The Harriman Family: 8 Months

I'm 8 months old!

This is his new scrunchy nose face. Can you hear him doing the funny breathing too?

Craaaazy!

This was pretty much the face of the photo shoot. He loves his bottom teeth!

Sweet Rhett,

You are Mommy's little angel baby. I love you so much! You are so happy and sweet and fun every day. Here's what you've been up to:

I don't know exactly how big you are, but I would guess between 24 and 25 pounds. Big enough to give me back pain!
You wear a size 4 diaper and fit best in 12 month clothes. You can still wear some 9 month and have worn as big as 24 month. I bought you some stuff on sale for next summer, and I hope I guessed correctly at 2T. I think you will slim up some once you get mobile, I think. ME was her fattest from 6-12 months. We'll just have to see about you!
We have dropped a bottle because you were only drinking about 1/2 of your 12 and 4 o'clock bottles. So, you only drink three 8 oz. bottles. One in the morning, one before afternoon nap, and one before bedtime. In between bottles you have your 2 meals. You eat cereal for breakfast and a fruit and a veggie for supper. You sure enjoy your meals! We may need to go to 3 soon! You have tried almost all of the Gerber baby food and love it all. Well, maybe you don't LOVE peaches and green beans, but you will eat them. I've only tried 2 big people foods, and you've hated both: mashed banana and mashed avocado. I don't know if it was the taste or texture, but we'll have to try again. I'm determined that you will be a healthier eater than ME. I'm not sure what to do differently, but I'm going to try something! The only snack food we have tried is mum mums. Oh, do you love you some mum mums! You can even hold and eat them yourself!
You have finally decided it's time to get moving! You aren't content sitting and playing anymore...you are busy working on your moves! ;) I still haven't seen you roll from back to belly yet, but Daddy says he has. We're in trouble if you figure out you can roll to get places with all our hardwood! You are getting pretty good at getting around on your tummy. You can scoot back (you can also scoot a little on your booty) and turn all the way around on your tummy to reach for toys. I never know what direction you're going to be facing after I put you down. It's hard keeping you contained on a blanket! You get your knees under you every now and then, but you're not strong enough to get that tummy lifted. You rock and try, but I think it may take a while for you to do the proper crawl. I'm just so happy to see you motivated to try and move!
The other day you were hanging out in the wagon at the pool while we ate our picnic lunch, and you tried to pull up on the side of the wagon! I'm so not ready for that yet...you will bust your head!
Speaking of the pool, you love it! Splashing, kicking, floating, but not going under. You just can't catch on to holding your breath during Mommy's swim lessons. You get very upset and cry and choke, so I quit. Maybe we should have paid for the real thing this year. I fear you may be afraid of the water next summer if we wait until then!
You went on your first family vacation this month and were sooo good through it all!
You got your second tooth on the bottom-left side.
You rock and shake your head when you hear music. I say, "dance, dance, dance, Rhett!" It is sooo cute!
You can say "mama" in the context of "mamamama" sound. You usually go into that sound when you are distressed, so I'm going to go ahead and count it as calling for me. ;) You also say "bababa" and "fffff." You can blow bubbles with your mouth and move your hand away from and to your mouth to make the "aw wa wa" sound. You also suck and chomp on your new teeth like an old man with his dentures out. ;)
We are working on waving "bye bye," and signing "more." We have seen you do both, but not every time or always in context. As soon as we saw you do "more" I broke out the Baby Einstein First Signs DVD. I'm sure you're on your way to becoming a kid genius! ;)
You kick and pat when I say "kick, kick, kick" or "pat, pat, pat." You also kiss me SOMETIMES when I say "kiss Mama." You also like to kiss yourself in the mirror.
You love silly songs with motions or movement. You just smile and watch every crazy thing I do. Right now you're really liking Five Little Monkeys and Itsy Bitsy Spider.
I'm also trying to teach you how to clap. You will open one hand, but keep the other in a tight fist.
You are starting to show that you have a little temper. Especially when I take something away from you that you want. You scream so loud. I have also seen you ball your fists up and make your face turn red. Oh my! And you can get upset with your sister if she is too close for comfort. You're only up for just so much sisterly love from her. Y'all are both pretty rough with each other. She may bug you, but you get her back by pulling her hair or grabbing her face or just pulling yourself on top of her when she's down. It's pretty hilarious!
I love your expressions! When a sound catches your attention you stop and get wide-eyed, suck in a breath, and say "goo." That is your response to any question we ask, or it can simply be a greeting. And sometimes you whisper it...so cute! You also say "hoo hoo" quite a bit.
You won't hardly let me rock you anymore. :( Most of the time you just squirm and try to ignore that I want you to be still and cuddle with me for a while.
You get really excited about books, but you're still too rough for it to be very enjoyable for the reader.
You love bath time! You know exactly what we're doing when we take your clothes off after supper.
You love your Little Giraffe blanket. You almost curl up in it when you put yourself to sleep. Your favorite thing to do is pull it over your shoulder and rub or suck the silky part. You also are cuddly with your little blue bunny. And let's not forget the paci! All of those things make your crib one comfy place. I wish I could sleep there on your minky sheet! ;)
You are so happy when you wake up in the mornings. We just listen to you talk and play in your crib for a while before one of us stumbles out of bed to bring you to ours. Your sister on the other hand, yells, "Mommy" until we come. ;) Most mornings we all end up in bed together until Daddy leaves for work.
You are unhappy with me when I leave you sometimes. I wouldn't say you have separation anxiety, but you notice when Mama leaves the room. Especially if you're wanting me to pick you up. But I'm so thankful you are mostly happy to play with your toys on the floor or entertain yourself in your exersaucer for lengthy time periods. It's not often that you'd rather be held than be on your own, but you may want to be able to see me close by.
You are a handful during church because you are so busy.What else? I'm sure there's more, so I may be back to add to the list. There's just so many things I want to remember about you RIGHT now! We love you so much sweet, sweet boy!