8 months old

  Axel is 8 months old! He continues to be a happy, healthy boy who grows and changes daily. Even with his curls and chubby cheeks he's looking more boyish- time be still!!

  No teeth yet, but he is a smiley thing! Big gummy grins and giggles. When he meets a stranger he eyeballs them suspiciously, very serious face and only after some effort on their part will he grace them with his smile :) He doesn't seem afraid of strangers yet, but he definitely prefers the familiar, and will often look for me if someone else is holding him. Loud noises or things/people appearing "from nowhere" startle him, and sometimes that makes him cry, other times the surprise makes him smile. He likes a good peekaboo scare.

  He sits up very well on his own and only rarely falls over. He is not crawling yet, nor does he roll or scoot around. If I set him down in one place I will find him there, maybe turned a degree or two in order to get to a toy he wants, but nothing more. His hands and even his feet seem to be in a constant rotating movement, like he's turning knobs or something. He plays with toys with much more purpose these days. Pushing buttons and shaking things and always chewing on toys. Usually when he falls over it's because he was reaching for a toy just outside of his reach. He's started doing this thing where he cocks his head to the side when he looks at us, smiling and sometimes leaning his body far to the side. It's the silliest thing, and he knows it, fully expecting a laugh.

  He enjoys his bath time and I try to let him have time to splash and play even if I'm not soaping him up every day- I find the soap dries out his skin and scalp if we wash daily, even with liberal lotioning, but splashing keeps him fresh and brings out the curls :) He will chew on his bath toys and splash and squeal. He doesn't mind having water dumped on his head, just holds his breath and blinks, then goes back to playing. He's a water baby!

  He loves to bounce and jump- especially in our laps. He does not sit still in my lap, but instead rocks and bounces himself so violently that he would throw himself out of your lap if you didn't have a good hold on him. Even while he's nursing these days he's generally moving and gets distracted easily.

  He really enjoys his food these days. He's eating 3 meals a day, about 1/4 cup at each meal, and I think he would eat more if I let him, but for now most of his calories should be coming from breast milk. He's progressing away from smooth purees and enjoys food with more texture, and can even chew up tiny pieces of soft fruit and veggies. We discovered in the past month that he is allergic to egg whites. Yolks are fine, but  whenever he eats something with the whites in it he breaks out in hives wherever it touches his skin. Poor guy. We'll hold off on giving him those til after he turns one.

  His sleep has been a little off the past week. He's waking up once or twice a night and will only be soothed by nursing for a couple minutes, then he'll let me put him back to bed (while he's awake) and he'll drift back off to sleep. He's also waking up around 7am for the day, which is not what we "agreed" upon... I'm trying to rework his naps and feedings, since I think he's missing some of the calories from breast milk from eating so many solids and waking up a little hungry. Last night was better, he woke at 5am, but I just re-swaddled him and let him fuss for a couple minutes and he slept til after 7:30... so here's hoping that's settled ;)

Axel's Stats:
Height: 29.5 inches (I measured several times I couldn't believe it!!)
Weight: 21+ lbs (our bathroom scale isn't precise)

  The other night I woke up to Kellen making noise digging under the bed. I asked him what he was looking for and he said "My gun... I heard some banging." So, he loaded his AK and headed in search of what was going bump in the night. He didn't find anything or anyone, so we went back to bed and then he heard the noise again and I heard it... turns out it was the sound made from Axel lifting up his feet and slamming them down on his crib mattress! It's a sound I hear often during the day- for some reason it doesn't come through on the monitor, but you can hear it clearly in our room through the wall- and even downstairs in the kitchen.