8 Months

8 months old and almost crawling! B wants to be on the move so badly. Our guess is in just a few days/weeks he will be ALL OVER THE PLACE!!! He currently will sit, rock to his knees, then belly flop and reach and grunt for what he wants. Once he gets his knees under him for good he will be off.

He just today popped his top right front tooth. So now there are 3 total pearly whites. He is eating 3 meals a day and loving every bite. He now likes to feed himself so it is buy buy to pureed foods and hello to cubed yummyness. The only problems with this is that I have a stock of already prepared pureed food in the freezer so getting through the rest of that is not fun. He grunts because he wants to feed himself. Therefore, each meal begins with a sprint of me shoveling pureed stuff into his mouth until he is frustrated, then he ends with cubed food on his tray to feed himself.

All the play mats and bouncy seats and real "baby stuff" have been moved into storage. *Tears* It is bitter sweat to watch our little man grow into a less-of-a-little man.

At nights we even turn the monitor's volume on mute because when he is awake, he talks loud enough that we can hear him in our room.

He is talking and interacting with us all the time. Especially when we read to him, he will squeal back in delight. For a week or so I think he thought his name or my name was "Bob" because that is what he would always be saying to me. Now that word has turned into "ball" and when a toy falls over he even says "boom." He has been dabbling with the "P" sound and says "pah pah pah" but so far there has been no hint of "dada" or "mama".

Asleep after a jog with mommy, keeping hold of Sophie Giraffe

On his scooter

Last time playing on his play mat.

Squealing in delight...if you could only hear it!

Big strong boy can push up off his chest.

Trying to reach his toys

Doing some landscaping with Daddy

In the pool, in my frog.

B always pulls Ben's hat off whenever he is wearing one.

Bradley is always trying to figure out how things work.

His new funny face. He breaths heavily in and out of his nose while he's doing this.

Still has those beautiful blue eyes!

He likes to look at himself in the mirror

He will even give himself kisses

His new pool to play in the shade

He loves to splash

He loves to put toys over his head...now that his arms can reach that high!

T, B & B

7 Months

Wow, I can't believe the Bugs Man is 7 months old already. He's just amazing. I know I say this every month, and most likely will for many months to come, but this is really such a fun stage. He's learning to do something new with his body every day. He's strong, smart and oh so happy. He can spin 360 to get to a toy. He is rolling back to front and front to back (the front to back is still by accident I think). He loves the dogs and gets so excited to watch Kilo retrieve a toy. (Too bad our Retriever doesn't retrieve). He does the cutest things with his arms when he puts his hands together or is holding a toy, he moves his wrists back and forth and flaps one of his elbows up and down. We call it the "chicken wing". He babbles all the time and does funny things with his mouth. He reaches far, hard and with determination for things that he wants. One of his favorite things to reach for now is the top of his daddy's head. It must feel fuzzy. I'm sure I'm forgetting a million other things that he is doing now but here are some pictures to help.

He is sleeping all night, in his crib, unswaddled. He usually goes down around 7:30 and gets up around 6:30.

He is now big enough to ride in the grocery cart. This is so fun for both of us.

Ready for summer!

His smiles are getting bigger, if you can believe it!

The kid loves the camera.

I am making all of his food for him. His favorites are sweet potato, avocado, and banana. I just added cinnamon to his apples and those are beginning to become a favorite as well.

Watermelon in a mesh teether. Genius. This is how I get my hair done with a baby.

An example of a funny face. We think his top teeth are coming in because he's constantly rubbing his upper lip along his gums, or rubbing his tongue back and forth.

We let him feed himself for the first time. These are little baby rice cakes that dissolve pretty quickly. He's getting the hang of it except for when the piece gets too small, he can't get it to his mouth.

This kid LOVES the water! Here he is in his floaty frog that has a lily pad over top to protect him from the sun. When we take him swimming he splashes the water in his face and loves it.

Fun with Grannie.

He really goes to "work" on this toy. He systematically closes them from right to left. Can you say engineer????

Morning jogs with mommy are exhausting. I love how he's holding the Sophie Giraffe.

Playing in the basement.

Daddy put him on a riding toy for the first time. I would say his legs are still a little too short to ride, but he loved it nonetheless. He grabbed the steering wheel right away and started turning, just like he knew what it was for.

T, B & B

6 Months

I can't believe my little 7 pound 8 ounce boy is HALF A YEAR OLD!!!

At our 6 month check up Bradley weighed 17 lbs 8 oz (49th percentile) and was 27 3/4 inches (88th percentile). My little man is long and lean! He is super healthy and the doctor said he is absolutely perfect, but we already knew that of course.

B is learning everyday and it's amazing that you can actually "watch" him learn. He is learning for an action there is usually a reaction.

Here is a list of things B is up to:
-If he drops something he looks for it

-He plays peek-a-boo with you by pulling a blanket off his face

-He has 2 bottom teeth

-He started on some fruit, but ironically he is not a big fan

-He still loves cereal, all kinds of cereal

-He is now sleeping unswaddled! He usually ends up on his tummy to sleep

-His favorite sounds to giggle at are "Beep Beep" "Squeak" and "Eek"

-He loves to laugh, and smiles all day long

-He has found his feet and loves to play with them

-He is very ticklish on his sides

-He sits up all by himself with the boppy around him for crash landings

-His favorite books are "Go Dog, Go" and "Is Your Mama A Lama."

Happy baby

2 teeth

First ball game

Sitting up

Playing Catch Up : 5 Months

Ahh! I've been so bad at keeping up with our family blog. As you can imagine since B is now 6 months old he has changed so much. However, I will try and only write this post about his 5 month experiences.

During the 5th month the most exciting thing was we started B on solids. We started first with rice cereal, then oatmeal, then wheat. He loved all three. Next we started veggies. Sweet potatoes were first and were a hit. Next was squash which was also yummy. Next was peas which literally made him gag. I hate to say it was funny but it was. He does ok with green beans but loves carrots. So basically any orange veggie is a hit and anything green is a no-go. That will have to change!

Sleeping: We tried to have him start sleeping unswaddled but it was unsuccessful. He would cry and cry and wake himself up with his hands. We went back to swaddling. He is still taking 3 naps a day.

He is much more active and aware. He reaches for the dogs, reaches for toys, and reaches out to grab mommy and daddy's faces to give kisses. He is sitting up with assistance.

Reaching for Kilo

Sitting up

First cereal

Reaching for kisses