Graham 8 Months

Graham man, Where do I begin?This past month has flown by just as fast as the last, and I am still utterly amazed at how simple and easy you have made this transition from family of 3 to family of 4 for us. Your personality and presence lights up the room, and your calm demeanor is a constant reminder for us to always slow down and enjoy the little things in life. This past month has been a fun month, as you continue to explore the world around you. You're getting up on everything, crawling everywhere {and fast], and climbing stairs and walking with a walker. I mean... I can't even. When I look at you, I can't help but squeeze you. You smile instantly, you warm my heart in a split second, and you just fill our lives with so much more love than we ever thought possible. We cannot wait to see what the upcoming months have to offer, and we are just waiting for the day those little legs decide to start walking... then running... right after that big sister of yours!

So. About this month: You love to play. Play play play. You really have no desire to be held and just sit around. Which means very minimal cuddling for this mama. Although that part {the cuddling part} is something that I desire, I love just as much to watch you discover all the new things around you. You always want to get into whatever your sister is doing and you act like you are so much "bigger" than you are. I can tell that you are ready to be bigger. And it's something that we look forward to, as we watch the two of you interact and play more and more together.

As far as toys go, you're pretty predictable in what you will pick up and play with. Sticks, balls, anything with wheels, and remotes. That means you go straight for the cars {the little that we have}, anything that can be a stick {pool sticks, spatula, spoon, etc}, remotes {to use to bang on the table}, and anything that may be round that you can push around {including the food items such as oranges, apples, and more}. Needless to say, we do not push any specific toy on you, and allow you to make your own choices as to what you play with. It's so interesting to see that at such a young age, you already have a specific preference.

Nursing throughout the day anywhere from every hour to every 4 hours. Most days? Every 1-2 hours. It's not necessarily that you are hungry every time as it is that you just want a little snack and it's your "comfort zone." As far as night time goes? Normally you only wake up once and eat then. However, there was one night this past month that you ate a total of 18 ounces over night for your papa. Not sure if you were going through a growth spurt or what! And interestingly enough, your sister probably ate half the amount {when she was your age} than you do, and yet you are so much more leaner. My theory? It's because you are always crazy on the move.

Speaking of being on the move, you've been crawling now for the past 3 months, standing up on EVERYTHING, and walking everywhere when you have a toy to push. It's amazing to me that you are able to just walk with it. I think E was probably 11 months old before she even attempted that. Again, you never fail to amaze us.

Just like you did when you first crawled up THE FULL FLIGHT OF STAIRS. Last month you were able to take a couple steps up there, but then never showed any further interest. I am on the phone with Grandma for two minutes, turn my head for a second, and then you are not in the place that you were when I last looked at you. I walk around the living room and through the kitchen again to not find you anywhere in sight. I thought to myself, surely he couldn't have gone up ALL the stairs and THAT FAST. I proceeded to go up the stairs to not see you in the hallway, in which I turned around to wake my way down. That is until I heard little baby noises coming through our bedroom. And there you were crawling around with the biggest smile on your face. Well, there went the baby gate! {I promise baby we are not crappy parents to you, we just figured we had a couple months left before you did all these crazy things!}

Back to eating. Lets talk about baby food. You are on some sort of "no baby food kick." About the only thing you will eat is bananas, and then sometimes I can sneak in some spoonfuls of stuff. You are now more interested in "big people" food and I just chop up whatever I have at hand and place it in front of you. You like grapes, peaches, sweet potato, carrots, and apples. But again, only a few bites of everything, and then you are over it.

You love water. Anytime I am drinking a cup of water, you grab my hand to pull the cup up to your mouth. And then you want more, and more, and more. You still show no interest in a sippy cup though. I guess you will just transition straight to cups.

No teeth. STILL. However, the other day, I finally noticed a row of white tryiing to peak through on your bottom gums, so I imagine we should see teeth any day now. You definitely "teeth" though, which is a whole new territory for us.

Which brings me to the fact that we are back to choppy sleep {sometimes}. There was a week there that you were sleeping through the night 7p-6a. However, the past couple of weeks you have been waking up a couple times every hour after going to bed, crying, just wanting to be held. We would rock you back to sleep and you would then sleep for 4-5 hours, and then wake up to eat. So overall, you are still waking up at least once a night for a feeding. That's okay by me. I never had any intention of dropping that, and want to follow your cues. If you're hungry, then you're hungry. Hopefully after teeth start showing up though you may feel a little better and start sleeping a little better.

Overall though, you nap pretty good. You take a morning nap around 9-10, anywhere from 1-2.5 hours. Another one in the afternoon around 2, for about an hour, and then sometimes a third cat nap before bed for about 30 minutes.

You go everywhere. You see so much more of the world. You learn quickly. And you're growing like a weed. I cannot believe that next month you will be 9 months old, and that in 4 months we will be celerbating 1 year of your beautiful life! So grateful and blessed for every part of you.