Kellan is 8 Months Old!

Kellan turned 8 months on Wednesday, June 20 and still no more shots until next month!  Of course that also means that I have to wrestle with this little wiggly fella to get his measurements...we will see how accurate we are at his 9 month check up.  I didn't get any change this month other than gaining one extra pound (but who knows how accurate I was last month?!).

Height: 28 1/2 inches long

Weight: 21 pounds

Head Circumference: 18 inches

A few more statistics for this month:

Sleeping: Kellan's bed time is still 8:30-9 pm. He typically will wake once between 3:00-4, nurse (which I am ok with in order to keep my milk supply up), and then sleeps until 7:30 am.  He used to nurse and then be up for the day.  Now after he nurses he usually falls back to sleep and will wake up around 8:30 sometimes 9:30! 

He is still waking up an extra time or two during the night.  I usually turn him over onto his back, give him his pacifier, cover him up, or if those don't work every now and then I rock him for a minute or two to calm him down and then put him back in his crib.  I think this has caused him to get on a routine of waking up so lately I've been letting him cry.  Each night has gotten a little better and after a couple of nights of crying it out he is back to waking up just once to nurse.  We are continuing with the feed-wake-sleep schedule and he usually needs a nap after being awake for 2 hours in the morning and 2 1/2 to 3 hours in the afternoon. Any longer than that and he starts to get fussy and whiny. He doesn't usually need a nap in the late afternoon/early evening as long as he has taken good naps earlier in the day.

Eating: I'm still making all of Kellan's food.  He continues to be a great eater.  He is now eating three times a day.  Around 9:00-9:30 he has a finger food "snack".  So far he has fed himself homemade pear gummies and cut up avocado pieces.  He has gotten really good at feeding himself although quite a bit still gets dropped on the floor.  Around 12:00 he has lunch which is when I introduce a new food for 4 days in a row (this is in case he has an allergic reaction or upset stomach I can trace it back to the new food).  Around 5:30-6:00 he has dinner which always includes a meat and either a fruit or a vegetable.  In addition to the foods he's already had, now he's also tried cauliflower, zucchini, apricots, broccoli, beef and chicken.   He loves all of them except the apricots but we will keep working on it. 

Broccoli face :)

Drinking: Kellan is exclusively breastfed and nurses every 3-3 1/2 hours. He has gotten pretty good at drinking water out of a sippy cup and we have bought him several different kinds to try out.  He only gets the sippy cups during meals.


Clothes: Kellan can still wear a few 9 month clothes but is moving into 12 months.  Michael even put a pair of 18 month pajamas on him last night that were only slightly big.  We have a growing boy!  He isn't so much chubby (except for those chunky thighs) but really tall.  Which Michael and I both are tall so how could he be anything else?  He is in size 3 diapers but I put a size 4 on him at night to prevent leaking.

Milestones:

1. He can sit unsupported completely by himself. 

2. Kellan is still babbling all the time.  I can't make out his gibberish but it is going constantly (there is still lots of da! da! da!).  When we are at a restaurant or the grocery store he lets out the highest pitched loudest squeals and screams.  He's not mad or upset, these just seem to be places where he chooses to let it all hang out!

3. We have retired the bouncer seat and the Bumbo.  He was bending over and almost turning himself over in the bouncer seat and was sliding out of the Bumbo.

4. We continue to have pack-n-play time in our daily routine. Now that he is more mobile he doesn't enjoy it as much as he used to but sometimes I need somewhere to put him for a few minutes so that he can't get into anything.

5. Speaking of being mobile, Kellan is everywhere!  He isn't crawling but he pulls himself with his arms and pushes with one leg.  He follows us wherever we go and is into everything!  He particularly loves to dig in his book and toy baskets, the magazine baskets, and grabs any kind of papers or cords he can get his hands on.  He loves to follow the vacuum around while I'm using it.

Just thumbing though the real estate pages...

6.  Kellan still loves tags and lately he's been going after my dish towels that are hanging in the kitchen because of their tags.  He hasn't really been interested in his toys because he is scooting after everything else he can find (that are not toys).  When we go places we always take his Taggie and recently his Jesus Loves Me Bunny.  He smiles whenever I hand it to him.  He still loves to chew on his brush and loves to take several books out of his book basket and drag them all over the room.

10. Kellan is all over the place in his walker!  He can get all over the living room, down the hall, and has even started trying to scoot himself into the back bedrooms if one of us is back there.  He will take things off the coffee table, has knocked over a plant stand (luckily I took the plant off beforehand), turned an entire wine rack over (nothing broke but it sure scared him), and there have been several things that I have moved to higher ground before he tries to attack them!

11. I mentioned already that we have started finger foods and that he has gotten pretty good at feeding himself.  He is still working on getting better at controlling his hands and fingers because there is a lot of squooshing and dropping going on.  It takes him a couple of tries sometimes but he can get those pieces in his mouth!

Feeding himself avocado

12. The sign language has been a big failure.  I know the problem is me because I'm not being consistent enough.  Hopefully we can work on that some more this month.  We're still working on "please" and I have also shown him "more" and "thank you."  I don't think it helps that Daddy tries to help and he tends to make up his own signs.

13.  We have also officially retired the baby bath tub.  Kellan has moved into the regular tub 100% of the time.  I'm so excited because he has had a basket full of bath toys that he hasn't been able to play with until now!

14.  Last but not least, he still loves the television...

Here are a few pictures from our 8 month photo shoot...I was worried that these pictures were not going to happen because someone kept trying to eat their sticker...

Daddy's method of distraction

I use the Boppy in these monthly photos for a size reference but now he's getting so big Michael says it looks like an inner tube :)

I think my daddy might be crazy...