first comes love: Wesley [8 months]

This happy, playful, lovable boy is 8 months old! This is my 8th monthly blog post for our darling Wesley, which means that I only have 4 left to go. Although time has surely gotten away from me over the summer, and I surprisingly found it MORE difficult to write while off from work, a part of me feels like I won't know what to do with myself (or this blog) after Wesley turns one. I still can't even imagine him becoming an entire year old, plus the fact that I've already begun actively planning his first birthday party. It will all be here before we know it, leaving me with the desire to just slow time if only in the slightest bit. I will pause the pity party for now and go on to sharing about our time during Baby Bear's 8th month.

Size: Our big boy is so big, yet I suspect he hasn't grown much in the last month. He still fits into 3 month, 3-6 month, and 6 month sized onesies. Our bigger 6 month bodysuits remain too baggy, and I don't think we've recently retired any items to the "Too Small" box. The weather has been hot, so there have been many days that Wesley has rocked only a diaper while hanging out at home. He's in a size 3 when wearing disposables, and we haven't needed to adjust his cloth diaper size since last month.

Health: On our home scale Wesley's weight shows 19.2 pounds. He added 2 new teeth to his collection this month (lower lateral incisors), making a total of 8 pearly white chompers. His poor, perfect baby face has been the recent landscape to lots of new boo boos and ouchies, since our little guy is officially on the move. I've hated seeing him develop little bruises as a result of the falls he takes on our hard wood and tile floors due to his desire to go everywhere and get onto everything. Wesley was looking like quite the tough guy showing up to one of Eric's hockey games with his first black eye and evidence of his first bloody nose. This definitely hasn't been my favorite stage of babyhood, and my heart has just ached with every accident this sweet little boy has experienced.

Feeding: Wesley is still nursing on demand successfully. Night feedings remain short, and daytime feedings are closer together in the morning and further apart in the afternoon and evening. The new solid foods we introduced to Wesley this month include banana, plum, and a brief taste of nectarine. He is very eager to eat and is immediately interested in any food he sees. We have to be extra careful while eating our own meals with Baby close by; those curious, little fingers will quickly make their way onto your plate before you know it. I've had to pry pieces of food out of Wesley's hands in order to keep him from ingesting things he isn't yet ready for. I'm excited for him to expand his palate when the time is right and his system catches up to the recent changes in his diet (hence the need for plums, if you know what I mean).

Sleep: The new teeth that Wesley grew in brought us back to waking every 3 hours during the night. Most often he'd go back to sleep easily after a quick nursing session, but there have been nights that he's been restless and thrashed about the bed and needing to nurse more for comfort. Teething also caused lots of daytime fussiness, so Wesley started napping more often with Cho-Cho. Baby created his own schedule of needing a late morning nap and sometimes one in the afternoon, depending on how long he slept in the morning. I've noticed that Wesley has become a lighter sleeper at home and will wake easily at noise caused by Simon, the animals, and loud talking. Thankfully, Wesley will still sleep in the car and typically wakes happily after doing so.

Milestones: That's right, Wesley is officially crawling! He was super close to this huge milestone last month, so we knew that it was only a matter of time before this guy would be on the move. The day Wesley first crawled was July 3, an independent mover just in time for Independence Day. He's become a skilled crawler pretty quickly and enjoys the freedom to go wherever he pleases. Wesley is so strong and coordinated enough to pull himself up into a standing position on just about anything, and he also likes to cruise along the furniture and get his little hands into everything. He can support himself while sitting much better now, and he even sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time when we went out to Yard House for Jen's birthday. Wesley has also sat in the front of a shopping cart with our shopping cart cover, being entertained by the new sights available from the new position.

Likes: Baby loves the animals so much. He tries to play with Courage and Riley's tails every chance he gets, even after being told no and pulled away multiple times. Courage doesn't seem to care too much and will just move if he wants to be left alone, but Riley is not a fan and is losing his patience with Wesley's persistence. Wesley is also fond of getting into the basket of cat toys, as well as snacking on Courage's Nylabone whenever he finds it laying around. Adding to the list of inappropriate things that Wesley likes to chew are my phone, the remote, and our bamboo drink coasters. And for some reason, his absolute favorite chew items of all are straps. Whether it be from the high chair, car seat, or changing pad, that strap will find its way into Wesley's mouth in no time at all.

Dislikes: Wesley will get super upset not being in the same room as us if we need to go into the next room for just a moment while he's in his Jumperoo. He does not like to think he's been left alone, and will cry unhappily until you "reappear." Similarly, he will leave the room he is in to come find Mommy if he wants to be with me instead of in the room where he had been happily playing with someone else (Simon, Eric, etc.). On a positive note, Wesley's baby bath tub has been in his room since he refused to use it, and Simon got the idea to pretend that the tub is a boat and got Wesley to crawl in and play with toys. He really likes climbing in and out and can do so with ease, and I gave Wesley lots of praise to show him that the tub isn't scary. Wesley has also allowed us to dip his toes into the water at the lake and at home in our inflatable pool in the backyard, and he even enjoyed sitting on my lap in the pool with his feet in the water. I'm wondering if he's becoming more comfortable with water, which will hopefully lead to future bath time fun in the tub with all our fun toys!

Social: This social butterfly constantly shares his silly smile all the time. Wesley scrunches his nose and shows his teeth, and the expression immediately has Eric and me in stitches. Baby has his own version of what I call "happy feet" when he's excited to see Mommy or Daddy or is enjoying getting a person's attention. While being held, Wesley's happy feet come to life when he bounces his hanging legs up and down as if almost mimicking the motion of being in one of his jumpers. Wesley's babble has yet to advance beyond his "ugh" grunts of approval or acknowledgement, but he does respond to and understand when I say and/or sign MILK and sign ALL DONE. His response to ALL DONE during diaper changes is dropping whatever he's chewing on and adorably reaching up to me to pick him up. Signing and asking Wesley if he's ready for MILK results in either an excited yelp or an impatient wail as he fumbles around trying to get into my shirt.

Other Updates: July was a jam-packed month full of so many fun summer activities. We celebrated the 4th of July at our house and invited Uncle Boom Boom and Lilly over for swimming and barbecuing. Wesley watched in awe while the big kids danced around with sparklers and the dads lit our larger fireworks. The kids and I took a day trip with Cho-Cho to San Francisco. We hung out at Pier 39 and had lunch, visited Aquarium of the Bay, enjoyed the view of the water, and had an ice cream treat. Wesley slept most of the time, but he was great during the whole trip. I took the littles to open play at Simon's gymnastics center, where Marcy and Bailey joined us for fun on the big trampoline, the foam pit, and the special just-for-summer bounce house slide. It was cool getting to play on all of the equipment that Simon uses during class, and Wesley had so much fun crawling around on the squishy mats and sitting in the foam pit while watching Big Brother show off his big jumps. As a family we went to Folsom Lake for Uncle Joe and Aunt Cherise's baby shower for their daughter, Abigael. It was a very hot day, but I was so surprised that both of the boys liked the water as much as they did. Our other family outing was to the State Fair. We had a wonderful time looking at the exhibits (Expedition Dinosaur--14 dinosaur animatronics in-action-- was Daddy and Simon's favorite), petting the livestock, and splurging on the food. Eric bought a Dole Whip for us to share, and even Wesley got a taste! It's definitely been a season to remember as our first summer shared with our little Wesley Woo.