Our biggest milestone this past month was Everton crawling! Such a contrast to our previous life with big sis only as she crawled at 11.5 months old. We are quickly adjusting to having a baby roaming around and getting into things. He is enjoying this new found freedom and I think once he starts to follow his sister around the house there will obviously be more chaos but also more excitement!

Solids are still going strong and for the most part we are pretty adventurous with letting Everton eat what we are eating. We still do rice/oat cereal mixed with breast milk and fruit in the morning but have increased his dinner meals to include a mix of purees and our food. He is mostly raking objects which results in food slowly getting into his mouth, leading him to become frustrated when he would like to eat more quickly. Because of this, we usually start with a pouch or jar of puree to help reduce his hunger and increase his frustration tolerance. He is then happy to attempt to put pieces of food in his mouth at a slower rate while we eat with him. Since increasing his supper intake with our food I have cut out breastfeeding during that time. We are currently breastfeeding when he wakes up, in the afternoon around 2:00 pm and once again before bed.

Teething has slowed down and we haven’t seen much in that area since he got his first two bottom teeth. I keep looking for the top two but no obvious signs just yet!

This past month we celebrated our kids by having them dedicated at our church. It was a small gathering of close family but it made my heart burst with joy seeing how much they are loved!

Playtime is spent mostly outside these days, especially in the backyard. Everton is happy to hang out on a blanket in the grass and as long as the kiddie pool is warm he will happily splash in it with his sister. We typically still start our day in the great room, playing on the floor but now that he’s moving around, staying on a blanket isn’t an option anymore!

He is still very smiley and laughs very easily! Spinning him in circles, letting him fake fall before we catch him, or making faces at him leads to many laughs. He is mimicking sounds like clicking with our tongues and loves to “talk” to his sister.

Happy to report that sleep is still great since we changed his daytime nap schedule around. He goes to bed around 8:30 pm during these longer summer days and wakes around 7:45 am-8:15 am. He naps at about 10:30 am and will sleep usually around 2-2.5 hours. Some days it’s only an hour and a half and other days it’s been up to 3.25 hours long. His second nap is shorter in length around 45 minutes and typically occurs around 4-4:30 pm. The only thing we learned this past month is that when he gets past his tired point in the morning and misses his typical nap time, it is nearly impossible to get him to fall asleep. We did this on Father’s Day (stretched him to 11:30 am) and he refused to nap, leading to a very fussy babe the rest of the day. Whoops! Live and learn… 🙂 Let’s just say we won’t be doing that again anytime soon!

I am a smitten kitten with my little, big boy! He is so squishy and cuddly and we can’t get enough of him! Happy 8 months Everton!