Dayton ~ 8 Months

Dayton Thomas,

  I love you. Kid, I am tellin' you, every single day I love you more and more. Every single day you make me smile, warm my heart, and make me laugh. You are such a funny little guy! Now that you are everywhere, we have to watch you very closely. But I would be lying if I said I didn't love it. Even though you are a very busy boy, I crack up at all the things you do, get in to, and go after. Your personality is just fun.

  What I love most about this stage is that you are showing your love for me. You like to follow me around the house, you have to be near me in the room, you look at me nervously when someone else holds you, you love to crawl all over me when we play on the floor, and you give me lots of squeezes and wet kisses. I. Love. It. There is nothing better in the world then to feel needed by you. I love being a mama. I finally feel like I have everything I need.

  It's also pretty funny to watch you be so interested in the pups. Belle is used to you and doesn't mind when you reach out to her, try to pet her, whack her when your arms are flailing, or grab her feet while you try to chase her. Abe, however, doesn't love you...yet. He's starting to though! (See picture below.) At first, as soon as you came near him or reached out for him he would run away. Now he at least lets you get close, pet him, and crawl on him. Our scared, gentle giant. He's finally warming up to you. I can only imagine what it will be like as you get older. Poor pups. We love you baby boy, to the moon and back!

Love,
Mama

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Size: 22 lb 5 oz.   

Hair: Dark brown. You finally have a thin head of hair. It looked kind of patchy there for a bit, but it has filled in some more.

Eyes: Dark brown.

Teeth: 4 - two on the bottom, two on the top. Your top teeth are huge!

Food: Nothing has really changed with your food. We will be starting to add eggs and yogurt to your diet soon though! More on that next month.

You still like to eat kiddo. Nursing is still going great! You nurse during the week at 6 am, 5:30 pm, and 7:30 pm. You get a bottle (or sippy cup) at daycare 3 times a day. You usually drink about 15-20 oz. of breast milk at daycare. On the weekends, I nurse you at all of the feedings.

You're schedule is the same:
6 am - nurse, 2 tbsp. whole grain rice cereal/oatmeal (organic), 2 oz. fruit (sometimes)
9 am - 5 oz breast milk, baby puffs
12 pm - 5 oz breast milk, 2 oz. veggies, 2 oz. fruit, 2 tbsp. oatmeal cereal
3 pm - 9 am - 5 oz breast milk, baby puffs or biscuit
5:30 pm -  nurse, 2 oz. veggies, 2 oz. fruit, 2 tbsp. oatmeal cereal
7:30 pm - nurse

Sleep: Still sleeping great! You sleep about 1-1.5 hours in the morning after your 9 am bottle and 2-3 hours in the afternoon after your lunch. At night, you start to get cranky around 7:15 pm and are ready to go to bed at about 7:30 pm. You sleep all night and lately you have been waking up at 7 am. I just let you sleep until you wake up now instead of waking you up at 6 am.

Clothes: You are wearing 9 month and 9-12 month clothes. 

Words: About the same. You aren't saying any words, although you are starting to put 2 and 3 syllable sounds together. Your talking and chattering cracks us up! Sometimes you yell at us as you talk and other times you do this whispering thing. It's so sweet. You are saying "ta", "da", "na", "do", "eh", and "ma." You are babbling a ton now!

Development/Activity:  You are crawling all over the place and you are fast now! Oh my stars. I put you down and your new favorite thing is to go straight for the dog bowls. I have had to start telling you "No" and I have popped your hand a few times. We're trying to teach you not to get into the water, but you sure are determined! You also like following me around the house, trying to crawl into the cubbies on the entertainment center, and crawling to the baby gate to "shake" it.

Temperament: You're happy. Easy peasy baby.

Likes: You like laughing, bouncing, playing with your toys, crawling under the coffee table, trying to pet the dogs, crawling on mama and daddy, eating, sleeping, bath time, playing in the dig bowls, and cuddling.

Dislikes: You don't love getting your diaper changed or changing your clothes. 

Small Moments: Just my time with you. Being a full time working mom has been much, much harder on me than I thought it would be. In fact, I really don't like it at all. I cherish the moments I spend with you when I am home and I pray for snow days more than ever now. I hate leaving you in the mornings and I hate that I only get two and a half hours with you at night during the week. I live for the weekends so that I get to hang out with my lil' bit. Love you DayDay.