8 months?!

Is our baby seriously 8 months old? When I see the ticker on the sidebar of the blog where it shows how old he is, I can't believe how close it's creeping to the big "1!" It almost makes me sad to think how close he's getting to being one. But, I must say I am really loving every minute of it and each stage I think I just adore, but the next one seems just as great in a whole new way.

Mathew is continuing to grow and amaze us each day. He's rolling and "army crawling" all around. He can get up on all fours and just sort of bounces and rocks before plopping back to his belly again. I took this picture today as he was dragging himself around on the floor. He was peeking around the corner at me as I was putting away the dishes. He was quite proud of himself and thought he was so clever peeking in on me.

He has figured out how to feed himself now and is eating more and more foods each day. He loves to eat little pieces of vegetables-cooked or raw, as well as small cereal puffs. We're trying to work on using the sippy cup a little. He's more interested in playing with it, which I guess is fine for now. It's all about exploring! He's quite independent and spends lots of time on the floor playing with his toys or trying to get his hands on all the things that are off limits. He also continues to love jumping in his Johnny Jump Up! He's such a great sleeper. By technical terms, he began sleeping through the night at 8 weeks, but this past month he began completely sleeping through the night. He goes down to bed about 8:30 and typically sleeps until 8-9AM. Occasionally I miss having an early morning feeding with him, but overall it's a really wonderful feeling to get a full night of uninterrupted sleep again. You never know how long it will last, so I have no problem enjoying it while it does. The daylights saving thing has thrown him for a bit of a loop. He was used to taking a nap in the late afternoon/early evening hours, but now that it gets so dark early, he won't nap then. I think he associates complete darkness with bedtime and is confused when we try to put him down for a nap. We've tried leaving the light on and occasionally he'll just play a little bit and then fall asleep shortly, but usually it doesn't work quite that well. I'm not really sure how to avoid this problem, except just hope that it works itself out or his naps adjust.

He's not really "talking" much. He was saying "mama" for a couple weeks and then all the sudden it stopped and we haven't heard it again in a few weeks. He giggles lots and blows raspberries, but doesn't do a whole lot of babbling really. Not sure if that's anything to be concerned about or not, but since it seems to kind of go through spurts and he clearly seems to hear very well, I figure we'll wait and see in a little bit.

Poor little guy had to go to the pediatrician's office today for more shots. He had his first Synagis shot today as well as the seasonal flu vaccine. He was not a happy camper! I'm glad we were finally able to get his Synagis started though. He'll only need this through the first RSV season-once per month from now through March. The dosage is based on weight, so we got a weight update today and he's weighing in at 19 lbs. 4 oz. He was very fussy today which is so unlike him, so while we were there the doctor gave him a good look over to make sure he didn't have an ear infection or anything. He looked perfect, so we're assuming it must be attributed to teething. One of his bottom teeth is really cutting in right now and it looks like the one right next to it is on its way as well.

I feel incredibly blessed. 99% of the time Mathew is extremely happy. He laughs and smiles constantly. He sleeps wonderfully at night, eats like a champ, has stayed very healthy since coming home from the NICU, is great just playing at home or just as content out running errands. I don't have much to compare it to, but I feel like he must be considered a pretty easy baby. I certainly didn't think that was going to be the case during that first month or two-but look how far we've come!! I try not to take it for granted and remember just how lucky we are to have such a content little one. I love being his mom and watching the world through his eyes. I think he just might already have mommy and daddy wrapped around his little finger. :) He is truly amazing!