Baby AJ: 8 Month Update

Ok, so I really suck at writing these on time. I'm only including everything up until he turned 8 months even though he's almost 9 months already! I want to be able to look back on the monthly posts and remember what happened each month of his life.

So many changes for this little guy this past month! We now have a mobile baby! He seems soooo much more content after he figured out how to crawl. Besides his crappy sleep at night, he really is a good baby. He is so happy all the time. Smiles for everyone! Loves when people talk to him and give him attention. He usually gives them a shy smile and burrows his head in my shoulder. Jack and I love to take him on errands and he loves to go! He's usually pretty content in the shopping cart or restaurant highchair. This is such an awesome stage!

Weight: Not sure maybe 19 lbs He gets his next weigh in at 9 months
Length: ???
Diaper size: Size 3
Clothing size: 9 month & some 12 month

Nicknames: Boo Boo Bear, Boo Boo, bub, baby boy, sweetie, lil' man, little guy

 Health: He's really healthy. Only one cold so far which was not fun. He had a super runny nose and just seemed like he wasn't feeling well. I had a nose frida over nighted because a bulb syringe just would not cut it. And we went through a million boogie wipes. Definitely recommend those two products for a sick little one.

Sleep: Still isn't great, but we're not willing to do any sort of cry-it-out sleep training. We have good nights and bad. We enforced a stricter bed time routine and no longer give in to him when he wants to play after his bath. Now we can get him down for the night between 7-8 pm which is such an improvement from when we were spending 2-2.5 hours getting him down for the night. He sleeps most of the night in our bed and wakes up periodically to nurse. Usually I just whip out the boob and we're both back to sleep fairly quickly. A successful night is one where he wakes less than 4 times. Yikes. I guess I'll just have to deal for now because I'm not willing to wean him from night nursing until after he's one.

Diet: Mostly breast milk with some solids. We have no routine when it comes to solids. Maybe I should get on that. We have discovered he loves apples! His two bottom teeth are perfect for scraping off little bits of apple. He goes crazy whenever he sees an apple now and MUST have it. Nursing is still going well. He usually only nurses one side for 3-4 minutes about every 3 hours when I'm home with him. While I'm at work, he drinks very little milk which is why I think he wakes so much during the night to nurse.

Baby Gear Love:

• Mamas & Papas Pixi Highchair: Still loving this highchair
• Things around the house for him to play with like wooden spoon, whisk (he loved the whisk!), box with something inside to make it rattle, container. He has fun playing with this kind of stuff.

Loves: his bath every night, sitting up, crawling, pulling up to stand, cruising (really he just loves that he can get around now!), being tossed in the air & rough housed, when we sing and talk to him, our dog Sadie, when we make funny sounds at him, putting EVERYTHING in his mouth, going on errands/ getting out of the house, being outside and exploring new sights and sounds, when people give him attention (he's a little ham!), apples

Dislikes: getting out of the bath and getting dressed, when I pull shirts over his head, being over tired, nose frida

Milestones: sitting up, crawling, pulling up & cruising, babbling, starting to develop a good pincer grasp

Speech: He is now saying dadadadada, says it over and over. I don't think he knows what it means. I'm not calling it his first word. Just want to start tracking the sounds he is starting to make.

Typical Schedule:
Here's a loose schedule of what a typical day is like whether it's a weekend or Jack home with him.
6am-7am: Wake up for the day, sometimes even earlier!
play, play, play & crawl around
~9am: first nap 2 hours after waking
10:30am: more playing and crawling and cruising. If we're going to leave the house, we'll usually leave after his first nap.
~1:30pm: 2nd nap approximately 3 hours after he woke from his first.
~3pm: wake up from nap, more playing and crawling. We'll go out of the house again if needed.
5pm: Dinner
6:30pm-7pm: Bath time!
7pm-8pm: Down for the night! Mom and Dad time.
8pm-Morning: About who knows how many wakeups in between.

Other things of note about month 8: 

-Mastered sitting himself up from lying on the ground.

-Mar 21, 2013: Caught his first cold. It lasted a little over a week. He had a really bad runny nose and was more tired.

-We had to lower his crib since he figured out how to sit up and pull himself up.

-We now just change his diaper on the floor since he so wiggly and can roll onto his tummy so fast now.

-May 28, 2013, crawled for the first time. He learned quick too! Just a day or two before he started crawling, he was just kind of scooting around. I came home from work on this day. I set a toy out of his reach and he crawled to it! Within a day, he was a pro! He does have a funny crawl as you can see in the photo below. He pushes with his left leg and then drags his right leg.

-May 31, 2013: Sat on a horse for the first time.

-All he wants to do now is crawl and pull himself up and cruise.

-June 4, 2013: Jack brought AJ to visit me at work for the first time.

-He now likes to feed himself a bottle.

Seriously, can I just pause time! He's growing too fast! Jack and I are so obsessed with him it's ridiculous. We are always talking about him. And my cheap husband has no problems spending money on something for the baby. We just love him so much! Stay tuned for a 9 month update in a couple of weeks! I hope to actually write it on time.