Eight Months Old

My sweet little mommas boy,

As this month has come and gone, you have experienced so much - challenges, changes, triumphs and travels. It feels like a blur but we made some pretty priceless memories along the way.

You have become such a mommas boy. The title makes me happy and breaks my heart at the same time. I love how much you love me but hate that you're sad when we're apart. Your teachers at school do everything to console you but you fuss most of the time. They ask for advise but I don't know how to help them - you're such a dream for me. Pretty soon you'll earn that the 2 days a week that we spend 5 hours apart are just not so bad. We're going to try some new things and hopefully they'll start to see my precious, happy boy again.


To add to your separation anxiety, you have cut six teeth in six weeks! WOW! You chew on everything and are still drooling like a champ. We thought you'd be wishing for your two front teeth for Christmas, but they came early. I love seeing you grin with the little pearly whites. (The crooked bottom ones are my favorite!)



With the teeth must have come a growing appetite. You LOVE food and have tried many new things. You love squash and corn, dutch apples, bananas and oranges, mixed veggies, garden veggies, apples and cherries, pickles (that's my BOY!), Joe Allen's potato salad, sweet potatoes, asparagus, ice cream, and more. You tried baby food turkey and mac & cheese for Thanksgiving and weren't a fan! My favorite thing to do is watch you eat puffs. You are doing such a good job at picking them up and most of them make it to your mouth. You stay entertained as long as we keep 'em coming!
We've heard that more food brings more sleep, but that can't be true. This month has not brought the best sleep. You usually wake up once or twice in the night and "need" to be held. We're praying for straight 10 hour nights to come back soon! Your list of firsts really grew this month...you celebrated your first Halloween as a monkey, had your first big sickness (Rotovirus...YUCK!), went on your first plane ride and to your first out of state trip to California. You went on your first carousel ride, rode in the grocery cart for the first time, had you first Thanksgiving, and your first snow!

You also started doing lots of new and hilarious things. You have started to make motorboat noises at us after we do it to you. We play this game for long periods of time and you love it! You also nod your head when you get excited and will mimic us if we do it first. You are continuing to "wave" (especially when you have something in your hand...you love to hold it up in the air and twirl it around) and have really started to love peek-a-boo. You will laugh and laugh when we pop out at you from behind a wall or couch. You are "army crawling" so fast now and seem to be ready to crawl any day. We love to watch you rock back and forth on your hands and needs while nodding. You seem so proud of yourself. We also love your new fake laugh. It's like you're trying to appease us when we do something that's really not that funny-oh how your personality shines through more everyday!

There are a number of things that you hate: being away from mommy and daddy, having your nose wiped or picked, being in your stroller or car seat for longer periods of time, and when we take things away from you that you shouldn't have in the first place! What a little stinker you are!

When I stop and really soak you in, I tear up at how blessed I am to have you in my life. You are more of a joy that I could have ever imagined and my heart truly aches with how much I love you! Thank you for being such a tender little love, for cuddling when you get sleepy, for loving bath time with mom, for squeezing tighter when it's cold outside, and for looking up at me and smiling just because. Please never grow out of being so precious to your momma.

I love you so much!