8 months

These monthly posts are sneaking up on me way too fast. How does time fly like this?!?!

His sleeping habits have sucked (to be frank) the past few weeks. He's waking up anywhere between 3am to 5am and won't stop crying until I nurse him. He goes back down to sleep but seriously I have been in such a deep sleep at that time that it just sucks to be woken up out of it. Phase 2 of cry-it-out goes into effect tonight.

So as I assumed in his 7 month post- I was a bit premature to think that he'd actually be crawling by 8 months but he's seriously on his way. Just once he's gotten up on his knees and rocked a few times then fell to his belly, but by 9 months I'm sure he'll be off!

I'm hoping his poor sleeping habit mentioned above is the result of something, and I'm thinking it might be his top two teeth. His gums have been swollen for a few weeks now and he's constantly touching them...I know I'm going to regret this (nursing mothers will understand why)...but I wish they would just come in already. You constantly have your hands in and around your mouth which has caused a rash on your cheek (usually just one side, but sometimes both sides and your chin) for a nonstop month now which is super annoying because EVERYONE always asks what the problem is and tries to give us advice on what to do. Trust me people, we've put everything from Aquaphor to butt cream on his face and nothing seems to make it go away for more than a day. Until he stops touching his face and putting his hands in his mouth it is going to be there.

You have fallen in love with the book "Are You My Mommy?". It's a touch and feel book about a baby duck that goes around a farm asking all different types of animals if they are his mommy. You get so excited that you practically bounce out of my arms when I read it to you before bed and you squeal with excitement as I turn the pages and make the animal noises. You love to help me turn the pages and I swear you are trying to mimic the animal noises I make.

Kiss Kiss Kiss...you give mama kisses sometimes and it's so adorable. I try a few times a day to give you kisses but most of the time you push my face away...but every other day or so you will give me kisses for a few straight minutes. You open your mouth, sometimes stick out your tongue and put a slobbery wet one on me. I love it!

You love to clap and you do it all day long. Most people are surprised you are doing this so young...yep, you're advanced, just like your Auntie Sara has said from the beginning!

Here are some pics from my phone taken in the past month...

Peekaboo?

I took Caiden for a walk in the stroller today. Every once in awhile I'll look down through the top of the stroller through the clear plastic to check him out. Today I looked down and noticed that the hat he was wearing was completely over his eyes. I stopped and kneeled in front of him and started saying, "Caiden?, Caiden?". Acting like I was looking for him.

Then he grabbed the hat and pulled it up so he could see me. I said, "peekaboo??". Then he pulled it down over his eyes again. We did this 3 or 4 times until he got bored with it. I'm so glad I had my phone on me to get this pic so quickly.

Aunt Sally visits

I love having visitors! It makes me feel like I'm on vacation with them. I get a little "me" time and I get to take them to all my favorite spots around San Diego. This time we went to SeaWorld, the Green Flash Brewery, a few great breakfast spots and Marc and I got a date night.

Caiden ready to take on SeaWorld via the map

Yes, we sat in the SOAK ZONE!

Sally bought him a new toy that he loves.

Sippy Cup

I can't remember if I've said anything about him drinking from a sippy cup yet. When we started giving him solids a few months ago I introduced a sippy cup with water in it. At first all he wanted to do was bang it on his tray. But I would take the plastic insert out of it and stick it in his mouth so water would come out, it was messy at first and water was everywhere but after a few weeks he got the hang of it and I was able to put the plastic insert back in and now he's a champ. After he eats he will take a few swigs of water and be done with it. What a big boy!

Pick me up, please!

Caiden is doing something that pretty much makes you feel like the most special person on the planet. This past week when you put your arms out to pick him up he will put his arms out as well. We will torment him a little just to make us feel more special by acting like we are going to pick him up and make him hold his arms out for a few seconds before we pick him up. It's so friggin cute you just can't help but kiss him all over once you do pick him up.

Classic photo

I'm pretty sure there's a law out there somewhere that requires all parents to take this picture. Enjoy!

Dog Blanket

So I know I wrote about his dog blanket in his 7 month post but I want it to be more documented how attached to this thing he really is.

So a few nights ago we fed him his first "Stage 2" foods and it was chicken noodle. Well he loved it so much that he ate almost the entire jar (keep in mind they are bigger than the "Stage 1" so it is more food). By the time he got half way through the jar Marc and I were saying to each other that we should probably stop because he'll get a belly ache from eating more than he's used to but at the same time we figured he would stop eating when he was full so we just let him eat the entire thing. Anyway, the next morning we woke up to chicken noodle throw-up EVERYWHERE in his crib so we had to wash everything, including his dog blanket. [Yes, that was a story in and of itself and we feel like horrible parents..blah, blah, blah...so let's move on ;)].

So, his dog blanket was still in the dryer by the time his morning nap rolled around but I figured it wasn't a big deal and put him down to sleep...I was WRONG. He fell asleep pretty quick because he was tired but woke up 30 minutes later screaming and not stopping. So I went in and threw a burp cloth in his crib (because it's the same size as the dog blanket) thinking he wouldn't know the difference. He grabbed it, screamed then threw it across his crib. He screamed for another 10 minutes until I finally took his dog blanket out of the dryer (still a little wet) and threw it in the crib instead. He immediately grabbed it, stopped crying, threw it on his face and slept for another 2 hours. That little shit is so frickin' smart.

This was taken a few days later...thought I would add it to the bottom of this post.