8 MONTHS

We've been doing a lot of hibernating this month. Its cold most days, and mom's car only works half the time. But don't get me wrong, this has in no way slowed you down. You are mobile. You are climbing, crawling, opening drawers, playing in toilets, getting into my crafts, and escaping everything. You can now get out of the bumbo, the bath tub, and you seem to think if you try hard enough you can escape your crib, fortunately you can't. It's been wild.

You love the water. You have gotten to that age, like every baby does, where anything mom is drinking is worth dunking your hand in. We aim the shower head at you face, and you just laugh. You think splash wars with your brother in the tub are awesome. Mom doesn't.

You hate, I mean screaming tantrum hate, being on your back. We have always known this about you, you prefer tummy time, but these days you are strong and fight back. It takes two to change your diaper, one to pin down your arms to keep you from rolling away, and one to quickly tackle the diaper while you twist your body back and forth screaming.

Your favorite toy by far is a Mater toothbrush. It's funny, Gage went through this phase too. You boys love to watch me get ready and toothbrushes are so appealing. I always keep one in my diaper bag for emergencies. You seem happiest while you are down in your room. You can really get around and climb on everything in there without help. It's great for mom, because I get lots of reading in while you and Gage independently play. The only problems that occur are when Gage knocks you over. You hate that, so you scream. Gage goes to time out, so he screams. There are days that go by that mom wishes she had ear plugs because there is a lot of screaming.

You are eating me out of house and home! Our routine in the morning normally involves me preparing breakfast for you and Gage. I then feed you while taking moments to encourage Gage to eat. Those "moments" are too long. You cry between bites because I can't feed you fast enough. Once you two finish eating i take my time preparing myself breakfast. problem is, when anyone else is eating food, you think you should too. it doesn't matter where i hide, you come crawling over, stand up holding my leg, and cry until i give you a bite. You LOVE greek yogurt. But you have also been known to steal anything you can get your hands on. I even caught you putting away chicken nuggets when Gage decided he didn't want them. You don't have teeth yet, so you just gummed through three nuggets and were so happy. To save some extra money I started making you baby food for m scratch.

You are an awesome sleeper. After struggling for the past few months to get you to sleep through the night, we decided to stop swaddling you, cold turkey. I thought for sure this would be a process. That first night you slept 13 hours. Turns out you sleep really well on your belly. Should have caught on to that earlier. Swaddling made it hard to flip over and get comfy. After we bathe, read stories, and say prayers, we rock you for a minute and put you in your crib. Most nits you and gage talk for a minute or two and then it's silent until about 8am when I hear both of playing in your beds waiting o mom to come get you. I feel pretty spoiled.

Your infatuation my phone is getting out of hand. Maybe it's the fact that its forbidden territory for kids, and that makes it more appealing? I have never seen you crawl faster than when I leave my phone in a place you can see it, you come charging just to put it in your mouth to get a taste. Or is it that you LOVE to FaceTime dad? You think his face is pretty funny even if he isn't saying anything.

You have developed stranger danger. You don't really prefer one parent over the other, you just need one of us to bury your face into when anyone gets too close. You still hate loud noises and cry when I vacuum.

You got your first haircut! Ok, I have been trimming the long strands on the top of your head for some time now, but we used real clippers to trim up around your ears since it was getting pretty straggly. You hated every second of it, until I gave you a toothbrush and turned on the water in the sink, then you could care less that I was trimming away. You look so grown up now!

This month more than any other month, I have just wanted to bottle you up. Getting older certainly comes with its difficulties, but you are the sweetest guy and you make me feel so loved. I love that you tug on my pants, and that you love to be held. I sometimes rock you to sleep and hold you in my arms for way too long before putting you in your bed just so I can stroke your chubby cheeks and kiss your soft forehead and breathe you all in. I love you baby boy.

GRADUATING FROM AN INFANT CARRIER

Somebody had to graduate from the infant car-seat carrier to a big boy rear facing car-seat!

(waking up from a nap in your new seat)

I don't feel as though you are much bigger than your brother at 7 months, but even after loosening the straps as much as we could, in order to buckle your car-seat  we had to pinch your chubby thighs. So, you have been upgraded. I think you like that you can see Gage more, but you hate that you are not as reclined. The first two days were awful. You have since learned how to fall asleep with your head dangling to the side and you seem much happier!

BORN HUNGRY

I think you were born hungry. You downed an ounce within minutes of being born, and have eaten nearly every three hours ever since. You have been consistently eating 4-5 ounces for weeks now. When we stopped by to visit Dr. Shcmidt for your 2 week appointment, everyone but momma seemed surprised that you were a whopping 10 lbs 7 oz. Now that we are coming up on your 2 month birthday you are nearly 12 lbs. You are our heavy weight.

Believe it or not, momma thinks you are going through a growing spurt. The last few days you can barely make it an hour and half before chewing on your hand in agony, wanting so badly to eat. When we finally get you a bottle you ferociously attack it shaking your head back and forth until the bottle is secure in your mouth. You even pant between gulps as if you are working to get as much as possible with each swallow. The result can be pretty precious. Milk drunk. The point where you are so satisfied you smile in your sleep.