Our Journey, His Work: *8 months old*

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The change continues at a rapid pace and we are lovin' every minute of this crazy life with a busy, active, crazy BOY!

What's going on this past month?!?!

Jayden loves everything BUT his actual toys! He is all about a bowl and a spatula. In fact, I've got quite a few laughs when Jayden is swinging his spatula around in church. You gotta do what you gotta do people!

Jayden continues to LOVE to ride in his radio flyer wagon he got for Christmas. We try to make it a priority to go for a short ride in the afternoons after work IF it's not too terribly cold. HE LOVES IT.

He is SO curious. I was calling him nosey when Rance corrected me telling me he is not nosy, he is curious - and BOY IS HE! He observes everything. If he hears a noise or anything that head will turn so quick to see what is going on. He is always taking in what is going on around him.
He LOVES a fire - whether it be gas logs, the wood stove in the basement OR a fire outside. He is mezmorized!

Since he's never been BIG on tummy time - Rance increased his LOVE for it by pulling him around the house on a blanket laying on his tummy. OH MY WORD, they go all through the house and Jayden just squeals with excitement.
He continues to say DA DA DA and MA MA MA and a bunch of other jibberish.
He continues to nap in the mornings about an hour and a half or 2 hours after he wakes up. This nap continues to be around an hour to an hour and a half and then he goes back to sleep for an afternoon nap generally for a couple of hours between 11:30 and 2:30. He has dropped his power nap in the evenings and no longer goes back to sleep until bed time. He has started going to bed earlier (around 8ish instead of 8:30).
Oh my, he loves to use that pointer finger and poke at everything. He LOVES eating his puffs and thinks he's big stuff doing so. We actually break them up because he definitely choked on one the first time we gave it to him!

Boy LOVES a cabinet. He will scoot all around and open cabinets and pull everything out.

He wants everything we are holding or have in our hand. One thing he LOVES is my chapstick. Once he saw how I put it on, he started to put it on me as soon as I handed it to him. It amazes me how he copies us now!

He is wearing 12 month clothes although some of his pants don't work because of those thick thighs and big ole tummy!
Jayden prefers to stand ANY DAY over being on his stomach. He would stand all day long if you would let him. He can stand alone holding on to something and will sling that arm out and turn all around. He LOVES walking with this silly bar that Rance deemed a toy and wants to use that bar for everything.

He is NOT a fan of shoes! He tries to kick them off as soon as they are put on. Basically, he likes to be barefooted.
He will sit, go on all fours in crawling position and rock back and forth but generally, he just could care less about being on his tummy. I think if we left him alone more then he'd be crawling by now but I AM TOTALLY GREAT with him not doing this quite yet! I already feel like he's into everything :) He can go from crawling position to sitting easily too and before you know it he will be from one end of the kitchen to the other scooting on his butt!

He LOVES to nap and sleep in the DARK! VERY DARK
Generally he wakes up between 6 and 6:30 am still; however, we have had some spurts of 4:50 and 5 wake up times! I'm not sure what this is all about but thankfully I get up at 4:30 each morning anyways and I just tell myself he must want extra time with his mama (even when she is needing her time with the Lord).
He can be SO hard to hold. He's like a monkey trying to swing all around as you are trying to hold him. My arms get a workout.
One of my FAVORITE things now is the minute we walk in the bathroom and flip on the light and head towards the bath tub, HE GOES NUTS. He knows it's bath time and he starts giggling and kicking and squealing in excitement. As I've said earlier, he no longer sits still but tries to reach and stand and grab everything in sight no matter what it takes to get there.

Jayden went from a CHILLED OUT BOY who has always loved and smiled during DIAPER change to a big ole MESS while doing so. He knows what he is doing though - the manipulation has begun!

Little man loves to snuggle with his mama at night. We pretty much have a night routine that consists of winding down by putting on his pajamas and changing his diaper (some nights this includes a bath), then turning on his praise baby collection DVD (which is AMAZING and he loves), and sometimes reading a book. We sit together and he will snuggle all up to me as we watch. Eventually he begins whining letting me know it's time to eat and time for bed. Every night, he eats and falls fast asleep! Bed time could not be easier.

He loves to drink out of a REAL cup much more than drinking out of his sippy cup.
He has no teeth at this point but we can see the white gums and some of his waking up in the middle of the night is definitely a teething thing. He has knawed on everything for months though!
He loves peek-a-boo and he totally knows when he sees something and then it goes missing haha. He will also whine if he sees me walk out of the room like 'oh no mama, where do you think you are going?' I have realized that at daycare he gets TONS of attention and is spoiled by this haha. He LOVES his daycare buddies!
Have I mentioned Jayden LOVES the outdoors! Oh my, he loves it so much. On Saturday, February 7th when he was officially 8 months old - the weather was absolutely amazing and I was actually able to take him outside and sit him in the grass and let him GO AT IT. He was in heaven digging his hands in the dirt and crunching leaves....and of course trying to eat them.

Jayden had his first ear infection and high fever this last month also. He was so pitiful but thankfully his medicine took affect quickly and he was as good as new within 24 hours!