EIGHT Months!

Nolan is eight months old! Nolan continues to pick up different skills seemingly daily. He is lunging to grab things, can army crawl 360 degrees in his crib, and can (wobbly) stand while supporting himself playing with toys. The way he is so interested in walking while holding hands makes me think he may walk before crawl at this point!

8 Monther

Moving and kicking like crazy

8 Month progression: Sitting tall this month

8 Month personality shoot

Nolan is getting hard to manage during the photoshoot, especially on the chair! He is so distracted by Curious George now and wants to grab/eat him!

I love how he looks bored and is twiddling his thumbs here!

Teased out a smile!

Back to bored...

Got an idea!

Time to grab the monkey!

There's no way I'm letting him go!

Why did you put him back in place?

I don't care that you gave me this other fake monkey... I want the real thing!!

Why are you trying to distract me from the job at hand?

I'm still gunna grab him!

Got him!

Woo hooo!

Now I will eat the fake monkey

And grab Curious George while dad tries to stop me

Three Monkeys!

On to the floor photos! These were also tougher than ever because Nolan became obsessed with trying to rip his sticker tie off. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess these will continue to get tougher and tougher with each month...

Hi Mom!

Sticking my tongue out is my FAVORITE thing to do!

This is a CLASSIC Nolan face! I love that it is captured.

Oh Mom.... you crack me up! (aka I'm trying to pull my tie off!)

Pulling my tie off.... oooh what's up there?? (soooo distracted these days!)

Yup, definitely getting this sticker thing off

Got the bottom peeled up!

Very concentrated!

Loving the feel of the smooth sticker

Hey what's down there??

Belly laughs!

Still only have two bottom teeth (it's been that way for over 2 months!)

I haven't looked this way yet!

Another look at a classic Nolan face!

Who me?

SO much bigger than Curious George now!

Almost longer than the sheepskin rug!

Updates:

• Ear infections!! Poor Nolan has been plagued with near constant ear infections since his first one was found at his 6 month visit. We've now been through 4 rounds of antibiotics in 2 months. He just finished his most recent prescription so we're on the lookout for signs if it is still around (fever, irritability, poor sleeping, eye goop, etc). Right now we are on the road to having to get tubes for the poor guy... another infection or two and we will be sent to a specialist. :(
• Sleep. The ear infections certainly aren't helping anyone sleep around here. I'm constantly torn on whether we need to start sleep training or not, but I refuse to do it while my little boy is waking up in pain due to ear infections! We need to get rid of his infections once and for all so we can get on a real schedule. Right now we have 1-2 wakeups in a 11hr period (7am-6am) on good nights and double on bad nights. Bad nights are when we know for sure he has an ear infection. Hard to be mad at the little guy when we know he is in pain.
• Milestones. He's very strong sitting up on the floor now and is not wobbly at all. He can pull himself from sitting to faceplanted on the floor (needs to figure out the hands and knees thing). He can "inch worm" a few feet forward to get to toys. He can also turn 360 degrees around on his belly. He is very strong while standing while being assisted and takes spirited steps when walking with his hands held (it's adorable). See previous post for his babbling video!
• Food. I'm going to increase his bottle intake even more tomorrow as he's easily downing 6oz per meal at daycare. I'm hoping having a higher calorie intake during the day helps him sleep longer at night. He's doing great with solids and gets excited when I sit him down in his highchair and get out his food. Daycare said he ate an entire baby container of homemade applesauce today in one sitting. He feels noticeably heavier to Joe and I so I'll be interested to see his weight and percentages at his 9 month visit.

All in all, we're having so much fun with him every day. I know a lot of people say they miss the tiny infant days, but I can honestly say this is way more fun for me personally. I love our little interactive guy who squeals in delight when seeing things he loves (#1 being Deaner!), giggles when we play with him, and loves peek-a-boo! We're getting into the holiday spirit here at home, which is really fun. I'm very much looking forward to starting new traditions with our little family. Post(s) to come.