Eight Months Old

Walker, you are 8 months old now! 

I haven't been very timely about getting these updates posted on schedule lately, but better late than never I suppose? There are so many things I want to remember about this month and I'm very aware that if I don't record it now, it will be gone from my memories, later.  You have had so many BIG changes this month! We all feel like we are just along for the ride while you discover new things and learn new tricks everyday.  Carter told me today, "Mom, I just love our baby so much!"  He was talking about YOU Walkie and I know the rest of us echo the same sentiment.  We adore you!

After all your sickness finally ended, I took you to the doctor for your 6 month well check and vaccination appointment, 2 months late!  We needed you to be well before we attempted all those shots, but at least we have some recent stats about you from last week! 

-You weigh 19lbs and 4oz. putting you in the 46th percentile.  You dropped a bit in weight, which is very normal because you are on the move now!

-You are 28.5 inches long, which also puts you in the 76th percentile for height. You trend on the tall and thin trajectory, although we feel like we are carrying a sack of potatoes these days, you feel so big and heavy all of the sudden. 

You currently wear size 9-12 mo in clothes, although 12 months is probably a better fit.  You continue to grow out of clothes about as quickly as I fold, sort and organize them in your drawer! We've moved you up to size 5 diapers, which concerns me a little bit, considering size 6 is the biggest out there and you're only 8 months old! I have a feeling I will be buying size 5 for a loooooonnnnnnggggg time to come!

We are so thankful that you have been sleeping great this last month! You nap between 2-3 hours in the morning and again in the afternoon.  At bedtime you are sleeping between 11-12 hours, which is also awesome.  Now that you are so active, you are sleeping hard to make up for it!  You've turned into a tummy sleeper and a side sleeper, we find you in all sorts of positions in your crib and you love cuddling up with your soft blankies. 

You usually wake up before your siblings do and we bring you to the living room with all your toys and turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which you seem to love! 

We don't pretend that you understand it or have any idea what's going on, but all the bright colors and the music seem to catch your attention and make you smile! You love to watch Praise Baby in the morning or just before bed as well.  We put you in your rock and play and it seems to calm you as you work that paci and rub those blankies on your face. It's rarely quiet around here and you seem to be very used to that!  When it's quiet or we all leave the room, you are not happy about it  :) 

You started saying "Mama" and "Da da da da" very clearly this month! Last month you started with "Ma ma ma" every now and then but now, I am your go-to word!  In fact, whenever you are mad or stuck or annoyed or lonely, you yell at me.  You very loudly yell, "MAMA, MAMA, MAMA" over and over until I come get you and solve your problems  :)  It's both delightful and exhausting! 

You are full on part of the gang now! You love to be in the middle of whatever Ava and Carter are doing and they love to have you with them. You haven't started destroying their stuff YET, but that is definitely around the corner and will likely test their excitement about having you play with them.  But for now, you are so much fun for them.

You caught what we thought was another cold this month, but as it turned out, it was your first double ear infection and your first time on antibiotics. The germ factory that is Kindergarten and Church, finally caught up with you and took it's toll.  We felt so badly for you, but thankfully your meds did start to work...

...but not until we got a stronger dose and added some breathing treatments.  I had to bring everyone in after all the coughing and sneezing fevers and as it turned out, all three of you were sick with something! 

So with 4 antibiotics, and a plan to do breathing treatments every 4 hours for everyone, we slowly got better.  It was a good two weeks before we were all back on our feet again!  You were a trooper but we are so thankful to see you healthy and happy.  We hated seeing you so miserable and hearing your congested cough.  That is the price you pay when you have older siblings but hopefully we can build up your immunity system now so that down the road we won't have so many issues. 

Carter introduced you to a bunch of cars and the two of you played for hours on his car mat.  You were fascinated with the whole thing and did what most boys do, you held a car and spun its' wheels over and over while the gears in your head turned too.  It's so funny to see you latch on to cars and trucks and airplanes.  You're going to love having an older brother to play with!

We put you in the tonka truck one afternoon, the same truck that you laid in as a newborn for photos...

 Just look how you have grown! 

It was very cold this month and with all of our sickness, we didn't go out very often, so we did tons of this! 

At the beginning of the month, you mostly stayed where we put you but as the month wore on, you started spinning around on your tummy and scooting yourself to different toys you wanted. 

It didn't take you too long, however, to start getting up on your knees and rocking back and forth!  You haven't totally figured out how to crawl forward on your knees but you do go backwards and you have perfected the art of the army crawl. 

You twist yourself in all kinds of moves but you've now figured out how to go from your tummy to a sitting position!

You LOVE your new freedom to roam and can drag yourself all over the house exploring and getting into new forms of trouble!  You are SO proud of yourself and so are we, of you. I know one of these days you're finally going to figure out how to move on those knees and then we'll really be in trouble. You get yourself stuck in all sorts of predicaments right now but it's a good thing we have all these extra sets of eyes to keep track of you and rescue you!

We did celebrate your first Valentine's Day this month! 

You got over your ear infections and cold a few weeks ago, only to be in the throws of teething right now! We can tell your poor mouth is hurting you and the pediatrician could see several bottom teeth just waiting to poke through.  It has affected your eating and your mood and we are trying to help you work through it. 

Speaking of eating, this month you love: 

-Puffs, any flavor.

-Baby food, you will eat just about any fruit, all the orange veggies and lots of mixed combinations of fruit and veggies.

-Teething rice husks, you love those!  Especially the banana flavored ones.

-Cinnamon, Maple crunchie snacks. You go WILD for these! You grab for them like it's your last meal and you eat them as fast as you can! 

-Apples and grapes in your little net thing so you don't choke.

-Pancakes, in tiny portions, mixed in with one of your snacks.

-Formula. You still drink about 4 bottles a day and you almost always finish them. 

You don't love:

-Cheerios

-Real chunks of fruit, like bananas and apples, pears or peaches.  You are not interested yet.

-Yogurt.  I can't figure out why you don't love that, but so far your don't?  Maybe it's the cold temperature? 

-Pasta, ham, cheese, bread...we're wondering if your hurting mouth is the reason you aren't into real food right now, but for the most part your head and close up your mouth when we try to get you to eat actual food.  I'm sure it's a phase and so we just keep trying, I think those teeth will help out if they ever decide to come in! 

Grampy and Grammy came to see you this month while Daddy was on a retreat. You were funny with both of them, happy to see them and to play, but you made it clear that you wanted Mommy several times too!

You love your Daddy!  He is the one who can get big, belly laughs out of you and who makes you light up when he comes home.  The two of you play a funny game where you growl back and forth at each other and it makes you giggle!  I know as you get bigger and more mobile, you will LOVE playing with your Daddy and keeping up with him!

Carter is still your companion most days!  He is a great big brother and he just loves it when you wake up so he can run in and snuggle with you and make you laugh. 

One of the sweetest things we did this month was to stand with other families at Church and pray that you will grow to love Jesus as we commit to raising you in the ways of the Lord.

We stood with you as a family, which was an adventure, but we wanted to mark this special day together. We love you so much and we are soaking up these months that are full of development and joy, but more than anything, we pray that you will love the Lord and submit to Him in your life! He loves you so much more than we do and He created you with purpose and intention. 

He has a plan for your life Walker and we pray you will trust Him with it! 

Happy 8 months, Walker!!