8 months

As of Sunday, February 10th, Gray Christopher is 8 months old. It's been another really fast but great month. I've had this post in draft mode for almost a week and it's crazy how much I have to change each day to keep up with our little guy. Getting this month's pictures were almost impossible with our very busy little boy.

Milestones-Crawling! Gray started taking a few crawl "steps" here and there last week but until yesterday I didn't really consider him a crawler. He still prefers to roll to what he wants a lot of the time but he is crawling around pretty good too. He is wanting to pull up on everything and I really think that is his only motivation for crawling. He hasn't quite pulled all the way up on his feet but he gets on his knees and for the most part, that's satisfying enough for him right now.

I get to see a lot of this cute view these days

Another milestone this month is waving bye-bye! This is so stinkin cute!! Just like with the clapping, I've been showing Gray how to wave bye-bye for a little while now, not ever knowing if he was paying any attention or expecting him to pick up on it. But one day a couple of weeks ago when he was in his high chair eating lunch, he looked down at his little hand all serious-like and started opening and closing it. He did that a couple of times and then started saying "bye-bye" at the same time! This was the first time it seemed like he made an association with a word. Now I know every parent thinks their child is a genius, but I think that is a pretty smart accomplishment for a seven and a half month old! Paul ran to get the video camera on the chance that he would do it again and sure enough, he did! I wish I had taken video on my phone so I could post it here. Now since that day Gray has waved bye-bye lots of times but doesn't always say "bye-bye" while he waves and definitely doesn't associate it with someone leaving yet. He still stares at his little hand every time he does it like he's so proud of himself or either he is wondering how in the world he is making it happen. A lot of times he starts waving as soon as he wakes up and it's the cutest thing to watch on the monitor!

Though we can get a wet slobbery kiss anytime we want, Gray has recently learned to pucker up those sweet little lips of his and make a kissy face. My mom gets the credit for teaching him this trick. Enjoy the cuteness of that:

His third tooth just broke through the skin over the weekend. It's a top one but it's not right in the middle so it's either a side tooth or his top one isn't in the right spot yet. It's going to look pretty funny when it's all the way in.

Language development-Gray knows three words-daddy (most often), mama and bye-bye. Though as I said before, the only association he seems to have is waving while saying "bye-bye" and that isn't consistent yet and he definitely doesn't associate saying and waving bye-bye with someone leaving.

Eating habits-Gray was sick last week and for the first time in his whole almost 8 months of life, he was not a good eater. He didn't nurse or eat baby food half as good as he normally does. I took him to the doctor last Monday and he only weighed 17.9, when he was right at 18 pounds a month ago. So it's hard to say how much he lost because he probably hadn't gained a lot in the last month, but the doctor said he most likely lost those several ounces just in the few days he'd been sick. I took him back Monday for a weight check and he was back up a few ounces, to 17 pounds, 14.5 ounces. On a normal day, Gray nurses about 4-5 times and takes 8-8 and 1/2 ounces in a pumped bottle before bed. He eats oatmeal and fruit in the morning and a fruit and veggie for lunch and dinner. We've recently added baby yogurt into the mix and he loves it. He also loves to drink water from his sippy cup now. He loves Puffs and can feed them to himself now, which is both cute and convenient. Occasionally though, the sweet slobber from his hands makes them harder to get in on the first try.

Sleeping habits-We are so thankful for how great Gray has slept the last two months. He almost always sleeps straight through the night between 11 and 13 hours. He's so tired from being busy all day that he can't hang much past 7:00 these days. He went through a short phase of waking up around 6:00/6:30 but thankfully that's back to 7:00/7:30. His top tooth has been giving him some pain and he was up last night and the night before but after another round of Ibuprofen kicks in, he goes back to sleep easily. He is still taking two naps a day, ranging anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. He surprised me Monday with a 2 and 1/2 hour nap which never happens anymore. I think he was just worn out from learning how to crawl! Gray rarely puts up a fight to go to bed and I am so glad about that. He either just falls right asleep or plays for a while but either way, he is very happy to be in his crib. Last week though, he decided to start pulling up in his crib and this is what he'd do for a good half hour before falling asleep...

I can never seem to get anything done until he falls asleep because I have so much fun watching him on the monitor. Yesterday for his nap he fell asleep like this...

Temperament-Gray has been very happy and content for the most part lately. He is pretty easy to have out and about and has gotten more flexible if we aren't home right at his nap time. He loves people and loves being out. One of the ladies who works the nursery on Wednesday mornings said he was "just loving life" when I picked him up last week. In fact, he is less likely to be fussy if he is out or around people lately. One of my most favorite things about him is how happy he wakes up. It's another time that I can't help but be glued to the monitor. Literally the second he wakes up he starts playing and talking so sweet to himself. He claps and waves and practices all of his new words and it's just the sweetest thing. I usually leave him in his crib for a good 15-20 minutes after he wakes up because he's so happy and I am either staring at the monitor or scrambling to get the rest of the laundry folded, dishes put away or finish my lunch before it's cold.

Favorite toys-Sophie is still a big hit. His favorite thing to do now is take her ball and tease her with it. He just cracks his little self right up and Sophie doesn't find it one bit funny.

Other favorite toys include anything and everything that is not his or not a store bought toy. In other words, any kind of paper, cup, jewelry, phone, kitchen gadget, remote, pen, and I could go on and on. This does make life easy when I've got to do something and am in desperate need for a distraction. One day I threw one of my nursing pads to him and he played with it for over 20 minutes. I'm sure he'll love this picture when he's older...

He is getting so good at picking up objects of all shapes and sizes and loves to hold something in each hand and bang them together.

Gray finally moved up to size 3 diapers. He is still wearing mostly 9 month clothes. A lot of his pants are too short and my poor boy looks like he's rocking some capri pants. I can't wait to see what his length is at his 9 month appointment next month.

I really don't know how my baby boy is two-thirds of a year old, how in less than four months now we will be having his first birthday party. But as I've said before, I don't wish the time away but each stage just keeps getting better and better. Mama and Daddy are so blessed to be this sweet little boy's parents!