8 months!

Happy December! I can't believe this month is already half over!

This month has been fun so far. My family came up to visit for Thanksgiving, and Brooke stayed with us for a few weeks before her trip to Europe. She'll be moving into her new Eugene house in early January, and we're so happy to have her here! 

Sean got to meet Santa, which was quite the adventure. He was amazing and of course such a ham once he saw the camera and that everyone was looking at him. Such a funny guy :)

We are so very excited to celebrate our first Christmas with our new addition! Erin's parents are coming up to spend the holiday with us, which will be so wonderful. He already got a taste of opening a present and BOY was that hilarious. He loved it! I'm sure he'll enjoy the paper and boxes more than anything, but the wonder in his face is all we want to see :)

This smiley boy is 8 months old!

Height/Weight: He is 23lbs 5oz as of last Wednesday. I have no idea where he's at now, but he feels heavier! I'm not sure of his length, but all 12mo clothes fit lengthwise.

Other growth/actions: MAN this boy is strong! He's getting stronger by the day. When I hold him on my hip he tries to launch himself, which is fun, ha ha. 

His hair is getting longer and thicker, but he's still mostly bald. Sometimes it looks red, and sometimes just a touch darker than blonde. Only time will tell!

Routine: He is usually up for the day at 7:30am, naps at 9:30am and 1pm. We stopped trying for the afternoon nap, because he just won't take it. He takes one nap that is around 1.5-2 hours and another one for 45mins-1 hour.  When he gets fussy around 5 (which happens every night :/ ) I'll take him on a walk or out for an errand. Then he's down for bed at 7pm.  

He's been sleeping either really great or really horribly. Every night is a crapshoot. I'm assuming it's all due to his milestones and teething. Overall he sleeps great until around 2am and then that's where it is either smooth sailing or he's up every 2 hours. If it's the latter, I just end up taking him to bed with me. That will usually guarantee less wakeups but it's harder to get him back to sleep. 

Eating/Feeding: Breastfeeding every 2 hours, but he's starting to stretch that out to around 2.5 hours between. I'm thinking it could be due to eating more solids. 

I offer solids at least twice a day, usually just small snacks. He has breakfast with me every morning. which is some sort of teething biscuit, yogurt drops and a fruit. He will only eat around 1/3 of what I offer, but he likes the spread!

Lunch only happens sometimes. So if he's napping or we just don't end up sitting down and eating around lunch, I'll offer him a teething biscuit or puffs throughout the day or while we're out and about. 

Dinner is whatever we're eating. If we're eating something not too healthy, I'll steam some veggies and quinoa, and he goes to town.

I gave him yogurt as his first dairy, and he loved it! Looks like he won't have the same tummy problems his mommy has (thank goodness!) so I've started introducing cheese as well. 

I think we'll do peanut butter this week, wish me luck! I might go park in front of the hospital, bust in case ;).

The last week or so he hasn't been too into dinner, and I think it's from teething, and being sleepy. But he enjoys the routine and spending time with us at the table. 

Sizes: Same, all 12 month stuff! He's not swimming in anything anymore though. It's so hard to force myself to look in the 'toddler' section of clothes, instead of the baby section  :(. But he's such a healthy big guy, so I'm grateful!

Milestones: So many, many milestones this month!

To start, he is officially crawling!! He is getting faster and learning his favorite route around the house. All the while he's helping me babyproof by showing me what he likes to go for. It's always our shoes and cords, so we're getting craftier about where we put them.

He is also getting really good at going from sitting to crawling or vice versa. It's a work in progress, so sometimes we have to give it a rest, due to some head 'bonks'!

Last night he woke me up trying to pull himself up in his crib. SO not ready for that! But I know it's coming soon. He did pull himself up onto his knees at the TV stand, so he's really working on it. 

He's saying lots of consonants, and is quite the 'talker' :)

Today he decided to wave 'hello' for the first time! I'm so proud of him! He's very good at getting down the physical milestones, so I'm always so excited when he reaches an emotional milestone. 

STILL no teeth. We will look, and they're getting really close, and then the next day they've disappeared. Some days are really hard, so I can tell they're coming up, and then he'll be okay for a few days. I've given up on them every coming through, which is obviously a coping mechanism :). 

We hope everyone has a very merry Christmas, and we'll come back in 2015!

Xo, Kelsey