8 Months

Mr. Will,

You are 8 months old!

You are moving like never before, and although you aren't crawling yet, we are pretty sure it is right around the corner- maybe this week! Despite not knowing how to crawl, you sure can make your way around a room in no time flat. We definitely can't leave your by yourself for any amount of time. You roll and roll to get where you want to be, and you will also do a complete 360 on your tummy. You can also scoot backwards. You are pulling your knees up under you and rocking, but still haven't quite put everything together yet on how you need to coordinate your arms and legs to go forward. This has started to make changing your diaper and your clothes a little more challenging, and I'm quickly learning how to put a diaper on a little boy when he is not interested in staying still for more than 2 seconds!

You had quite an eventful month at 7 months old. We had our first family vacation, you got your first ear infection, your first "fever virus," and four teeth in about 5 weeks. Four. You now have two on the top and two on the bottom. Despite everything, you have held up pretty well, and thankfully (for our sake and for yours), you have continued to sleep pretty well. When you got your ear infection, they called me from daycare just to let me know that you weren't acting like yourself at all. You apparently were not happy all morning- for hours- and they knew that was very unlike you. You also had a low grade fever. I made the decision to leave work to come get you, and by the time I got there, you had a fever of 101. The following week, you started in a new class at daycare- Infant 2. I called to check on you the first morning you were there, and they told me they were just about to call me, because you had a fever of 104. Talk about panic. I've never had that feeling in my life. I felt so bad for you, and I was SO worried about you. Once I was able to leave work to come get you, I gave you some Tylenol, and you were almost instantly better. The pediatrician said your ear infection had already cleared up, but considering how quickly your fever responded to the tylenol, she felt certain that it was just a "fever virus." You did have a mild rash that broke out on your arms and legs a couple of days after that, so we think you may have actually had rosiola. It hurt my heart so bad to see you sick, but I will always welcome any extra snuggles I can get, and I got a lot that week.

Your newest thing (as of the weekend you turned 8 months), is that you've learned to clap your hands! You think it is SO funny, and you feel the need to show everybody what you can do. You also like to hit toys together. I let you play with a cake pan and a wooden spoon last week, and you thought it was great.

You also like to yell, and do that "eh eh eh eh" thing that you do. Most of the pictures that I have of you this month, your mouth is open because you are making one of your many noises.

You also still love blowing bubbles,

and sticking out your tongue.

I also let you ride in the front of the grocery cart for the first time. You loved it! You usually ride in your Baby Bjorn when it's just the two of us out, but I thought I'd let you try it out. I felt like I needed to keep a hand on your at all times, so we may need to wait a while longer before it becomes a "regular" thing for you.

You still love our walks in the afternoon, and we had a brief cool snap a few weeks ago. I thought you looked so cute in your little hat!

You are wearing mostly 9 month clothes, and still in size 3 diapers, unless you are wearing Huggies, and then you can wear a 4. According to the pediatrician's scales a couple of weeks ago, you weighed 21 pounds. I'm not sure how long you are, but I do think maybe you are starting to get longer.

You are really enjoying feeding yourself lately, although I'm not sure I'm ready for that! Those two weeks that you were sick back to back, your intake definitely dropped. You still nursed well, but didn't take your bottles or your food quite as well. But, I think your appetite is finally back to normal. We follow the schedule that your daycare class is on (during the day), and this is your current schedule:
5:30- wake up (still...not sure we are ever going to break this), and nurse
7:30- breakfast (fruit with cereal mixed in- since your little sickness, I cut you back to 1 oz, but we might be able to go back to 2 oz soon)
9:00- bottle (6 oz)
11:00- lunch (veggie- 1 oz)
1:00- bottle (6 oz)
2:00- "snack" (fruit- 1 oz)
4:00- bottle (6 oz)
6:00- I used to do a veggie at this time, but since you eat food 3 times at daycare, I just let you kind of play with your finger foods, and you really like this. We do gerber puffs, yogurt melts, or mum mums. I'll also cut up fruit into small pieces and let you feed yourself.
7:00- bath time
7:30- nurse and then bed

We are also trying to introduce the sippy cup (with water). They wanted you to have one at daycare to practice with, so we are practicing at home too. I also let you sip out of a regular cup, and you do pretty well!

I had to leave you for the first time last week to go to Orlando for a conference. It broke my heart into a million pieces, and I had somewhat of a meltdown before I left. But you and daddy did SO well on your own (with the back up help of Nonnie), and I think it was good for you and daddy to have so much one-on-one time. Although, I'm hoping that I don't have to leave you again anytime soon. It was not easy on mommy's heart.

You have been SO much fun lately, and such a trooper with all of your ailments and teeth coming in. We are so blessed to have such a fun little boy, and we are just amazed at how much you are learning every day. We love you with all of our hearts!