Eight months

Matthew Jay you are 8 months old!

What are you up to these days??

I always thought that I would have a chunky baby, but I was so wrong with you!

You are my long and lean boy!

 You are wearing anywhere from size 9-18 months.

You need the length of the bigger clothes, but you don't have a waist to hold them up!

You are wearing size 4 diapers!

You sleep from 8:00pm-7 or 8am. You take two, 2 hour naps during the day.

We are starting to "wean" you from bundling. We now bundle you with one arm out. It's so cute because we have a new bedtime and nap routine, where we bundle you up, and lay you down in your crib with a binkie in your mouth and an extra binkie laying beside you. You roll over on your side, grab the extra binkie, and switch it out with the binkie that is in your mouth. We say goodnight and give you kisses, and you put yourself to sleep! Sometimes you think it's more fun to play in your crib for awhile, or fuss a little before you go to sleep, but you are always able to calm yourself down and put yourself to sleep.

You love to play with the buckles in your car seat. Riding in the car is getting much better!

When you first turned 7 months old, you were just starting to pull yourself up on things. But you were still unsteady and didn't know how to get back down once you were standing. Now, goodness gracious, you are into anything and everything you can get your hands on! You are crawling ALL over the place, and pulling yourself up on EVERYTHING! We got you a walk-a-long, and you LOVE to push it and walk behind it!
You pull yourself up in your crib too!

 Baby boy, you are growing up way too fast!

You are fascinated with anything that has a cord, or lights (ie: cable box, Internet modem!) This means you are quickly, well maybe not so quickly, teaching you the word NO! When you are happy, we will tell you "No" and you will just look at us and grin, like you have no idea when we are saying!

However, when you are tired and we give you a stern "No" you will get a big pouty lip and start to cry...either of them are so cute....for now!
We are defiantly learning how tiring and exhausting it is to be consistent with your kids!

You know your name and respond when we say it!

You are saying your first word! We really wanted you to say "Dada" first, but go figure, your first word is...."Mama". For now, you are really only saying it when you are tired or hungry.

You are such a big eater! Now that you are 8 months old, we are slowly introducing you to cheeses, and meats! You even had your first piece of pizza and LOVED it! You also are eating Eggos with jam, Greek yogurt (you LOVE it!), cottage cheese (you aren't crazy about the taste of cottage cheese by itself, but love it mixed with applesauce), a little chicken and beef here and there and of course all your good ole fruits and veggies! Oh we tried grilled cheese too!

We also gave you spaghetti for the first time. To say you loved it is an understatement.....you inhaled it!

Last week, Grammy and I took you to Panera Bread and got you white mac and cheese. You hated the Parmesan cheese in the pasta! I also tried cooked egg yolks (you can't have egg whites yet) and you were not too fond of them either. I think those are the only two things you have tried that you didn't like!

You are experiencing separation anxiety when we drop you off in the nursery at church!

Sundays continue to be a challenge. It is your nap time during church, and you are exhausted...but you don't sleep well in the nursery. Add that to some separation anxiety, and we have a mess of a baby. I think the nursery workers probably dread you coming into the nursery! Of course, when mommy, daddy or Grammy have to come get you, the tears stop immediately! Oh it's such a struggle...I have to keep telling myself that it is just a stage you are going through!

You started clapping! (I'll have to post a video soon because the way you clap is adorable!)

You are a motor mouth! You babble all the time.

You got your first two teeth! You got your first tooth on 10/3, and your second one popped through the next day! Teething has been a breeze for you!

You LOVE when Daddy comes home from work! One day, we were getting the mail when he got home. You drove into the garage with him and thought it was the best thing ever!

I love your expression!

You absolutely love just being at home.
 You are so happy and content when you can just crawl around and play with your toys.

You spend 2 mornings a week with Grammy, before Mommy gets home from work. Daddy has to wake you up at about 6:15-6:30. You are tired at first, but always end up giving big smiles. Such a trooper! You love to spend time with your Grammy and we are so thankful for her!

Matthew Jay, WE LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH!