8 months old!

This little munchkin is 8 months old! Time goes by so fast but it has been so much fun! He is at the age now where he has a great little (big!) personality and is so much fun to play with. He is starting to crawl on all fours (see previous post) and continues to scoot everywhere. He is also pulling up on things and people. He loves to play on the floor with Brian - he just crawls all over Brian :) 

 He loves going to daycare and plays so well with the other kids. Some mornings I stay for a few minutes and watch him interact with the others. It is so neat for me to see him in that environment. He is practically climbing out of my arms to go play and so he doesn't even realize I'm there once he starts playing. My favorite part of the day is when I get to pick him up. He recognizes me immediately and usually scoots right on over to the gate so I can pick him up. When he get home, he gets to playing again until bath/bedtime. 

 He is eating lots of yummy food now. He usually eats rice cereal at daycare for breakfast. He won't eat it at home. Then for lunch I send something that I've made. Lately, it has been butternut squash, green beans, peas and carrots, banana and avocado. I also send yogurt and applesauce mixed for snack. He loves puffs for his snack too. He has really done so great with eating foods considering that he started out kind of slow. His teachers say he loves eatin' time. He knows when he gets in the highchair that it's time for food! :)

 We have been swimming several times this summer and he will get his first beach trip next week! I can't wait to see his reaction.

 He is just so much fun to be around and is generally happy. Really the only time he cries is if he is hungry (he really lets you know it's time to eat. Definitely my child!) or if he is tired. 

He hasn't been to the doctor (thank goodness) since his ear infection but I am thinking he is around 17-18 lbs. He has definitely grow longer. I told Brian the other day that I could really tell that he has grown length-wise. We'll see what his actual growth is next month. 

He still only has two teeth and is in size two diapers. He is wearing 6 month clothing. I have moved the 6-9 month clothes over to the "wear" section but most of them are just too long on him. He should be able to fit into them soon though. 

He is so interested in the dogs right now but they don't want him anywhere near them. It is humorous to watch him chase them around (all while scooting) and the dogs just don't want him to touch them. He has also figured out how to pull up on the stairs. Looks like we will be buying gates very soon. We've already put the plug protectors in. 

He is so curious and I love watching him figure things out. We are so lucky to have such a happy baby and we truly enjoy spending every minute with him!

All Fours

Andrew has figured out how to get on his all fours. He only moves a couple of "steps" but he is getting there. Once he figures out that it's faster, I'm sure he'll really be going. For now, he just flops back on his belly and gets back to his army crawl. 

 I caught these the other day in the kitchen. We were playing while daddy worked outside. 

 His shirt was a mess so it came off. He is usually in clothes. :)

Love that cute face!

The Awesome, Fascinating Stairs

For a couple of weeks, Brian has been saying "Let's teach Andrew how to climb up the stairs". I keep telling him no. That is cute right now but soon enough, we are going to be fighting to keep that rascal away from the stairs. Last week, Brian called me over to the stairs and this is what I found...

 He loves to pull up on pretty much everything right now and of course, has found the stairs.

 And of course, I pulled out the camera because, yes, right now it is cute. I had to get some pictures of his discovery of the stairs. 

 I got some fun pictures of him hamming it up. He loved just standing there giving us a little show. :)

 Love this new little face he gives us. And Simba was giving a face too!

Luckily he got bored with the stairs within a couple of minutes and actually hasn't had any other interest in them. We will be getting some gates in the next couple of weeks!

Powder Bath Painting

Brian and I got brave over the Fourth of July weekend and decided to paint the powder bath that is downstairs by the entryway. 

 We picked out a great blue color and went at it. Of course, that was the day that Andrew decided to boycott naps :) We didn't get started until that evening but we got most of it knocked out and then finished the next night. It was our first paint job so I think it turned out great considering that much. There are some places that need to be retouched but I think it looks really great!

 Now I need to find some stuff for the walls and I would love to find an antique-ish cabinet thing to put in there. It is such a large space and I need something to fill it. This also gave me some motivation to pick out colors for other rooms throughout the house. We will have to hire someone to do the living room/kitchen/entry. It is just too much for just us. 

A Special Chair

My Uncle David surprised us with a special chair for Andrew. He made it himself out of oak and underneath has "Made by Diddy, 3/2012" inscribed on the bottom. 

 As you can see, Andrew loved it. I know as he gets older, he will love it even more. 

 It is so special and thoughtful! It will be something we keep in our house forever and I know I will look at that thing and think it's so small when Andrew is all grown :)

 We brought it home and put it in his bedroom, right next to the rocking chair from grandma's house :)

 We also went swimming. Twiggs bought him this ridiculous looking swim outfit but it actually worked out perfect. It fits into a bigger float and he loved it. 

Andrew and Diddy :)