Sonny @ 8 Months

Growth & Appearance: We went to your 6 week checkup with the helmet in hopes we’d be told that you no longer need it but loandbehold we’ve been told another 4 weeks, at least. You’re cute as can be but we’re tired of not seeing your whole face and the head butts are starting to hurt and your head is super smelly and the way it presses into my collar bone when you want to cuddle kinda hurts. That said, we hope you enjoy your round head for the rest of your days.

You have a good head of hair, more hair than I recall either of your brothers having. It’s a light brown. Your eyes are hazel, I think.

You’re in size 3 diapers and size 6-12m clothing.

No teeth.

san-clemente-family-photographer-1026Sleeping: I had all the intentions of moving you into your brothers’ room this month and then daylight savings hit and threw a wrench in that plan. Whereas before you were sleeping until after 7am, now you are awake and ready to go around 5am or 6am. This is changing now that we’re adjusting but those first few days, where you were ready for your morning nap at the hour I was ready to actually get out of bed, were hard. And long. Hoping we can get back on track and make the move this month.

You’re now taking two naps a day; one in the morning, around 10:30am for 2-3 hours, and another in the afternoon, around 4pm for 1-2 hours. Though I should note that the second nap is hit or miss.

We packed away the wombie after I found you in your playpen sitting straight up like a little caterpillar. It was time. And you adjusted just fine.

Breastfeeding still puts you to sleep at night but you’d go down easily either way these days. You’re awake after the feed before your morning nap, usually, and you don’t fuss at all when I put you down. san-clemente-family-photographer-1034
Eating: You love solids and tend to favor vegetables over fruits. Some of your favorite foods include: squash, zucchini, spinach, broccoli, sweet potato, asparagus, banana, avocado. Things that I thought you would love that you’re just not into at all: strawberries – or any berries for that matter – and apples. You spit them out. We also give you a small amount of cereal and / or oatmeal. You’re now eating three meals a day and when appropriate, you eat what we eat. You love chicken and fish and show interest, in the form of wildly flapping your hands and rocking back and forth as if you were a cowboy on a wild horse, in just about everything we eat.

You breastfeed at least 7 times a day.san-clemente-family-photographer-1023
Development: You pull to stand on everything and have started taking a few steps (while still holding onto something) or at least figuring out that you can move your feet while in the standing position. You crawl everywhere and require attention one hundred percent of the time because of how mobile you are.

In the hours you’re awake, you’re constantly on the move. It’s no wonder you’ve worked your way up to two naps a day; you’re non-stop.

You have yet to figure out the single step that separates the kitchen and family room. It’s gotten the best of you twice now and the other day I saw you sitting there contemplating giving it another try. You must have retracted your extended arm at least 5 times before crawling away.

We have a little area crated off for you that we use when we have to put you down or can’t keep an eye on you. You don’t particularly like it and are definitely aware that we’re passing you off. You seem to entertain yourself better so long as I’m not in sight but as soon as you see me walk past you, you lose your mind.

You love to cuddle and tend to morph into whoever is holding you.

You suck the thumb on your left hand.

You say ‘Ma-ma’ but not with any meaning attached. You’re very vocal and make a lot of noises and squeal excitedly when you’re excited.

At the very end of the month you discovered the stairs. You’ve climbed up the first step or so. Our neighbors gave us their baby gate and it’s time we start using it.san-clemente-family-photographer-1042

Favorites: The remote controls. Our electrical toothbrushes. Jimmie’s bones. And, of course, mama.

Van @ 8 Months

Growth & Appearance: You’re growing fast. Like, really fast. You’re incredibly long, longer than some babies much older than you. You have the perfect amount of chubs around your belly button and I’m often pinching the chubs around your thighs while grinning my teeth. I call this love abuse because I’m sure it hurts from time to time, but you’re so dang cute I just can help myself. It’s like saying you’re so cute I could eat you, only I take a little nibble. It’s whatevs.
Your hair is getting lighter. Because your newborn hair completely fell out in certain areas, the hairs on the back of your head are significantly longer and stick up like weeds in a freshly mowed field of grass. And when the wind blows, they sway like little flowers and move with the breeze. You hair is soft and everyone around here enjoys rubbing your little fuzz head, including your brother.
We’re finishing out the size 3 diapers, but you’re clearly better off in size 4. This means you wear the same size diaper as your brother, for the record. Pajamas are size 18 months, soon to be 2T.
Still no teeth, but not to worry, you could probably chew gum with your gums.
Eating: You love feeding yourself (I wrote about our decision to go the baby led weaning route here). You typically eat 2 meals a day, but I leave this totally up to you. Some days you don’t want breakfast and I don’t push it, confident that what you’re getting from breastfeeding is all you really need anyway. What you don’t eat in the morning, you make up for in the evening. You typically eat a large amount in the evening and it normally comes from our own plates. You’ve tried just about everything: chicken, fish, pastas, rice, and loads of various fruits and vegetables. There isn’t anything you haven’t liked thus far, though I should note that you definitely have a preference as to how you are fed. Regardless if you love the food, you do not like when I try to give it to you via a spoon. Things like yogurt are very tough to feed you because you want complete control over everything that goes in your mouth. More power to you. I’m just not sure how to get certain things in, given the fact you don’t have the dexterity to use proper utensils. In any case, we’re really enjoying the baby led weaning process.
I’m still breastfeeding you around 9x/day. It feels like a lot, but it’s on demand and I refuse to feed you any other way. With that said, it’s all very predictable and we have a nice routine that looks something like this: Breastfeed twice in the morning before breakfast and then once before your morning nap, then breastfeed twice before lunch and then once before your afternoon nap, then breastfeed twice before dinner and then once before bed. The amount of milk I’ve been donating has slowed, as I’m starting to stock up in anticipation of my supply lessening as it did with Hooper around the 10th month mark. 
Sleeping: You’re sleeping consistently through the night and I’ve nearly forgotten the zombie I once was. Selective memory, I suppose. You’re sleeping about 10 hours at night, going down around 9pm and waking around 7am. You typically nap in the morning for 2 hours and again in the evening for 2 hours. The naps are more inconsistent; you always take one, but it’s hard to know how long they’re going to last.
You always sleep on your back, as you’re not much of a roller. You maneuver your way around your crib, but I always find you on your back.
Nursing puts you to sleep most nights, but occasionally you’re still awake after your nighttime feed. Nevertheless, you tend to drift off to sleep on your own with ease.
Development: Just after your seventh month, you became able to hold yourself up in a standing position. You often reach for my hands to use as support and pull yourself up to a standing position. This is typically your way of macgyvering your way into my arms, which is where you typically prefer to be. Your able to hold yourself up in a standing position if I give you something to hold on to.
You’re not crawling yet, despite your obvious desire to. I’m torn between wanting you to crawl in hopes it brings more independence and not wanting you to crawl because, lets face it, it’s more work for me. You reach out often from a sitting position and nearly make it on to all fours before you plop back down on your bottom. You’re able to rotate a full 360 degrees in the sitting position and can get just about anything within a couple foot radius by scooting.
You appear to be right handed. You consistently put food in your mouth using your right hand. Your pincer grasp is much more efficient and you’re able to pick up small crumbs off the table.
You have a friendly disposition and you love to laugh. Sometimes I hear you laughing in your carseat and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what’s making you giggle. You’re fine going from one person to the next so long as I’m not in sight.
You’ve started gibber jabbering and say “Da” and “Ma”.
You love music. You rock back and forth violently when it’s playing and just recently you started shaking you head back and forth with your chin down toward your chest like you’re back in 1940’s Cuba listening to a man play a trumpet in a darkened music hall. 
Favorites: I’m still your favorite. Not much tops your mama these days. Knowing that it’s fleeting makes me hold on to these days for as long as I can. Your mama’s arms are always open. Taking second place is the electric tooth brush. You’re pretty fond of thing too.

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