happy eight months!

Happy 8 months, our sweet boy!

You are still just as smiley and sweet as ever. Oh the joy you bring to our lives. We are the luckiest to have you!

Weight: over 16 pounds according to the home scale
Diaper Size: three
Clothes Size: 3-6 month, 6 month, 6-9 month

Nicknames: handsome, monkey (because he grabs EVERYTHING with his feet!)

Health: We are blessed to have a happy, healthy boy :)

Sleep: He sleeps like a dream. I can put him in bed for any nap or bedtime while he is wide awake and he will put himself to sleep. He still goes to bed and wakes up around the same time as last month and his naps are about the same as well. Occasionally he will wake up once a night but even that is rare these days. He still loves to start out swaddled. And he still sleeps on his belly. My favorite is when his little bum is straight up in the air!

Diet: He is officially eating baby food and liking it! He eats baby food 2-3 times a day. Breastfeeds/bottles 4-6 times a day. And loves to snack on food he can pick up (apple slices, graham crackers, peas, etc...) at least once a day. He eats pretty much any kind of baby food and still isn't a fan of eating what mom and dad are eating. I'm not sure what his favorite baby foods are but if I had to guess I'd say sweet potatoes, peas, squash, bananas, berries, and apples. He usually likes any baby food after a few tries. His gag reflex has calmed down significantly this month!

Likes:

• mom's hospital badge (I swear he doesn't even care that I get home from work, he just goes straight for my badge!)
• moving everywhere!
• playing with things he shouldn't like the wii remotes and phones
• his elephant security blanket, or "woobie" as nana calls it :)
• blowing bubbles and spitting

Dislikes: You can always tell if he is tired or hungry because that's the only time he fusses.

Milestones: He still army crawls and rolls to get around, he can get on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth but launches himself forward rather than actually crawling. He can stand up against things for a couple minutes if Tristan and I place him there but he doesn't seem to have much interest in standing or walking. I try to hold his hands and walk with him and he doesn't care. He was working on his two front teeth all month (I first noticed them on March 4th but they didn't break through the gums until March 22nd). His favorite word is "babababa", I've been told he said "papa" but I've yet to hear it :) He also loves to say "hi".

Things I don't want to forget:

• This month was the first time we left him for longer than a few hours. Tristan and I took a trip to Cancun and he stayed with Nana and Papa. I missed him like crazy but it was so worth it. We got to have some alone time and he got to bond with his family. We were told he did pretty well though he didn't sleep as well for them as he does for us.
• I've started to see small glimpses into stranger danger. He is still social as can be but every here and then if someone tries to just take him from me, he turns and shies into my shoulder. It melts my heart.
• He grabs everything with both his hands and his feet.
• One date night at Costa Vida, the guy taking our order said, "did you two make that?" pointing to McKai. When we said yes he replied, "well you should make at least 3 more!"
• When he is done breastfeeding he throws his head back to rest on my arm while giving me the sweetest grin. It's not his big smile, just a little 'if he had teeth they wouldn't show' smile.
• We got McKai's 7 month pictures taken and while we were in California, his Uncle Seany showed me that he had one of those pictures as his phone's background. I've said this before but I love watching others love my baby. It is one thing I did not expect about becoming a mom.
• He is the biggest flirt. One day we were at the mall when we ran into a girl we know. Tristan and I were talking to her and he kept squawking to get her attention. Later that same day, I went to work and Tristan went to the mall with one of his friends to get stuff for our vacation and as they were walking around any time they would pass a pretty girl he's say, "hi!" with the biggest smile. We are going to have our hands full with this charming blue-eyed boy of ours!