulary continue to develop over time. Talking really is magical, and you certainly have found your own way of communicating through grunts, smiles, waves, gestures and more. Babies truly are whimsical little creatures. 

You recently have started to have major interest in pulling up, climbing over us and crawling all over the place (or trying to.) You back up in a crawling position really well and so we are just working on moving forward now, and I think it will happen within the month. The apartment has started to really transform as we are making checklists for our upcoming move and trying to pack up and be as organized as possible. 

You loved every minute of the holidays. You spent some of it in Buffalo with cousin Gio (brought back a lot of memories) and we spent time with Uncle Nick, Auntie Tesin, Jenny and even Darien (Jenny's new boyfriend.) You will go to any family member and you are just fine, but we are still very weary of strangers and loud, crowded places-which is very understandable. Though we are sad to see the holidays go, we have so many celebrations coming up that I think we will have many lovely things to look forward to. Your first birthday, Easter, Daddy's graduation from residency, Grandma's retirement, a huge move to LA and a possible trip to China in May will keep us nice and busy I do think. 

Cheers to another month full of soft poops (you were very upset with a constipation episode in late December) and lots of good food, joy, language development and adventure. Your spunky personality is coming out more and more, but you are also such a cuddle bunny when you first wake up, and you do LOVE to be held-which is tiresome but also we know you won't want to cuddle with us forever-so we secretly love it. 

We love you MORE and MORE every day (if that is even possible.) And we are so proud of our vibrant little nugget. You are just the sweetest babe. 

Love, 

Mama and Baba