Jack: 8 Months



 I can NOT get enough of this sweater...we now have three of them for the kids (dark brown, green and peach)

 I am going to sound like I am copying my my neighbor's blog touching on how much she loves her son...but I swear, I also had the same feeling this month and absolutely wanted to document it...she just beat me to it :)  With that, I feel SO much love for Jack this past month and can absolutely say with confidence that I LOVE being a mom of a son.  I have this increased urge to be around him, teach him, suck on his cheeks and just generally engage with him lately and Im not sure what it is about or where it came from...but I love it.   

One second happy and carefree...

 the next second: cautious, hesitant and suspicious of puppet frog :)

There may be lots of pictures of Jack sitting up lately since that is pretty much all he does.  I know he is "just" 8 months old, but he shows NO interest in standing up or crawling at this point and I have to say, it has made me start to worry.  BUT....after a bit of research, thanks to the intergoogles, I am feeling a bit more at ease as it appears he is still within the average range of developmental milestones.  Moreover, there are lots of fun tips and pointers to encourage babies to stand and crawl.  That may also be because that is the only stuff I am reading so I stay sane and not start freaking out that my kid will have to have PT or OT or DAPE (all great resources and helpful support dont get me wrong) :)  From the get-go, Jack has just been so chill, in no rush to do anything and quite happy just chillin...I guess it is ME that needs to slow down and just relax...he's just fine, Molly (you crazy woman).

I SHOULD do a whole separate post regarding our first family flight and trip to Disney World with my parents, but I just don't have the time or energy at this point so I will include some pics and stories in this post and in Mia's 3 year post...but that's all I can do right now.  The stars and moons aligned, the travel fairies were with us the whole way and things literally could NOT have been better for our trip.  BUT....I now know I will NEVER EVER go to Disney World in any other circumstance than what played out for us.  First off....traveling to Disney needs to be done during the off season.  Both flights there and back we had extra seats and were able to spread out and enjoy our DIRECT flight :) 

 His very first flight...living large in his free extra seat :)

This fuzzy book kept him occupied for a long time on the flight, whew!  Overall, a HUGE success.

SPACE is also crucial when traveling above and beyond the airplane.  Having a place with two large bedrooms, 2 large bathrooms, a kitchen area, living space and a deck was awesome.  With that, everyone had their own space....Jack had his own "bedroom" in our bathroom and the kids had their own fort (aka closet).

Mia was so nice to share her closet-fort with Jack...he was so happy!

Check out Jack's pimp set up at our resort...he got his own shower, two sinks, private toilet room and jacuzzi tub...we made him share

We also got a lot of SPACE in pools, at restaurants and at the theme parks traveling in the off season.  Having this extra space was awesome and appreciated by all of us and very conducive for the kids.

 First swim of the trip...he was annoyed at first but adjusted well and ended up loving it

Here are a couple more pics from our Florida trip during Jack's 8th month....more will be included in Mia's 3 year post coming soon :)

Awwww, shmoopie...look at the baby sitting on the elephant

The family at Hundred Acre Wood.....aka outside of Rainforest Cafe in Buena Vista

His new obsession we discovered at the various theme parks in hot weather...

empty plastic bottles...must.get.in.my.mouth!

 He SOOOO knows he's the cutest thing ever



In front of the castle 

If you look close enough, Jack is waving at the camera...not really, but I tell myself he was

Ha!!!! Nate took this pic in a men's bathroom that had no changing table....Jack thought this shit was hilarious!

So...back to Jack...I get off topic and am easily distracted these days when I come home late from work.  In addition to him improving his "sitting up" skills, Jack has developed a LOT lately in the areas of verbal expressions/communication, eating and sleeping.  Jack is such a blabber-mouth lately and makes so many silly squeals, nosies and outbursts...it is amazing to watch and witness and I love just letting him go nuts and make noise.  Of COURSE when I want to document and video him doing this...it just doesn't happen. So, you'll just have to take my word for it I guess :)  He also is starting to shake his head "no" when he is done eating...where the eff did he learn that?  I might have to start paying attention to things more and try to teach him all of that sign language stuff I did with Mia...all done, please, more, thank you...better sharpen up on those skills I guess.

He was making squeals in this pic, I swear.  

I love this pic...I love my son

"Ummm, mom, I'm busy watching the game...take my picture later."

  Unfortunately, Jack was only able to wear this outfit once...due to his belly fat.

Speaking of belly fat...Jack has some...and leg fat and chin fat and just rolls all around.  He definitely isn't "fat" per se.....but he is sure a lot "bigger" than Mia was at this age....and he loves eating.  Let's see...his foods so far have included: squash, sweet potatoes, avocado, peas, pears, bananas, blueberries, peaches, green beans, carrots, rice, oatmeal, and I basically just lost track at this point.  Apparently at 8 months the day care licensing people are "required" to give the babies meats...so Jack has now had chicken as well.  I haven't done too much of the finger food stuff due to laziness and I suppose a fear of him choking.  Plus...he just drags the food to the edge of the table and it falls in the floor...so why waste it?  He has had a few of those puff things and makes the funniest faces ever like I gave him cat litter or something. 

Might as well make use of these football outfits while I can :)  As seen here, he likes the Gophers.

Take my picture foooooo

Awww, smiling at Koko at a Sunday dinner get-together

So Jack is on his 3rd straight week of sleeping ALL the way through the night and not waking up before 6:45am....sometimes needing to be woken up at 7:30am.  When I say "all" the way through...I mean nothing that required any attention from us at all or nothing that lasted longer than a 1-2 minute whine, whimper or self adjustment on his end.  I would guess that this is a contributing factor in why I love him so much lately :)  He's just plain easy (for now).   Nate and I have this deal that one of us is "on call" over night for one week and then we switch.  I used to get so mad when it was "his week" and Jack would sleep all the way through.  Im not as annoyed anymore because he now does it for me too and I get to get a full night of uninterrupted sleep.  I know this won't last and I know tonight will surely be the night that he sticks it to me by waking up 5 times or something...but it has been glorious nonetheless.  It reminds me of Mia where we now are able to change his diaper, put on his jammies and give him a bottle and plop him down with little to no fussing (not including nights with constipation, sniffles, etc of course).  The other thing that is so weird is that there have been two night this past week when we stayed out WAY too late with the kids and did not get home until after 9-10pm...with both kids still awake!  Yikes!!!  BUT......both of those next mornings, they slept in.  What?!!!! That NEVER happens and almost always bites you in the ass with the kids wake up at like 5am or some god awful hour.  I am not going to push my luck with this one and take it as a two time "you were lucky" freebie...I need more evidence and data to actually put this in to consistent practice :)

Recap: Jack sits up and rolls and doesn't really progressively move other than that (unless you count backward movement sliding across the floor or pivots in a circle ),  Jack eats a lot and has gorgeous smooth cheeks, Jack sleeps through the night as the norm instead of the exception, he babbles more now, he interacts more, he went to Disney World, he loves life and has a mom that brags about him on her blog (sorry).

Hog pile on Daddy!!!

Forget Halloween costumes...he could be a Hershey Kiss.
I seriously can't get enough of this sweater....you haven't seen the last of it yet :)