Tuesday, June 9, 2009

8 Month Update

Well there's no doctor's appointment to talk about this time. In fact, there won't be another doctor's appointment until 12 months so we can only guess at Jack's weight, which judging from our scale is around 23 lbs. I think he's starting to level off, which is good because I can't keep up with his wardrobe demands!
This past month we officially moved to a 4-hour schedule, and even though it took us a little longer than usual to get there, it's wonderful! I love how predictable our days are, well at least as predictable as they can be with an 8 month old. Jack gets up at 7am, and he's pretty punctual. There's still a few days a week where he'll start talking to himself around 6:30, but he's pretty content to hang out in bed until I come get him for breakfast. After breakfast, a fresh diaper and change of clothes Jack will play with his toys while I eat and start doing work. Usually after about 2 hours of waketime Jack will be ready for a nap but in the mornings he gets tired a little earlier. So I try to have him in bed and ready for a nap at about the 1 hr., 40 min. mark. Nine months ago I would have thought that someone who made a big deal about and extra 10-15 minutes of waketime was CRAZY! But I've had to learn the hard way that if I miss Jack's sleepy window it is much more difficult for him to go to sleep and more likely that he'll wake up early. And then our whole day is off.
He still hasn't rolled, is showing no signs of crawling, and although he likes to hold on to our hands and stand on his feet, the walking thing appears to be a long way off. And I'm quite alright with that. :) We are having some issues with "squirming" though. There are some days when I'll go to get him out of bed and he'll either be crammed up in the top corner or completely turned around with his head at the foot of the bed. As you can guess it's virtually impossible to keep him covered at night!
Speaking of night, I finally worked up the courage a month ago to drop the dreamfeed (the last night nursing). He had stopped waking up for this long ago, and was beginning to eat less and less before falling back to sleep again. I was so afraid he'd wake up to eat in the middle of the night, not to mention it was the one time of day where my baby would simply snuggle in my arms. But I figured it wasn't good for me to continue disrupting his sleep. So I gave it up right after our visit to PA and since then he's been sleeping 11-11.5 hours every night! It feels great to be able to go to bed early if I need to. Plus I finally have the energy and motivation to get up and around before Jack does. I love the extra "me time" in the morning!
Jack continues to become more and more entertaining. He's quite vocal, and loves testing out his range. We're not quite sure what to make of his mood swings though. One second he's screaming and laughing, the next he's moaning with his chin on his chest. But he's quick to laugh, and that makes family life extra fun!
Jack also like to dish out kisses. But so far only to me. He always turns his head when Jon tries to get in on the action. Probably because my cheeks aren't as scratchy!
He's a very observant little guy. Everything catches his eye and demands his attention. It's definitely keeping me on my toes. There has been more than one incident where I've failed to save the cereal bowl from his quick little fingers, or that my chin has gotten banged by a little head trying to glance from one shoulder to the next. Half the time I'm not sure what he sees, but it sure must be interesting. He starts looking for his Dad the moment he hears the front door open and if we even try to sneak into his room at night to cover him back up we're usually greeted with a smiling, leg-pounding boy ready to play. Sometimes I wish he wasn't so hyper-aware. It's very difficult (read impossible) to get him to nap or eat when we're away from home. And now that he's discovered Mommy wears cool earrings and has lots of hair to get lost in ... like I said, he's easily distracted.
Jack is growing and changing so fast, it seems that as soon as I figure one thing out, we're on to adjusting to another new development!

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