My 8 month old

This photo pretty much sums up month #8.

{WARNING: This is a long post about my little dude but it's my journal!}

This month has been a rough one. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of happy moments, too but things weren’t smooth sailing like they were the month before. Gotta love babies phases, right? I will say that the last four days have been MUCH better. Thank goodness.

We’re still working with our pediatrician to figure out why he doesn’t want a bottle most of the time. We currently think it’s due to acid reflux so he’s on prevacid. He’s not drinking a ton more than before but at least now he’ll open his mouth for it occasionally instead of putting his hands up and shaking his head no almost every time. I’ve actually gotten to a point where I’ve quit worrying about it. It just made me crazy! He’s at least eating lots of solid foods so he’s not starving.

I think he’s teething (although I’ve been saying that for months) because you can tell he’s in pain. His gums are swollen and he won’t let us touch them….but still no teeth. I think this is part of the reason why he isn’t sleeping well. Sleeping has never been his strong suit so it’s always a bummer when it gets even worse! It’s so sad to go in there when he’s just crying in pain. Hopefully a tooth will break through soon.

We also tackled the swaddle this month. The kid needed his swaddle to sleep so we didn’t see any point in stopping it UNTIL…he started flipping himself over at night every few hours and got stuck. I was definitely not doing that for more than a few nights! It took the ENTIRE month to get him out of it. I started with just wrapping one arm….then they both got free but his body/legs were still wrapped. He’s been swaddle free at naptime for a few days and we tried not swaddling him at all at night for the first time last night. He woke up a number of times thinking it was time to play because he had his legs free….but overall…wasn’t too bad of a night! I’ve never seen a kid have to have a month long transition but whatever works, right? I do have to say that seeing him sleep without being all wrapped up is adorable. He turns on his side, holds his dog blanky, and cuddles in to another blanky. He loves stuff by his face.

I say this every month, but he seriously LOVES food. Lately I’ve been giving him “real” fruits in conjunction with his gerber jars. He loves having chunks in his mouth and loves everything. I find myself constantly trying to think of foods I can give him that are “real” that he won’t choke on and that are healthy. I’ll take any ideas! I also appreciate that he can feed himself food that is on his tray. He loves it, too! I need to get a video of him in his highchair when he sees the jar coming. He waves his hands and kicks his legs so excited for food. He also loves his water/juice in his sippy cup.

He’s not crawling yet….which is another reason he’s been so whiny this month. He wants SO badly to be mobile but hasn’t figured it out yet. He gets close and then quits and freaks out until you come help him. Hopefully month 9 will bring him mobility.

He still loves walks. Sometimes we take 5 in one day just to be outside. He especially loves my mom’s stroller. I love watching him because he pulls himself right up and stands up as we walk. He loves it. I had to steal my mom’s stroller because it’s his favorite.

He loves being in a shopping cart which has made grocery shopping much better! He tries to grab everything he can. He also loves the attention that other shoppers give him. He’s quite a ham sometimes & other times he gives them his furrowed brow like “why are you talking to me?” Yes, he still has the furrowed brow.

He’s definitely the bully on the playground. He’s around a lot of little girls and he goes right for their hair as soon as one of us isn’t looking. Even if they are newborns and they don’t have any hair, he’ll grab the skin on their head and yank. Sorry Millie.

He does say “dada” pretty regularly and just talks more in general.

His favorite game is for him to make a noise, then you make it back at him. He’ll do this over and over for quite some time. He also loves to be upside down....thrown around....bounced around, etc. He laughs hysterically.



Since we don't have any grass, I've been taking him to a nearby patch of grass during the day to lay on blankets and roll around. He also loves to eat grass, leaves & rocks. Most of these pictures are from yesterday when dad could come with us.

Nate supported our two favorite teams during March Madness. Too bad the Cougars and the Bulldogs lost in the first round.

I love baby feet....