8 months

• Wow! Where has the time gone? I can’t believe you are closer to being a one-year-old than you are to being a newborn!
• You make mommy & daddy so incredibly happy. Sometimes after you go to bed at night, we talk about how much we love you and funny things you do.
• You are doing this ‘hip thrusting’ motion to get around. While in a sitting position, you thrust your hips up and scoot your butt across the floor.
• You can sit and chew on your toys forever before you get upset! Sometimes we are amazed at how perfectly content you are chewing / playing with the same toy for over 20 minutes!
• Its still a “hit or miss” with the tummy time. You would much rather sit up and play with your toys or stand at your play table (with someone close by of course). However, if you are in the mood, you will play on your tummy for awhile – especially if there is another kid, mommy or daddy down there to entertain you!
• You are crawling backwards. Well, nana calls it “scooting backwards”. She says its not crawling because your knees are not bent. I still call it crawling backwards.
• You definitely prefer fruit over veggies but you are still eating your veggies at this point! You are still eating stage 2 & 3 foods. Your favorite foods are carrots, green beans (if they are pureed enough), sweet potatoes & peas! There is a split pea & carrot soup combination that you really like too. You pretty much like any fruit you’ve been given. At dinner, I feed you your veggies first and then you get your fruit. Lately you’ve been kind of fussy while eating your dinner. I’m not sure if its because you are tired or because you don’t want what I’m feeding you. It has taken some coaxing to get you to eat at first but after 10 minutes are so, you are fine.
• You are much better at using your sippy cup now! Usually you only drink an ounce or two with your meal. TT says you drink more between meals when she gives it to you.
• Mommy had her first weekend away from you during the first weekend of March. Your Aunt Becky came down from Maryland and so we had a girls weekend at your Aunt Josa’s house. Aunt Kelli & Kirstin were there too!  You spent the entire weekend with Daddy and he says you did great! I was worried you wouldn’t go to bed easily with a bottle (because you typically nurse to sleep) but you did! Daddy said you slept great. You slept til about 7:30 each morning. On Saturday night you went to your friend Savannah’s house. You were there until about 9pm. You sat and played with some blocks. Daddy & Aunt Lauren said you were perfectly content chewing on some blocks and didn’t have too much interest in the other toys or Savannah & Mazzy playing nearby. I’m so glad you were a good boy for daddy and made his weekend pretty low key but mommy MISSED YOU TERRIBLY! I mean, I had a good time with my friends but I thought about you a lot. I teared up a couple of times when I told you goodbye Friday morning and I cried when I saw you again on Sunday! You seemed happy to see me too J
• I dropped my morning pumping session this month (the one before I leave for work around 6:45 am). It was just becoming too much to pump 4 times a day!  I’m still thinking about dropping another pumping session but I’m not sure. I may wait until your 9 month appointment to talk to the doctor about how much mommy milk you should be getting per day. I’m still pumping at 9am (I get about 7 ounces), noon (about 3.5 ounces) and 3pm (about 3.5 ounces). You go to TT’s with 4 bottles with 5 ounces in each. You usually come home with 1 full bottle but sometimes 2, which means you usually drink about the same amount that I’m pumping each day. You haven’t started showing any signs that you are not interested in nursing in the morning or at night. I figure you get about 4-5 ounces in the morning nursing session and about 7 ounces at night (based on the time you usually nurse).
• It is getting warmer now but the pollen has been insane! We didn’t have much of a winter. It feels like it went from fall to summer in just days! There have been record breaking levels of pollen this “spring”. You don’t take a nap every evening in the car like you used to but I’d say you still fall asleep and stay asleep a couple of times a week. I’ve started taking you for walks in the evenings because it gets dark later. I try to get back to the house before 6:15 so you can have your dinner, books, bath & bed. I really need to start your books by 7:00 because you tend to be more interested the earlier I start them. If its too late, you are already too cranky and ready for your bedtime routine! Not sure how often we will be able to walk/run over the next couple of weeks due to the pollen but we will see!