22 Months!

SUCH A BIG BOY!

He's gone through another little growth spurt and now weighs in at 25 pounds!

In the last couple months he's gotten 6 new teeth - 4 cuspids/canines and 2 of his two-year molars.  Can't believe that he only has two more baby teeth left to come in!

He's officially in a big boy bed!!  After crawling out of his crib repeatedly mid-June, we took the front off his crib so it was a toddler bed, then put a full mattress down on the floor, and now the full mattress is up on the box springs with no rail.  I'm not going to sugar-coat it - that first week was ROUGH.  What normally took 10 mins for him to fall asleep for a nap took 1-2 hours.  But we finally got through that tough transition and now he's doing great with it!  Brad and I love laying in there with him and having little conversations before he goes to bed.  It's awesome.

He's a pro at jumping with both feet off the ground and landing on his feet.  He can also do front rolls/somersaults.

Pretty soon I imagine we're going to give potty training a real shot.  We have been putting it off because of the big transition to a big boy bed and with our upcoming vacation (both of which would likely set him back if we had already started), besides the fact that I just know it's going to be a lot of work and I don't want to set ourselves up for failure if we try it too soon.  But we're thinking he's ready because he always tells us when he goes #2, if he's diaper-less he'll say he has to go potty and hold it until we can get him there, and he's really hated wearing diapers lately.

SOME OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS

He still loves counting, but now his thing is to repeat "4, 5, 6" over and over.  It drives Brad crazy!!  Despite Brad's best efforts, West refuses to start with the number 1.  Brad will ask West to say "one" and West will say "2, 3, 4, 5, 6" but absolutely will not start with 1.

He regularly says 4 word sentences now and it just blows us away that we can have back-and-forth conversations with him (toddler-style, of course - haha) and he'll recap parts of his day or tell us things he wants to do.  For example, he'll tell us he wants to "ride four-wheeler with Grandpa" or "sit David's lap on airplane" (all of course in his language that most people wouldn't understand).

He uses adjectives a lot more to describe things.  He calls things silly, fun, loud, and even gross.  For example, he tried some lettuce today and spit it out and said "gross," and the other day he was talking about riding a train and said it was "fun" and went through a "dark tunnel."

He tells himself "gee jah" (good job) all the time, whether it's after picking up toys or helping us out in some way or successfully climbing up onto our bed.  The funniest is when he tells himself good job after something we do not want him doing or he shouldn't do... he'll do it and tell himself good job and then walk off with a smile on his face (for instance, after jumping on Brad's head).  :)

He's getting some basic manners down and it's adorable.  He regularly says "please" and "thank you" without us prompting him (most of the time), when he bumps into us he says "sorry", when he says goodbye to people he says "Have a good day!" and he even says "excuse you" when trying to get around or passing someone.  Yes, you read that right, he says "excuse you" instead of "excuse me" and it's so embarrassing!  I'm always working on it with him because it sounds so rude when we're in a store passing someone and he says "excuse you" to them!!  And yes, that has happened at least a dozen times I'd say!  The best I can get him to do at this point is say "excuse-you me" which is at least a little better.  Funny kid.

He's also getting more opinionated with what he does and doesn't want.  For instance, if I'm singing a song he'll say "No Mommy, no mommy" until I stop.  Or when we're getting him out of his car seat he'll tell us to "scoot back" so we can get out of the car by himself.

He has to tell anyone he sees exactly what he's doing or what he has, and he'll keep repeating it until they acknowledge what he's saying.  Whether it's a friend at our house and he brings 15 different toys up to her and tells her what each of them is, or it's the check-out lady at Target and he's telling her that he has a dump truck.

He has freckles!  He's actually had them for several months, but I don't think I've ever mentioned it on the blog.  They're so freaking cute.  Seriously.

His favorite things are pretty much the same - being outside, reading books, playing in water (whether it's the hose, sink, or bath), and anything related to dirt or trains.  He also loves playing with his buddies Ti-Mace [that's Titus and Mace], Eye-is [Silas and Atticus], baby Yi [Elias], Parpeh [Parker], Jah [Jack], Jones, Yuke [Luke], Dayee ["uncle" David], Marma Dee, Papa Dohnie, Papaw Tenny, and our new retired neighbors Steve and Linda, just to name a few.  :)  He's pretty social though, and becomes fast friends with pretty much everyone he meets.

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I've been slacking big time on taking pictures of our family.  :(  Here are some pics from the last day the crib was in his room and we got the full size mattress.

This was how he slept for almost a week - the front of his crib taken off so it was a toddler bed, and couch cushions on the floor.  The cushions weren't so much because we were worried about him getting hurt, but more because we didn't want him rolling off from such a large drop and waking up.  

Not only was it his last day with the crib, but also with his chair.  I was embarrassingly emotional about it because of all the sweet snuggles and memories we've had in that chair!

Showing off his monkey in front of his new big boy bed!  For the first few days the mattress was on the floor, then we moved it up on the box springs.  

I found the most perfect quilt at T.J. Maxx that matched the navy and green color scheme I was going for.  I put it on for the pics but it hasn't been on since then.  :)  Since it's summer, a sheet is all he needs!

Obviously one of the first things you need to do when you get a big boy bed is to start rearranging the pillows with your teeth.  Duh.

 Can you see his freckles here?

Here's the same shot zoomed in. Can you see them now? He's got about a dozen or so on his face and some on his arms as well. :)

11 months!

Whoops, I started this post several days ago but forgot to finish it!  Here's what West has been up to this last month...

What he's learned:
He's getting great at signing the few things we've taught him - more and all done - and even signs them to communicate to us instead of just signing them when we first say them.  He also loves clapping - all we have to say is "yay!" or "good job!" and he'll start clapping for himself.  (A little vain but oh so cute!)  Also, if he sees people clapping on TV he'll start clapping.

He's becoming more interactive with us besides signing, too.  He likes handing things to us when he's playing, and he also likes grabbing our hands and getting us to do whatever he's doing.  Sometimes he'll even just walk up, pick up our hand, and give us a high five.  And he now gives us hugs.  Too fun!

He's really starting to imitate us and the every day things we do.  For instance, when I let him hold my phone he holds it up to his ear and starts jabbering and also when he gets ahold of the remote he points it at the TV.  How awful is that?!  You'd think we just watch TV all day every day, but let me assure you I only watch the morning news every now and then and that's all.  (well, with the exception of the Olympics - when they were on I was watching it throughout the day... maybe that's ruined him!)

He's getting so close with "mama" and "dada" .  He definitely knows what those words mean - when Brad gets home and I say "Dada's home!" he gets a big smile and heads over to the stairway, and he can sometimes point to me when Brad asks "Where's mama?" and vice versa.  Grandma Dee thinks he's trying to say "bear" because when we play Baby Bear with him he'll say "ba ba."  He's also close to saying "up" and he can sometimes imitate us pretty closely when we say "all done."

He has finally figured out how to go down stairs, though it does take him forever and I'm always right there on the step below him.  He also knows how get off of higher things like the bed, ottoman, fireplace hearth, etc by sliding down on his belly with his feet first.  And yes, we're always there right next to him when he's on the bed and ottoman (weird I know but he absolutely loves sitting up there!).

What he loves:
His mom and dad - I don't know what's gotten into this boy the last couple of weeks, but he has become a little more cuddly!  Before he would have nothing to do with snuggling up against me, but since I taught him how to hug he wants to do it all the time!  And when I pick him up now, a lot of times he'll lay his head down against my chest.  It's pretty awesome, I'm not gonna lie.  :)

Sat mornings in bed - ever since he was little, whenever we've had lazy Saturday mornings we bring him in bed with us after I finish nursing him and we just hang out for a bit (what usually happens is I get done nursing him and then we go wake up daddy :) ).  He just loves it because he has all of our attention and is usually cracking us up the entire time.  We're usually repeating the phrase "Man, this kid is awesome."

Pushing and pulling things around - tables, chairs, baskets, toys, you name it.  Nothing is too big or heavy for him, in his eyes.  :)

Climbing - on anything and everything.  If I'm sitting down next to the ottoman, I know I have a short window before he's using me as a ladder to get on top of it.  He can also almost climb into the tub - he's so close and if we actually let him keep trying he'd probably make it (we obviously don't want to do that...).

Playing with anything new or new-to-him, and he almost always prefers non-toys to toys.

Baby Bear book - this will keep him entertained for longer than anything!

Outside - he absolutely loves being outside and exploring, and now that the weather is cooling off we plan to be outside a lot more!

How he sleeps:
Naps have been a little more hit or miss lately for some reason.  There have been a few days in the past couple weeks where he will entirely miss either his morning or afternoon nap after we try for an hour and a half or so to get him down.  For the most part though he's still taking two approx 1.5 hr naps a day.  Maybe he's getting close to being ready to drop his morning nap???  I sure hope not!  Although at this point I'd rather have a solid afternoon nap than struggling with him to take two so-so naps.

At night he's doing great.  For the longest time I would feed him twice at night - once before I went to sleep  (he usually wouldn't wake up for this, and if he did he'd be right back asleep in a minute) and again in the middle of the night just to tank him up with additional calories (often times I'd wake him up for this one too). A couple of months ago I dropped that middle of the night feed and just in the last week or two I finally dropped the last nursing before I went to bed.  I knew that I needed to slowly wean him off of that before I started the actual weaning process, so that he'd have to time adjust and make up those calories during the day.  I was worried how he'd do - he'd never gone that long without eating and I just felt like I'd be starving him - but he hasn't missed a beat.  Since then he's maybe only woken up twice in the middle of the night, and after a couple morning of waking up a little earlier, like 6ish, he's back to sleeping until 7 most mornings.  So thankful we have such a good sleeper on our hands!!

How he eats:
He's pretty finicky with eating solids - he may love something one day and then have nothing to do with it the next, but that's all part of the adventure, right?  ;)  He usually loves cheese, bananas, beans, any sort of pasta dish with red sauce, and bread and butter.

The sippy cup is going much better.  While he still doesn't like drinking breast milk out of one, nowadays he'll chug water from them, so at least we know he CAN drink from them.  I've given him whole milk a couple times now, too, and he doesn't seem to mind it at all, so hopefully it'll be a smooth (as possible) transition when I wean him.

How he's grown:
Two weeks ago I took him to get weighed and he was 18 lbs 6 oz.  YEAH for finally breaking the 18lb mark!!!  He's actually moved up a bit on the growth charts too - he's more solidly between 10-25th percentile instead of between 5-10th like he was for quite awhile.  Good news!

He's still on the Prevacid 15 mg solutabs and we're still monitoring his weight at least once a month, and will probably watch it closer once I start weaning him to make sure he adjusts well.



We can't believe that his 1st birthday is just around the corner.  On one hand it feels like he's been part of our family for forever and we can't really remember what life was like before him, but on the other hand it's hard to believe that he's going to be so old that he'll be a "toddler" instead of "baby."  And while I acknowledge that every stage has been more and more fun so far, and my love for him will inexplicably continue to grow exponentially, I just can't imagine loving him more than I do in this moment so I want it to stay exactly this way forever.  I'm sure every mom has felt this way, and I know someday I'll look back at this and laugh at how I thought it couldn't get any better.  :)

10 months!

We can't even begin to describe how much we love this kid and how much fun we have with him everyday.  He's just incredible - he has the most infectious nose-wrinkling grin, the best jabbers, the funniest faces, the most adorable belly-holding waddle, the sweetest coos when he wakes up, and the hands-down best laughs.  (Maybe we're a little biased.)  We did nothing to deserve this little guy as our son, but are so thankful to the Lord every day that we get to be his parents.

Ok, we'll stop gushing.  :)  Here's what all he's been up to this last month.  


What he's learned:
He can give high-fives and sign "all done" most times when he's finished nursing or eating.  We're still working on him doing that to actually communicate that he's all done, instead of just doing it when we say "all done," but it's a start.  We're also still working on him signing "more" but he's only done that once so far.  He is also pointing all the time, which is pretty stinking adorable. 


He makes a sort of fish face where he opens and closes his mouth over and over.  He does it all the time!

You can see most of these things in this video here:

Walking is his preferred method of transportation.  He hardly ever crawls anymore.  We thought when he first took steps that he'd still prefer crawling for quite some time, but walking was his go-to way to get around pretty soon after.  We don't put shoes on him at home but we do when he goes outside (most times) and when we go somewhere we know he'll be walking around (like the Royals game).  We bought his first real pair of shoes - some "trek" shoes with a covered toe and flexible sole, but the sole ended up being too bulky for him and he didn't do so well in them.  Thankfully some friends lent us a pair of Robeez shoes with a soft sole and he gets around pretty well in those.  This video here is actually of the first time we put him in them.  It was the night before we went to the Royals game and we were testing out our different shoe options for him.

Another new thing he loves doing is this quasi-headstand/pre-somersault/yoga downward dog sort of move.  You can see it in the video above as well, about 20 seconds into it.

He opens cabinets and drawers like he owns the place.  When we try to block him from getting into something he even tries to move our hands, smart little guy!

We're working on playing catch and he thinks it is so much fun.  Throwing still needs some work; most of the time he doesn't let go when he's making the throwing motion OR he gets all excited and just runs the ball right to us.  :)

It's amazing to see him imitate us; often it happens at times we don't expect it at all.  For instance the other day we were playing on the floor together while laying on our backs.  I raised my legs up in the air and started kicking them, and he followed suit and did the same!  It was too funny, especially since he couldn't hold them up for long but kept trying.  A couple minutes later he was standing up and I did it again and he started bouncing up and down while standing.  Too funny.  Also, the other day I said it was time to pray before lunch and he folded his hands and started jabbering.  Total coincidence I'm sure but it was still a powerful reminder of what they can pick up from even a young age.

What he loves:
He loves pulling everything out those kitchen cabinets he's allowed in.  This includes measuring cups, cake pans, colanders, cutting boards, plastic trays, etc.  I'm torn because while I don't like putting it all back several times a day, it does keep him pretty well entertained when I'm cooking or cleaning in the kitchen.  And I'm sure before we know it he'll be able to "help" me pick up.

He still has a frustrating fascination with the fireplace hearth, electronics, and blinds, so I feel like we battle those things pretty often.  In addition to those, he's learned how to pull up the vent covers around the house.  He hasn't seemed to have made much progress with the word "no" since we started sternly using it a few months ago, and we're consistent with what things we use it on.  For now we still sternly tell him no and move him away from whatever he's getting into/onto that he shouldn't.  He'll catch on soon, right??  Just around the corner???  sigh.

His other favorite toys/playthings (in no particular order):  swimming pool, activity table, any kitchen item, his vtech Rhyme and Discover book, any ball, ring stacker, hairbrushes (I think he just loves pulling them out of my bathroom drawer and hitting them against things), and brooms (you read that correctly).  He's really so curious about everything new he comes across- whether it's a new basketball, book, hair dryer, or pan- and new items are typically his favorite items to study/play with until he moves on to the next new thing (either by choice or by force).  :)

How he sleeps:
His schedule is pretty much the same as it was in his 9 month post - he takes two 1.5-2 hour naps a day and eats about every 4-4.5 hours.

He's finally to the point where he doesn't cry at all when we put him down for most naps.  This is a very welcomed stage because putting him in the crib and walking away when he's crying is no fun for any of us!  (Granted, he never cried for very long, but even just a few minutes is hard.)

How he eats:
He is doing great with solids!  Well, as long as they are finger foods anyways; he's not a fan of being spoon fed.  His favorite foods are any berries (strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries), bananas, sweet potatoes, cheese, cheerios, and graham crackers.  Some new additions that he likes are hummus, pasta, black beans, and deli meat.  He doesn't mind steamed peas, carrots, corn, and he's definitely not a fan of browned ground beef, broccoli, zucchini, or squash.  Of course there's more but that's what I can remember off the top of my head.  It'll be fun to see how his tastes change over time.  

He's still not a fan of the sippy cup so we tried a couple different options.  One is a cup with a straw (below on the left)  and the other is more of a toddler cup with a lid that has a little bit of a lip where he can drink out of (on the right).  The one on the right is actually for 24+ mo kiddos, but since he does better drinking out a real cup than a sippy cup we thought we'd give it a shot.  Turns out he does much better with both of those than he does with a traditional sippy cup.  He drinks a little better with the toddler cup than the straw cup, but he can't lift the toddler cup up to his mouth and drink out of it on his own yet (we have to hold it up there for him).  Hopefully we can get this figured out soon... my goal is to wean him around his first birthday but he has to be able to drink out of a sippy cup before we can do that.  The clock is ticking!

Yes, I included pictures of cups, only because it's easier for me to show a pic than to describe with words.  :)

How he's grown:
Two weeks ago he weighed in at 17lb 12oz.  We're really hoping for a big growth spurt here soon - come on West!

We tried taking him off of the Prevacid 15 mg solutabs a couple weeks ago since most reflux babies outgrow it by about a year, but it did not go so well.  His feedings cut almost in half and he started spitting up a LOT, poor guy.  So he's back on it again and we're hoping we can get back to what his feedings were.

Friday Photo Dump - Baby Dedication and Silly Faces

I'll forever treasure this photo - our family and small group praying with us over West, for him to come to know the Lord and glorify Him with his life. We are so blessed to have so many people in our lives who love our boy and care not only about his physical growth but his spiritual growth too.

9 months!

Here are some highlights and tidbits from the last month...

Things West has learned:  

We've got a walker on our hands!  Well, he's taking steps at least.  He took his first real steps on May 25 - he only took two but they were very steady.  Since then he's just kept practicing and practicing and can walk 5-8 feet before falling.  We'll try to post a video soon.  (Update: see a couple of videos here.)

Twice now this week he's stood up from the middle of the room without pulling up on anything.  (Update: since I first wrote this on his 9 mo bday, he's done it a lot more!)

He shakes his head when we tell him no, even when we're not shaking our heads.  He went through a stage when he loved shaking it all the time, but now it's usually only when we tell him no.  I guess I did it often enough while telling him no and he caught on!

He can finally read books (sometimes) with me without just trying to put them in his mouth the whole time.  He even turns the pages and points at things on the pages sometimes!  Of course, he still just wants to eat them a lot of times.  

West is getting better at waving.  Often when we say hi and wave at him, he'll raise his hand up in the air.  He doesn't actually wave it, but at least he raises it!

He can open drawers and cabinet doors.

He is 'talking' all the time, but we're still not sure if he knows who mama and dada are when he's babbling.

When he's into something or has something he knows he shouldn't and we see him, he will actually take off crawling in the other direction with it as fast as possible!  Little stinker!    

Things West loves:

He still loves his walker and has figured out how to scoot it around whatever he runs it into, so he can use it walk all over the house.  It's so fun to watch him because he really seems like he prefers using it to walk to get where he wants to go over crawling.  I can't say I blame him - bare knees on a hardwood floor... I'd want to walk, too!

He loves being outside, where he bear crawls in the grass (he apparently doesn't like his knees on the grass, so we try to put him in jeans but most days lately it's just too hot for that!), plays with the water hose, and tries eating the mulch (ugh, I wish he didn't find it so fascinating!  I'm constantly snatching it out of his hands before he can get it to his mouth.).  He's been in little kiddie pools twice last week - once with his cousins and once with our neighbors - and he loves it.  We're planning on getting a little one for him soon.  (Update: we got him one last weekend and he LOVES it!)

He still loves baths and can almost pull himself up and over to get into the tub!  He's such a climber.  Also, he's figured out how to flush the toilet, so of course now he wants to do it all the time when he's in there.  Combine that with his affinity for unrolling the toilet paper and pulling trash out of the trash can, and you can understand why we still keep the bathroom doors closed at all times.  :)

Things he loves that he shouldn't love:  He is obsessed with electronics - our phones, remote controls, computers, etc.  He's always climbing up on the hearth so he can stand up and bang on the glass fireplace screen - I feel like all day I'm telling him no and pulling him down!  For some reason he loves getting my hair brushes out of the drawer in the bathroom and chewing on the handles.  He always wants in to the fridge and dishwasher - wherever he is when you open them, you know you only have about a few seconds before you have to close them!

How West eats/sleeps:

We transitioned him to a 4 hour schedule/routine at the beginning of his ninth month and it is going great (meaning he eats every 4 hours during the day).  He wakes up about 7, naps from 9:30-11ish and again from 1:30-3:30ish, and then goes to bed at about 8.  I usually wake him up to nurse him before I go to bed at 11 or so, and he usually sleeps through the night from there.  He does sometimes wake up and cry for just a second or two at 5 or 6, but puts himself back to sleep most times.  On the three hour schedule he was on for so long I had to try to force an extra nap in there and he always fought it, and I had to wake him up from naps early to feed him, so this schedule is much more age appropriate.  The only reason we had held off for so long was to keep an extra feeding in there for his weight, but we've been monitoring it every 2 weeks and he seems to have adjusted well to it.

As far as eating solids, there's not been much change since this post here.

How West has grown:
He's in size 3 diapers.  While I bet he could still squeeze into size 2 diapers, he was soaking through them within a couple hours so we made the step up.  As far as clothing, it's tough to say since brands vary so much.  For the most part, he's in 6-9 mo.  Carters' 6 mo onesies still fit him but are getting a bit snug (mostly snug in length), and their 9 mo ones fit him but are baggy (they fit him in length but are big around his skinny waist).

He got his top two front teeth when he turned 8 months and he's working on the top two side ones (lateral incisors??) as he's turning 9 months.  At least he's spacing them out for us!

He had his 9 mo check up today (which was why I held off on posting this) and he weighs 17 lbs 4 oz and is 27.25 in long (both of which are 10-25th percentile, though much closer to the 10th than 25th so I don't know why they don't just say 10th).  I was a bit disappointed but his doctor was actually pleased with it.  She was also really impressed with his development because his score was equivalent to a 13 mo old!  The best part of this check up today?  No shots!  Yippee!  :)

*See all of his monthly pictures here

Walking!

I'm still working on West's 9 month post, but in the meantime we thought we'd share a couple videos Brad took of him walking earlier this evening.

He took his first two steps on May 25 and can take several now!  He can also stand up without pulling up on anything.  We joke that his small size helps him out!  ;)  We're pretty amazed at his balance.  When he actually takes his time and takes it slow, he can walk 8 feet or so!  He can even pivot and turn directions when he's really on his A game.  He's also pretty good about falling back on his bottom most of the time (unlike in the second video below!).  Even when he does fall forward, he's a pretty tough little guy and just pops right back up.  He's seriously the best entertainment ever!

8 months!

How is it possible that our little guy is 8 months old already?!  Technically, 8 mo 1 wk since it's taken me a week to get this posted. ;)

Every week he's learning new things and developing new quirks that just crack us up and make us gush unashamedly.  Yep, we're those parents.  I mean, how could we not be?  Have you seen our kid?

He's babbling all the time now, and it is just the sweetest thing.  Well, sometimes it's the loudest, not-so-sweet thing, like when he's squawking like a pterodactyl.  But sweet coo or grating screech, we love it all. :) He says babababa, dadadada, mamamama, and tatatatata.  Mamamama is the latest one.  The funniest so far has been when he whispers tata when you whisper to him.  So.darn.precious.  We think he's still just babbling for now and doesn't actually associate the "words" with meaning but we're sure that's right around the corner.

We're working on waving.  Sometimes when we wave he'll "wave" back by raising his hand and moving his fingers a little, but most other times he just smiles, throws both arms up and back down and carries on with whatever he'd doing.

He loves standing!  The ottoman is perfect because he loves standing up next to it and banging on it and also cruising around it.  He also loves standing in front of the fireplace.  He'll see his reflection and get really excited and put both arms up in the air.  He can stand for a few seconds without holding onto anything before he falls down.  Thankfully he always fall onto his bottom and not face first!

In addition to cruising on furniture, he loves walking with the walker we got him last week.  He gets so excited and happy when he's pushing it around!  When a wall or piece of furniture gets in the way, though, oh boy... he can get pretty pathetic (especially when it's close to nap time and he's tired!).

West loves baths (see pics on this post here) and really the whole bathroom in general.  We have to keep the bathroom doors shut at all times because if they're open, he'll be in there playing with the toilet paper, banging on toilet seat, playing with the toilet brush, getting into to the trash, etc in no time.  Same with the dishwasher and fridge - the second either of those are open he makes a bee-line for them!  He actually used to be that way about the pantry too, but after I "gave him" the bottom two shelves he's really not too interested anymore.  Figures.  :)  He also has a cabinet with plastic things and a drawer with his spoons, bowls, cups, etc that he can play in while we're in the kitchen.  Keeps him entertained for awhile while I'm cooking or cleaning up, but most of the time he'd rather be held so he can be a part of the action.  When that's the case, I throw him in the high chair and scoot it up next to whatever I'm doing and he's usually pretty happy.

Another of his favorites is rough housing.  He is the happiest when we're down on the floor with him rolling around - he loves climbing on us and "attacking" us.  He does have a biting a problem that we need to work on, though.  Ouch!  He also loves being "chased" and "chasing" us.  He can go pretty fast for such a little guy!

Speaking of biting, he has his two front bottom teeth and one of his top front teeth just broke through on his 8 mo birthday.  For this most recent one we had a couple rough nights, a runny/stuffy nose, and some overall fussiness.  Poor guy just wan't his happy self, but is coming back around.

He's still pretty picky when it comes to solids.  We've tried traditional jarred baby food, homemade pureed veggies, mashed bits of what we have for dinner (like grilled zucchini and summer squash), diced bananas, plain full fat yogurt, puffs, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, ritz crackers, bits of pasta... and he still may only eat a few bites at a time (when he's not gagging).  He's just not interested.  He does best with graham crackers and plain yogurt but that isn't always a guarantee.  But the majority of his calories and nutrition come from milk still so we're just viewing solids as practice for now and not stressing out about it.  We figure he'll catch on soon enough!

He's still on a flexible 3-4 hour schedule during the day.  Really it's more of a routine than a schedule - he wakes up and I nurse him, then he's awake for a couple hours, then goes down for a nap, then I nurse him when he wakes up, etc.  If he only takes an hour nap, he's more on a 3 hour schedule, but if he naps longer it may be closer to 4 hours between feedings.  The way this routine loops, he usually gets 3 naps a day - mid morning, mid day, and late afternoon.  In our opinion he's a little too old for this sort of schedule and we think he'd do better with two longer naps a day, but we've been trying to keep him closer to 3 hours between feedings to get in more calories during the day.

I took him to get weighed the day after his 8 mo birthday and he weighed in at 16 lb 11 oz, which is close to the 10th percentile.  In the last four weeks he actually gained a little better than what would be expected - he gained 13 oz and the expected range was 4-12 oz, so we were pretty excited!

Little quirks we love:  how he shuffles his feet when he gets excited, how he sleeps with his bottom up in the air, how he shakes his head back and forth all the time, how he loves being outside, how he pants through gritted teeth/gums and wrinkles his nose when he's excited or determined, how he can always reach just a little further than we think (and thus always seems to reach what we think is out of reach), how he used to run into our legs with his head when he wanted to be picked up (now he reaches his hands up), how he loves watching Brad mow from the windows in the living room, how he gets so excited and crawls so fast towards Brad when he gets home from work... we could go on and on but I think this post is long enough already... ;)

Happy 8 mo birthday Weston!  We love you more than we can express and you make every day so incredible!!!


*See all of his monthly pictures here

Our big guy

He loves standing in his crib like a big boy.  Several times now I've peeked in during his "nap" and he's just standing there looking out the window.  It cracks me up because I typically have his monitor on and by me and may never hear him - he just wakes up happy and quietly plays or stands there.  Sometimes he'll give himself away when he starts banging on the top of the crib with his hand - he loves hitting it for some reason.  It's so funny to just start hearing a thumping sound when I thought he was sleeping.  

Here I am peeking in on him when he's supposed to be falling asleep for a nap...  

He's been sleeping with his cute little bottom up in the air lately.  So adorable!

His two bottom teeth came in over the last week and a half!  So maybe that's why he was under the weather (as mentioned in this post here) but we're sure hoping he doesn't run a 102.5 degree temp every time he has teeth coming in!  This pic was taken last Wed so his teeth are even more visible now - I'll have snap another pic soon.  

Big 'ol brown eyes like his daddy.

Pulling Up

Our little boy is growing up too fast!!  He now thinks that he's old enough to be pulling himself up to standing on pretty much everything.  The fireplace hearth, window ledges, chairs, his carseat (which of course rocks back and makes him fall), etc.  The really tough thing is we think he's probably still too young to understand consequences and the word "No," (I heard they start getting that at about 9mo - 1yr, which is about the time they usually start doing this skill... go figure) so I just have to watch over him closely and move him myself if I think he's in a dangerous situation instead of being able to tell him "No."  Oh well, he'll learn soon enough and hopefully won't get too many bumps along the way!  :)

Oh, and I love how protective Brad is here - keeping his hands up at all times to catch him in case he falls.  So sweet.

Crawling!

After a couple weeks of rocking, army crawling, and lunging, he finally put it all together tonight!  It was so fun to watch him go!  We're so proud of our little guy!

Hello rice cereal!

Last Thursday we started experimenting with a bit of rice cereal.  He doesn't mind it so much if he "helps" put the spoon in his mouth, but if he can't help then he's not a fan.  Hope he comes around soon! 

Rock My World

Last Wednesday, after weeks of working at it, West finally got up on his hands and knees!  Then on Friday he started rocking forward and backward.  It's the cutest thing so we're hoping to get a video of it sometime soon.  But for now, here are a few pics of his new skills!

So completely in love with our sweet boy!

Doing his 'superman'/'swimming' move

Not sure what this is!

Really trying to get that football back there

Getting better!

Even better after a day of practicing!

Now We're on a Roll...

One Saturday morning the three of us were hanging out in the living room and West just decided to roll over, out of nowhere!  He rolled from his back to his front 4 or 5 times and from his front to his back a couple of times.  The videos below are from that morning.  He's continued to do it just about every day since then, too.  

In addition to rolling over, it seemed like overnight West's neck/upper back strength improved drastically!  One day he was on his back one second and the next second I turned and saw that he had rolled over and propped himself up on his elbows!  He even held it long enough for me to grab the camera and snap a few pics.  So proud of him!