Happy 8 Months!

My dear Luke,

You are 8 months old today!  I am officially ready for you to stop growing and changing so fast - I literally looked at you the other night and got tears in my eyes because you have morphed into this tiny little person that used to be my tiny little baby.

I have been a MAJOR slacker mama of late and haven't even posted anything about your first Christmas.  I promise (for reals) that I will do a post this week about everything wonderful that was your very first Christmas.   In the meantime, here are all of the fun things that you're up to now.

The first thing that comes to mind is eating.  You are a piggy.  You love to eat and now love to feed yourself.  You get a little irked sometimes when we try to feed you baby food.  So for awhile we'd give you a few things to eat off your tray while we alternated with some baby food goodness.  Now you really want to just do it all yourself.  Although you do get annoyed when you can't shove it in your mouth fast enough so we have to help you a little by putting it on a spoon for you.  So far, your favorite has been mushroom and zucchini lasagna (right now I can actually hear Auntie Amber and Gramma puking a little in their mouths).  But you are my kinda' boy and gobbled it right up.  I think this proves my case:

Besides lasagna, you like mac n cheese, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese (can you see a pattern here??), peas, pears, squash (I even baked my own pears and squash for you!), green beans, oatmeal, applesauce, bananas (although you hate the actual bananas - you only like pureed), puffs, teething biscuits and mum-mums.  What don't you like? Avocado.  I thought you'd love the stuff but one bite had you gagging, two bites had you throwing up.  Just like that darned herbed turkey baby food.  But at least I know you have SOME palate and don't just inhale without tasting!

In the last month you've gone from crawling to cruising along the furniture.  A couple of weeks ago you were pretty tentative and really had to hold on to move.  Now you move pretty well when you want to get something (usually a phone or remote control that you're not supposed to have).  You are also standing up all by yourself.  You have some pretty good balance and now pick things up as you're trying to stand up.  It's a little he-man'ish and makes me laugh to see you hauling your little play school bus up in one arm while holding on to a book in the other.  Definitely taking after cousin Maci as far as that goes - always have to have something "collected" in your hands.  I'm predicting a first step in the next month or so.  But we'll see - you might end up being content just as you are.

You are babbling a lot and say mama, dada, baba, nanana, along with a bunch of other consonant sounds.  You still shake your head "no" sometimes and we can not figure out why you do it!  Unfortunately, you're still monkey screeching too.  Like a lot some days.  I hope it goes away sometime soon because your dad and I can't even complain to our neighbors about their front door SLAMMING shut every 2 minutes in the wind because you are so loud they can probably hear you all the way over there.  Thankfully you don't do it every day otherwise we might have to trade you in.  :-)

You're sleeping like a champ these days - I think you're finally giving us some respite after all of those nights when you woke up 2-3-5 times a night.  You go to bed around 7 pm and most days stay in bed until 6:30.  Maybe once a week or so you'll wake in the middle of the night but it's not too bad anymore.  You usually down a bottle and are back in bed in 15 mins.  Your naps are a bit less desirable but better than your first few months.  You usually sleep 45 mins - 1 hour in the morning and the afternoon.  Sometimes Adelia can coax a longer morning nap out of you, but you never do it for mama.

You still love playing rough with Dad, saying "mamamamama" when you need a quick squeeze, love taking baths, hate getting dressed, your hair is getting longer and thicker and I even think it might be a little bit curly when it gets longer.  Your legs are oh-so-delectable and I take every opportunity to gnaw on them when I can.  You laugh when I dance for you and like to bounce up and down when music comes on.  You just learned how to clap (with your hands open) and we're working hard on learning "bye-bye".  You can get some serious air when you jump in your pack n play and love being naked in your crib before your bath.

I can't believe how much you've changed this month - I think it might be the biggest leap month for you yet.  It is unreal to me that you are already 8 months old - in 4 short months you'll be a YEAR OLD.  I am not ready for that yet.

I love you so much Bubba.  Your Dada and I are amazed by you every day and you alone are able to make even the worst day good with one toothy-smile (still just the two on the bottom).

Happy 8 month birthday to our big boy!

Watching snow fall for the first time today.

Love
Mama