8 months

My sweet boy is 8 months today! My prayer today is that God would slow down my life!!! I remember last Christmas (when I was pregnant) thinking that next Christmas I would have a 10 month old. The thought of that seemed crazy to me and that it would feel like forever to get to that point. I am now only two months away from what seemed like forever! I love this stage of Carter's life so much but I also feel sad that he is growing so fast. Every moment that goes by and every new thing that Carter does, I will never get back. I need to treasure and cherish every moment right now! I am so thankful for who Carter is and what he is bringing to this world!

Carter at 8 months old...

-He decided that today, on his 8 month birthday, to do a real hands and knees crawl. He has been army crawling for over a month but today he crawled across our bedroom floor on his hands and knees. I was a very proud momma!!
-He is a mover and a shaker! He gets all over our house, under things, and even in some very strange positions. I will put him in the living room and within a minute, he is in the kitchen, or the bathroom, or under the dining room table. I am so thankful we don't have stairs!
-He loves doors! He loves to swing them back and fourth and close them. He is keeping me on my toes and helping me be creative in finding ways to block the door from actually latching and hurting him.
-He has knocked his highchair over on top of him twice now. I always fold it and put it against the wall in the kitchen and he likes to crawl over to it and rock it till it falls. I guess I need to just leave it unfolded so that he can roll it around but it can't fall!
-He still is not sleeping through the night! It is getting so frustrating. He goes down around 8 or 8:30 and then wakes up one time anywhere between 2am and 6am. Then he eats and sleeps till between 8 and 8:30, which is nice. His doctor would tell me not to feed him and that eventually he will get used to not eating in the night but Carter won't go back to sleep! He just cries and cries and eventually I can't handle it anymore so I go feed him, and 15 minutes later I am back in my warm, cozy bed, and Carter is asleep again. Feeding him is so quick and easy and he always falls right back to sleep so I keep doing it but I really want him to sleep all night! I am just praying he will get through this phase soon!
-He is in size 3 diapers still and in 6-12 month clothes. Some of his 9 month stuff is starting to feel a little snug but than other things still work great. It all depends on the brand.
-He is a great napper!! He takes a morning nap, an hour to two hours, an early afternoon nap, an hour to two hours, and sometimes an evening nap for about 30 minutes. I am working on cutting out the early evening nap to see if that helps him sleep through the night but even on the nights he doesn't nap, he is still getting up once in the night. And it makes for a rough evening because he is so tired.
-He is laughing so much more now! We love finding new things that will make him laugh. Sometimes just us laughing, causes him to laugh. So cute!
-He pulled himself to his knees on the fireplace this week but isn't pulling up on his feet yet.
-He is obsessed with the cats and chases them around. The other night, I heard him laughing and ran over to see what he was laughing at, and Max was sitting in front of him a couple feet and apparently that is funny to an 8 month old!
-He really discovered his tongue this month! He sticks it out all the time. He likes to stick it out to one side and then bites down on it. It isn't my favorite new trick but it is still cute.
-He is getting more and more snugly. Every time I get him out of his crib he just lays on my shoulder with his arms around me. It is the sweetest thing ever!!!
-He is still nursing but also eating two meals a day of solids. He eats cereal, oatmeal, butternut squash, green beans, peas, carrots, sweet potato, zucchini, avocado, bananas, apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries and peaches. He will eat any of it but if he doesn't like it he gags a lot. It's pretty funny! His favorites are butternut squash, sweet potato, and anything with apples. He also loves applesauce! I am trying to get him to eat real food, like cheese, cheerios, etc. He hates it all!!! Anything that isn't mushed up into baby food, he won't eat. I am trying so hard to get him used to solid food but he just isn't having any of it right now.
-Nursing is getting a little more frustrating because he is distracted by everything!!! He also pulls on my hair and pinches my arm. He is a determined little guy and gets so mad at me if I hold his hands. A couple of times I have said "no" to him and he has laughed. I don't know what this means for me as he gets older. I am scared. :) I am going to keep at it though! I have loved it up until the last week or so when he has been a little more distracted.
-He has been a little more shy around new people but warms up pretty quickly! We just went to our family reunion and he spent the weekend being passed around by everyone. He was a trooper! He handles it so well.
-Changing his diaper and getting him dressed is somewhat like a wrestling match right now. He does not want anything to do with it and wants to get away as quickly as possible. As frustrating as it can be it is also really funny!
-I feel like I could go on forever! This last month he has really grown and changed so much but I should probably stop here! He is so fun and personable! And this age is so much fun to watch and be a part of.

We love you Carter!