8 Month Baby Update

Today, my sweet baby turns 8 months old! This past month has been an interesting one in terms of growth, development, and transitions. At one point, I wasn't sure if I'd ever get a full night of sleep ever again, but I have...and life is good! :) Also, he's grown and changed SO much over the past month...I honestly can't believe how much!

This little guy is such a happy little fella! If he's not happy, I can usually figure out what's wrong - it's either time to eat or time for a nap. I LOVE seeing his little personality come through as it's starting to develop. Although I loooved my tiny little baby, this stage is my favorite by far and I can't wait for Christmas at the end of the month!
 

Clothing: 6-9 months and 9 months, although some 6 months still fit him (he's stayed very consistent with clothing so far)
Diapers: Size 3
Nicknames: Squishy, My love, Big boy, Brayden Man, Bray-Bray...and as always, "The Mick"

Weight: 21 lbs (by estimate)
Height: 28 inches

"The wiggles" are my favorite - one day he started nodding his head/shoulders, so I called it
"the wiggles"...and it continued from there. If you stay tuned to tomorrow's vlog, there's a few small clips of him doing "the wiggles" in there! :)

This past month had a few trials in them as we reached a few milestones and a time change ("fall back") all at the same time. For some reason, Brayden decided it would be fun to hit a growth spurt AND cut two teeth at the same time...add that to a "fall back" time change and hello, watch out. Needless to say, my baby who usually slept through the night was now waking up at least once a night for a bottle. Even though he would fall right back asleep, it still interrupted my sleep cycle which always made for an interesting day the following day. I'm hoping we are past that now...seems to be at least!

See his top two teeth? He now has FOUR teeth total!

Likes:

• Attention - he loves it when people smile at him and talk to him
• Opening doors - he gets so excited each time you open a door
• Going outside/being outside
• The jogging stroller/stroller
• Going on walks and runs
• His fur-sisters
• The TV remote 
• Cell phones
• Light up toys and toys that make noise
• Music music music
• Food - he will eat just about anything! 
• Puffs!!!!
• Smiling - this kid just loves to smile and laugh
• Familiar faces - he gets so excited every time he sees a familiar face 
• Toddlers! Brayden LOVES watching his little cousin Leigha as well as other toddlers who are able to run around and play - they seem to fascinate him.

As far as the dogs are concerned, Brayden LOVES his sisters but they try to stay at arm's length. We are still working on the "pet pet/soft soft" strategy...oy.

Dislikes:

• Being hungry
• Having a dirty diaper
• The camera flash
• Waking him up from a nap/interrupting his sleep
• Too many people coming at him at once - it all seems to overwhelm him and he just can't deal
• Noisy rooms

A few firsts for the month included:  

Traveling out of town for a race with his momma....

Attending a local University football game with his momma and daddy....

His first Thanksgiving....

....and his first photo with Santa which he rocked like a champ!

We are still big Mickey Mouse fans over here and I'm officially starting to plan his first birthday party! (I'm still in denial over that one...)

Remember how I mentioned food? Well, this kid LOVES puffs!! He gets so excited every time he sees the container.  He's also a champ at grabbing the puff out of my hand and putting it in his own mouth...well, most of the time! :)

We've also introduced stage 2 foods and other various finger foods. His world of food opportunity is growing day by day! We went out to eat last week for his daddy's birthday and were told that kids eat free. They let me order off the kids menu for Brayden, so he had Mac & Cheese with a side of applesauce. It was really cute!

Brayden has become more and more stable with sitting up on his own and no longer wobbles (for the most part). 

 

Although he hasn't crawled yet, he's super close - it'll be any day now, I think! He loves to "stand" (assisted, of course) and can pretty much roll or scoot anywhere he wants to go. He also loves to talk his own little baby language.  Here lately, it seems as if he's doing something new every day! 

Out of all the updates, I feel as if this past month had the most as far as growth and development was concerned. It's funny how much can change in just a month's time. 

We absolutely LOVE our little guy and really enjoy watching him as he is becoming his own little person. Although I do wish I could slow time down, I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world! 

Have a great day! Thanks again for following along in our little family adventures! :)