Ash turned 8 months and then I had to unpack from my San Diego trip and then I went camping and then my best friends came to town and now I am finally blogging about it. Whoohoo! I am determined to make it through all twelve months. No middle baby lack of photos for this guy. Though technically he isn't a middle child yet, but just in case, I will not let photo shortage be his fate.
At eight months the big debate is whether Ash looks more like the E-trade baby...
Or the Gerber baby...
And even though the Gerber baby is a girl, just learned that while googling the image, I am going to have to go with the Gerber baby. I think it is the little hair wings flipping over the ears that tip the scale for me. What do you think? The San Diego girls all called him the E-trade baby. Hmm... either way, I want to start seeing some residual checks popping up in my mailbox.
So when we left the sleep saga at seven months Ash was still having four wake-ups; two being feeding and two where I soothed him back to sleep within about ten minutes.. Well thank the Lord and glory, glory, alleluia, things got even better in a hurry.
The first coupe days into the seventh month and he started to calm himself back to sleep during his wake-ups within minutes. I did NOT have to go in for the two non feedings! Then a week into the seventh month, I accidentally fell asleep without turning the monitor on and woke up around 5:00 am, when my husband came to bed. Holy Crap! I felt so bad. Had Ash just been crying ever since his normal 3:00 am feeding time? My husband said he had been home since 3:30 am and Ash hadn't made a peep, so if he did cry, he didn't cry long and now we are down to one feeding! Booyah! Slept through it! All right by me!!!
So now at eight months he has consistently slept through the night with only one wake-up to nurse. I am much better rested and am already up to my old habit of staying up way too late. His typical schedule is to go to bed at 8:00 pm, eat somewhere between 5:00 am-6:00 am and then sleep till about 8:30 am. He has even maintained this through shared hotel rooms and not napping on vacations, so although I know their will be hard nights from teething and occasional illnesses, I feel safe announcing the worst is over!
This is Ashy doing tummy time. I mean, I can barely get a head lift, much less an army crawl. This guy is in no hurry to be mobile and I am okay with it. It is pretty cute that River demonstrates crawling for him when we do force him to do tummy time. Such a sweet big brother, or a show off, I'm not sure which?
On a related note, he still won't put any weight on his legs and maybe tolerates the bouncer for two minutes, tops.
We started bathing him without his mesh bath chair and now he gets to share bath time with this crazy dude.
Good thing he doesn't seem to mind too much.
Every now and then we get a bit of sibling rivalry. It mostly occurs from a toy being taken out of Ashy's hand. River is getting better about not just snatching the toy out of his hand and at least offering him a different (though usually very sub-par) toy to play with. Small victories, that is all I ask.
He celebrated his first Fourth of July. I dressed the boys All-American Baseball style for Ash's first Independence Day, but they both were covered in food stains before we walked out of the door. Good thing lots of boy clothes come in red, white and blue.
At the Fourth of July party he came across a pair of girl dress up glasses, which he somehow managed to make look like a super hero mask.... well... until... I put this hat on him.
My Grandma Ashy, what an adorable double chin you have.
He was a little more hesitant with the fireworks River was his first time around, but with dad's hands over his ears, he started to enjoy himself.
He said Dada for one whole day and never when Bear was in the room and then we haven't heard him say it since.
Have I ever mentioned how crazy ticklish Ash is? I love to kiss his arm pits. He squeals with laughter.
He will sit right next to River and play along just like a big kid. They always want whatever toy the other one has.
He LOVES the ipad and it might be the only temptation that will one day get this boy to crawl. If he ever does end up on his belly by his own means, it was because he accidentally reached to far for the ipad.
He went to San Diego this month and was a terrific flyer. No tears on the plane, despite being yanked out of bed hours early, both ways. He charmed the pants off of every lady at the bridal shower and incited baby hunger everywhere.
I say his eyes are globe colored and then sing, "Your face is a map of the world. It's a map of the world."
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He weighs about 21 lbs and eats through two jars of baby food at every meal. That's on top of nursing. He prefers the fruits, but unlike River, will actually tolerate some green vegetables. Sadly, the only thing he gags on is avocado. I so want him to like it. It is such a great food and it comes in its own container and everything.
His thighs are too fat to handle. I get nothing done right now, because I squish on them all day.
In short, Ash at eight months incites uncontrollable bouts of kissing, laughing, and loving. Just what every home needs more of. It is such a treasure to have a baby in the home again. You don't realize with your first child that they aren't always going to love you in such an innocent, unabashed way. There is no power struggles, or hurt feelings. Only raw, unfiltered love. It is a gift!
Here's my River at eight months...
Done and done!
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