We have had 8 whole months together and I still love you
more every day.
Holding you in my arms
and feeling you pressed against my chest is the perfect solution to any
problem.
You are still my sweet, easy
going baby.
I got to stay home with you
all month and just went back to work yesterday.
We had so much fun together this summer.
It’s hard to see it end, but I know you love daycare and all the toys
there so much.
Last month I was able to sleep better and worry less that
you would stop breathing in your sleep.
This month I’ve been even more relaxed.
There have been quite a few mornings where I got up and realized I never
turned the baby monitor on and didn’t look at it during the night. I still go into your room and listen for you
breathing before I go to bed. Just to
make sure. We lowered your mattress in
your crib which is a bummer for me because now I can’t lean in to kiss you
before I go to bed. I have to pull
myself up and lean way in. It hurts!
You are such a talkative little boy. It cracks me up to hear you babble to your
toys, yourself, Harper, me, anyone who will listen. You still say dada and baba quite a bit. You also say something that sounds like mama
when you are upset and crying.
A couple of weeks ago you got your first teeth. Your bottom 2 teeth came in at the same
time. I felt so bad for you because you
were fussy. All day long you seemed fine
until it was time to go down for a nap.
Some days the only way I could get you to take a nap was strapping you
into the baby carrier. You struggled at
bedtime too. You are still having a hard
time with your afternoon naps. It looks
like you have a few teeth that will be ready to pop through soon. We can see the 2 bottom teeth on either side
of your middle teeth and the top 2 teeth.
Your top, middle part of your gum is really red and swollen. Sometimes it looks like you are sucking your
thumb and then I realize you are actually chewing on it.
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| Look at those teeth! |
You sit up like a champ now.
One week you were still toppling over after a while. Then the next week all the sudden you were
sitting up for really long periods of time without falling. You actually never fall anymore. After a while you will slide forward to your
stomach or I pick you up. It’s amazing
how quickly you went from pretty stable to full-on sitting on your own. You still aren’t crawling, but you are very
mobile. Your preferred method of
movement (other than being carried) is to roll.
You will even stick your legs straight out in the direction you want to
go in order to roll that way. You are a
wild man!
I’ve seen you pass a toy from one hand to the other. You’re also getting really close to having
the pincher grasp down. You’ll pick
something up between your index finger and thumb, but then you drop it. You are also close to feeding yourself. You’ll grab food in your fist, put it up to
your mouth, and suck the juice out. You
just haven’t figured out how to open your hand and drop the food in your mouth.
Standing will be one of your next big things. I’ve been practicing with you by putting you
up on your legs by a chair. You will
lean on the chair with your chest, hold on with your arms, and stand up. You look like such a big boy and it’s
adorable, but also makes me tear up a little bit. I can’t imagine a fully mobile baby. You are just growing up so fast!
Snuggles are still a daily occurrence and I love it! You go to sleep so much easier if I sit and
snuggle you for a while after your last feeding and before putting you in your
crib. When you first wake up you like to
be held while you suck your thumb. It
seems to help you wake up. As I’m
getting ready in the morning I carry you around with me and you reach your arm
around and hold onto me. If I lean
forward you will grab on really tightly with your hand. It’s so precious. I love that you are such a snuggly little
boy. I know this will probably be a
thing of the past once you start walking, so I’m really treasuring these
moments while they last.
Bathtime is still so much fun. You splash and play and laugh. This month you discovered your special bits
and they are a favorite toy at bathtime and during diaper changes. You also love to play with washcloths. I’ve started using two washcloths at
bathtime. One to clean you with and one
for you to play with, otherwise you grab for my washcloth the whole time. You love to suck water off your washcloth.
Speaking of drinking water, you are starting to get drinking
out of cups down. You have a few
different kinds of sippy cups. One has a
spout made out of soft material and you prefer to chew on it. You have another kind with a hard spout with
bigger holes. You can drink out of that
one better, but tend to choke a little bit.
When your grandma and grandpa were visiting they gave you some sips out
of a cup and you did really well. You
seem to really like water.
There was a lady I work with who was pregnant at the same
time I was pregnant with you. Her baby
was due the day before you. She ended up
being born 11 days after you (on Christmas).
You got to meet her briefly at a baby shower back in May. This month you got to see her for a longer
period of time. You were smitten! You grabbed her cheeks, poked her in the eye,
and pulled her bow off her head. She
seemed a bit overstimulated with all the touching, but I’m sure you will be
fast friends next time you see each other!
You are down to only waking up once per night. Usually it’s around 3 or 4 am. You’ve even slept until 5 am before! We are so close to sleeping through the
night! The good thing is that you eat
and go right back to sleep. I thought
about trying to wean you from your nighttime feeding, but you eat quite a
bit. I’m going to let you drop the
feeding when you are ready. It will be
nice because I’ll be able to pump more in the morning.
I can’t believe how much your nap schedule has changed since
I’ve been home! You are down to 2 naps
most days. When you have a good day you
are awake for 2 hours, nap for an hour, are awake for 3-4 hours, and take
another hour nap. Sometimes you only nap
for 30 minutes for your afternoon nap and then take another 30 minute nap later
in the afternoon. You’ve had a few days
where you totally skip your afternoon nap and that doesn’t go very well. We still start your bedtime routine between 7
and 7:30 and you are asleep by 8 or 8:30.
Meals have changed this month. You are now eating rice cereal or oatmeal
cereal in the morning for breakfast after you nurse. At lunchtime you have 4 ounces of a fruit or
vegetable puree which is followed by a bottle at daycare or nursing at
home. At daycare you get a snack with
the other kids around 3:00 of rice cereal and puffs. For dinner we usually start with small chunks
of a soft food like avocado or banana with yogurt. Sometimes you eat a few ounces of puree after
your chunks. The new things you’ve had
this month are oatmeal cereal, nectarines, and plums. I’ve made some mango and apricot puree, but
you haven’t tried it yet. So you’ve had
sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, green beans, apples, bananas, avocados,
rice cereal, pears, peaches, prunes, zucchini, plums, nectarines, and oatmeal
cereal.
When we go running you are now straight in the stroller
without the car seat adapter. You seem
to really enjoy it. You wave your arms
around, kick your legs, squeal, giggle, and sometimes babble. I’ve stopped taking toys for you because you’d
rather play with your straps and other stuff attached to the stroller. You end up just laying your toy down and it
bounces off you and onto the section above the wheel where it remains the rest
of the run.
Your next well baby appointment is next month, so your dad
and I weighed and measured you. It’s
hard to tell how accurate we are, but I’d say we are pretty close. You are now 30 ½ inches long! I can’t believe how much you’ve grown since
last month! You are 18 pounds, 12
ounces. It’s amazing what a big boy you
are!
 |
| Wait, how big am I?!!? |
I can’t believe some of the clothes you can fit into! You have some 12 month jammies that fit
really well, the foot area is just a little bit big. You are wearing 9 month along with 6-9 month
clothes. I’ve pulled out a few 12 month
items. Our favorite outfit this month was
your plaid overalls with your blue polo.
I’m starting to notice a trend with the overalls. You are just so adorable in them. It’s hard to beat you in overalls! You are still wearing size 3 diapers. I found a few size 2 diapers in my diaper bag
and you were able to wear them, but I don’t think they’d last overnight!
You are such an amazing baby and a blessing to your daddy
and me. It’s hard to remember what our
lives were like before you were in them.
You make everything better, more exciting, and a great deal more
fun. I could spend all day kissing your
sweet, chubby cheeks and thighs! Thank
goodness your thighs haven’t thinned out yet.
Thank you so much for being you.
You are more fun than I ever imagined, sweeter than I dreamed, and more
adorable than I could ever have pictured.
I love you more than your daddy loves cheese. I know 9 months is going to bring more
firsts, fun, and adventure. I love you,
little man!
Now on to daddy:
My little buddy! I have loved watching you learn more about yourself and your world every day. Always so happy. You reach for us a lot and it warms our hearts. You are sitting up as well as a baby can and you are starting to be able to stand against chairs or other things that you can hang onto.
I cannot get over how tall you are. I cannot wait to see what percentile you are in at your next doctor's appointment. Bath time is still one of your favorite times as you like to splash around and talk and laugh.
I took a picture of you and your Grandpa Cox where he was holding you and letting you drink water out of a cup. He is smiling and you are helping hold it with both hands with such a serious concentrated look on your face. You did really well drinking out of it, such a big boy!
*This post is late because I was waiting on Carter's rash to clear up before taking the pictures*
