8 months!

This post is a little late, it's been crazy around here the last week or so. I do not have enough hands to count the number of "workers" that have been at our house dealing with everything from refrigerator breaking (I think that alone was 8 total visits from the tech and countless bags of ice and spoiled food later to get it working!)  to "critters" in our attic that had chewed through the brick, to a hole in the ceiling from plumbing issues, etc. Anyway, through all this Carter has been a champ and he actually finds it quite entertaining to watch people working on our house.

This post will not be as extensive as previous monthly posts, but here we go...

Stats: 18 lbs, 1 oz as of 8/1, size 3 diapers, 9-12 mos clothes

EAT:
He's dropped a bottle so we're down to 4 bottles/day and 2 meals/day. His distraction has hit a new level with both nursing and bottle feeding so he now pretty much will only nurse in his room, in the glider, holding his blanket--and he will use his little fist to hold his blanket and bang his head. Funny boy. Nobody can be around---or even upstairs for that matter. Bottle is definitely hit or miss. This morning Caleb was giving him the bottle and all he wanted to do was watch me make breakfast in the kitchen, so after 20 mins or so Caleb said he was done and went back to finish the bottle 20 mins later. He's pretty much gone through all the fruits and veggies and last week we started adding chicken with dinner and baby yogurt with breakfast. Typical breakfast is 2 oz fruit + oatmeal and ~3 ounces baby yogurt. Typical dinner is 3 oz chicken + 2 oz veggie + baby rice. The only foods so far he does not like are peas and avocado (the 2 things I've given him that I don't eat :)). He's loving mum mums and gerber puffs--definitely a new distraction and form of entertainment when at the dr office, sitting and waiting for the car, etc.

PLAY:
LOVES to stand up. Will just reach for your hands and pull himself right up. To get to his toys will just roll and roll. We'll put him on all fours and he'll just put his belly down on the ground--not at all interested in crawling and doc said that's just fine. He's reached a stage where his favorite "toys" are non-toys. Yesterday Caleb had the foam roller out and that entertained Carter for 45 minutes. This morning it was the laundry basket. Silly silly boy. He's really started reduplicated babbling with /dadadada/--I tell Caleb it's not his first word, as it has no meaning :). We're working on /mama/. Has his happy scream that's getting louder and louder. Yesterday when I picked him up from the church nursery, the lady said "he has so much personality, he just grunts and squeals". That's my boy. He doesn't like something, gets bored, wants something--grunts and grunts till he gets what he wants. Loves the "tot rider 2" as Caleb calls it, otherwise known as the walker. He will wheel around in that thing in the kitchen and loves his newfound independence of going where he wants (unless he's in the laundry room--always gets stuck in the laundry room). Loves watching people, so one of our new "outings" is to the mall just to people watch--and it's cool which is a must in this 110 degree heat!

SLEEP:
His asthma had some flaring up this month which did affect him a bit, giving him nighttime breathing treatments 2x. Otherwise, he's sleeping 7:30-7 at night and 2 solid naps (morning and afternoon) with sometimes an evening power nap. Still just talks and plays in his crib! He has figured out how to kick his mobile on in the crib, so that will keep him entertained for a while before falling asleep :). Still gives us the biggest grin when we come to get him out of the crib--one of my favorite parts of the day!


HEALTH:
He did get his first 2 teeth this month and thankfully teething has not affected sleep or personality yet! Fingers crossed it stays this way :). We've also been dealing with his asthma flare ups. He got on a 5 day oral steroid on top of 2x/day breathing treatments (pulmicort and albuterol) and it's much more under control. We're going to see a pulmonologist probably this week just to take a look at him.

The many faces of Carter at 8 months...