8 Months

You can kind of see his blue/green eyes in this one

Not feeling the greatest, but snuggles makes everything better!

Wow! Eight months! I can't believe how time is flying by with this sweet guy! The night that he turned 8 months I was reminded of how far we've come. He woke up around 11:00 really unhappy, and it took me a while to get him back to sleep. I'm so thankful that we've had consistent naps during the day and 12 hours of sleep at night since he was four months old. At first I was thinking "Man, why are you up at this time?", and then it turned into "I've tried everything, but it's not working...". He'd just gotten some pretty bad congestion that day and couldn't manage sucking his thumb and breathing at the same time, which is super frustrating for a little guy. I realized it was going to take some extra snuggling (in an upright position to help the drainage) that night, and I enjoyed every moment of it since it won't be long before these little baby moments are gone. :)

Last week I had started to get the feeling that we should lower his crib because he's mastered pulling up on pretty much anything in record time. Well, that day I walked in to get him from his nap and found him proudly standing up, facing the door, and bouncing in excitement. He started squealing right when the door opened! As we got out the tools to lower the crib, Tytus got to "help" make repairs as my side-kick handyman. They both got to crawl on the mattress while it was waiting on the floor. They are so much fun!

His brother is teaching him many things that will be repeated soon, I'm sure. Tytus loves pretending he's any kind of car/truck and racing around the house to help others in need. We are borrowing a friends' little red scooter aka the Fire Truck and both boys have taken turns riding it around the house. Tytus goes a little faster on it and has even been known to race down our hallway and turn it quickly to fling himself off of it and go sliding on the floor. Witten thought it was great to sit on it and could even touch his toes to push himself along.

*yawn* "Oh, come on, this is no big deal."

Here are some other fun things we enjoyed doing over the past month:

Watching it rain in our rocking chairs

Playing with high school friends and their babies.....my how things have changed!

Eating dinner and playing while daddy practice with his work softball team

Shopping with mommy at Target

Being a monkey at the playground

Watching his brother play and crawling around

7 Months: Crawling, Teething, and Babbling

Such a jolly little guy

Looks you right in the eye when he's "talking" to you

Sooner or later we'll have some teeth coming through

Witten has been scooting some (mainly practicing in his crib) and sitting himself up from a laying position every now and then, but I would say he mainly just wants to stand ALL the time. He will use anything to help him stand up, even if it's just the floor. And he will cruise around an object or reach to a new object in his reach. It reminds me so much of Tytus. He's not been a fan of tummy time from the start, so I wasn't too sure about this whole crawling thing happening any time soon. Well, within the last week he's started to realize that it might be worth the effort. He bounces on his bottom while he's sitting, which is hilarious, but then he'll reach forward and stand up on his feet. He also loves rocking back and forth on all four. Up until yesterday, that was pretty much the extent of his mobility. Yesterday we were playing in Tytus' room and Witten was rocking on all four until he reached out with one hand and fell flat on his tummy. That's usually when he gets frustrated and starts crying, but yesterday he just got back up on all four again and kept reaching....a little at a time. I'd have to say it surprised me, but it was definitely a crawl. Way to go Witten! I was just saying that I'd give him 2 weeks until he's mobile. Little did I know that it would come a little sooner.

Other than his mobility increasing, I'd have to say that babbling is the other biggest change this month. He's been pretty understated and quiet from the beginning so I didn't expect him to be SO talkative so soon.  He's said "dada" several times (but I don't think it's associated with daddy yet) and he'll also say "yea" and "hey". I love it when he talks! He looks you right in the eye and says either one syllable or he'll go on and on. Usually if you respond he'll smile, look away, and then look back at you to continue the conversation. I think his favorite talking buddy is Tytus, hands down. :)

Anything that he can do to be big like his brother gives him such satisfaction. And at this point Tytus thinks it's pretty fun to be like Witten as well. They're so great together! It's fun to catch them in moments when they're both enjoying each other. They'll have conversations at the table while we're eating, giggle at each other, trade toys, "wrestle" together, and on and on. It's fun having a brother.

We're visiting the trucks in our neighborhood. Witten mainly just watched, but he also had his favorite toy along for the ride. I guess a little truck is good enough if you can't get in the big ones like your brother. They both had a lot of fun!