8 Months: Woah Baby!

Dear Beckham,

What a
month! A lot happened this month and it
is definitely the first month you changed the most!
This was the first month I was your mommy full-time. I’ve been missin’ out! This is the coolest
job ever…lots of work and hard at times, but I couldn’t ask for more in life
right now! You are making it easy on me
and I’m very thankful for that. You have
changed me in so many ways – I always thought I was a sensitive person to
people’s feelings, but I’m SO sensitive to people’s feelings now, especially
other parents and children. The thought
of someone getting bullied, a baby getting hurt, or moms/dads just not having a
clue absolutely breaks my heart…it literally makes me sick to my stomach. I’ll
love you forever, I’ll like you for always.
As long as you’re living, my baby you’ll be!

You have such a
personality now and it’s a lot of fun to see – happy, intrigued, mad when you
want something or get something taken away, determined, BUSY, and 100%
BOY! Speaking of busy, you started
CRAWLING this month! I was afraid you
were going to skip it and go straight into walking since you prefer to stand
and walk assisted. It started with getting
on all fours and rocking back and forth (did this last month), then army
crawling everywhere (rug burns were a permanent attire), then one day you took
a “step” forward (face planting most the time), and then eventually, you were
off! Woah baby, the chasing begins! Of course, you have tons of toys lying around
you, but you choose to go after every “toy” you’re not supposed to have (plugs,
wires, remotes, phones, computer). Your
first word is bound to be NO. Now that
you have mastered crawling, you are on to pulling yourself up and crawling over
me and daddy. The day you learned to
crawl, you also learned to sit up from your “crawl” position. We’ll walk into your room and see you sitting
straight up waiting for us. It’s really
cute!

In addition to
your mobility, you are doing so many more “adult-like” things. You’re starting to clap your hands (you
already clap your feet). You started
really babbling this month. You still
scream “ahh” all the time, but now you say “ba-ba” and have said “da-da” a few
times. No ma-ma! You manipulate toys
correctly. I see a familiar trait – you are determined to do something, whether
it’s figure out how a toy works or un-do your puzzle play mat. I LOVE watching you learn how to play! You love to pull my hair and drink from a
regular cup. You can feed yourself a few
things if they’re big enough, like your puffs.
I started giving you tiny bits of my food every now and then and you
seem great with them! Still no avocado,
but all other foods are a go!

A few more
things to note this month:

You still have NO hair
You make raspberries with your lips
You like to switch objects from one hand to the other (I don’t understand your
fascination with this, but it keeps you busy)
It’s too hot for walks outside,
so we’re indoors a lot
We pretty much rearranged our HOUSE for you to have a
playroom, but I love it and so do you
You fight naps a bit more (I’m assuming
you want to play)
You have a little stranger anxiety now – you freaked out
when your dad handed you to someone you didn’t know
You do this thing with
your arms and hands when you’re really mad or really excited – you look like a male
fitness model flexing your chest with your fists clenched (it cracks us up)
You
love banging two toys together
Bath time is hard again because you want to
stand up in the bath, which obviously is dangerous and tiring for me (lots of
toys and singing to keep you distracted)
You have thighs like a sumo wrestler
– you are so strong! You are still my
little chunky monkey!
You are VERY fidgety…I so badly want you to cuddle me!
You get scared in public bathrooms when I change you and you used to be scared when I ripped paper (you just stare at me now)
You are starting to pull up on everything

Needless to say, you’re becoming more of a toddler and developing your personality!

Measurements: No doctor’s
appointment this month, but you weigh about 22 pounds according to our scale. You wear anywhere from
6-9 mo to 18 month clothing depending on the brand. But most clothing is 12 months.

My
favorite thing: This is a hard one this month, but it’s probably when you
do that clenched fist muscle pose when you’re happy/mad. Of course, I love seeing you crawl. And I
love watching you study things.

Daily
Activities:
In between naps and feedings, which are a huge part of your daily activities,
you play with toys. It seems like your goal everyday is see how many times you can pull up using my help! Every now and then
we’ll go for a walk (if it’s in the evening).
It’s nice to have the playroom for you to play in since it’s baby proofed and closed in!

Eating: You still eat the same
(4 bottles, 3 solid meals). Your bottles
are about 7 oz. You get so distracted
when you eat if any noise is on or we’re somewhere new. You like to hold your bottle now too. Burping you is a challenge also. You just want to get down and play. New foods you tried this month were
blueberries and squash! You loved them
both. You’ve also eaten little bits of
bread from our meal a few times. You are eating about 3-4 Tbsp of oatmeal (with banana) in the morning and 3 oz of fruits and 3 oz of veggies per day (1 fruit/1 veggie at lunch and dinner). You
LOVE watching us eat and it makes you smile really big. You also love watching us drink in hopes that
we will give you a swig.

Sleeping: You
sleep about 8:00pm-7:30am. You will
patiently wait for us to come get you.
You’ll play with your bunny, kick your sleep sheep, sit up and look
around, and gibber gabber. Such a good
baby! You take two naps that usually
last two hours each. You usually nap
around 9:30 and 2:00pm, depending on when you woke up in the morning. I’m so grateful for you being a good sleeper! We just lowered your bed since you are sitting up and starting to pull up on everything.

Special
Events:

-Started
babbling 6/28 – you said “da-da”

-Started
crawling 7/12

-Sat up from a
laying down position 7/12

-Started to
clap hands together

-Playing with
toys appropriately

-Had your first
sleepover (with me) at Mimo and Poppy’s house

-Had your first
real swim in a big swimming pool – you loved it

Here are lots of pictures from this month!

Here is how the photo shoot started!

iPhone always makes a baby happy!

Love this face!

Ahh…I didn’t do it!

Watermelon in the summer

I call the shots

Bubbles

Why is Harper on my mat?

Blueberries – the infamous fist pump!

Puffs are yummy!

You enjoyed floating on your back

Mimi came in town for a surprise visit

Hanging by the pool

Tearing up the paper at the doctor’s office

I came in to get you from your nap and thought this was so sweet!

There were so many times this month I would take your picture and your eyes would be closed!

Sitting in your Grampa and Daddy’s rocking chair

You definitely look up to your dad!

This is a glimpse of the tight fists when you’re mad or happy – here you’re excited to get some food!

Classic look – bib in mouth all the time

“Driving” after church waiting for the car to cool off…Texas summers are brutal!

Oooh, look at those ladies!

4th of July

This is what you LOVE to do lately

Your first 4th of July

You love this learning soccer ball from Linde

This is your favorite thing to do after you eat!

This face just cracked me up

Knocking things over left and right

I thought this lion hat was so cute on you

Guess you didn’t like it

Goofball

Starting to stand up everywhere and you love the remote

This is how I eat my puffs

Your first boo boo – you hit the table

You have a million toys and you go after the things you can’t play with

My cell phone has got to be one of your favorite toys – here you are passing it from one hand to the other

Wow, this is a cool view

Crawling

Hanging with Harper

One of your favorite things to do now also – stand up between my legs.

Our laundry has doubled since you arrived Mr. It seems as though our washing machine never stops running!

Mommy painting your new playroom

Breaking in your new foam play mat

Checking it out!

And taking it apart

You are a master at this toy. I remember the first time you got this – you looked at it and had no clue what to do. Now you can take off every one of the rings one by one!