Now that Graydon is 8 months old he is weighing about 19.5 lbs. He is getting heavier by the minute. He seems so long and people who haven't seen him in a while are always saying, "Wow he is a chunker!" or "Wow he has really filled out!"
We still have him in his Graco Snugride but his feet are over the edge. We will need to get the next seat soon.
Graydon is eating a lot these days. He drinks about 8 oz. in the morning. Has some cereal and a 4 oz. container of some sort of fruit mid morning. Another bottle around noon, 5-6 oz. Another bottle around 4, 5 oz. About 6 oz. of solids for dinner. And then another 8 oz. bottle at bedtime. He still usually wakes up once during the night, and has a 5 or 6 oz. bottle then as well. He is a a great eater!
He likes all fruit so it seems. I think it is his favorite. In the evenings I try to always feed him 2 oz. of Earth's Best Sweet Potato and Chicken dinner, or the Turkey and Vegetable dinner, along with a green vegetable and an orange vegetable. His favorites are sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots. He is not a huge fan of green beans or peas but I try to get him to eat them anyways and he usually does, just much slower than the others. He also really likes the Apple Butternut Squash mixture.
This month for the first time he has tried mashed potatoes, sweet potato and regular fries (just gnawing on them) and little bits of chicken. He is also doing much better eating little chunks of avocado and bananas without gagging, and love his puffs.
He has also starting taking little sips of water. I have tried to get him to use the Sippy Cup but he really didn't understand how to do it and wouldn't suck, so I just started using the cup itself and he has been doing well.
Graydon finally got some teeth this past month! I was especially excited with the fact that on both little "toofers" as we like to call them, I was the first one to feel them coming through. On Friday, May 6th, I felt the first tooth coming through his gums. It was on the bottom middle left. The second tooth started to come through on Friday, May 27th, and was the bottom middle right. I probably check about every other day for the top middle ones that will most likely come next....but you have to be careful. If you stick your finger in his mouth, he is quick to bite! :)
Graydon has especially hated getting dressed this past month. He instantly starts to fuss when you lay him down and try to take his clothes off. It is mostly when you are trying to put a shirt on/off.
He isn't too bad when getting his diaper changed, which he is still wearing Size 3 Disposables, and I love the Costco/Kirkland diapers. We did try to start cloth diapering again for about a week, but I just could not handle it. Graydon's poops are just disgusting now and it is just a pain with the cloth. Not to mention that we have 2 toilets in our house, and do you think that the Bum G Diaper Sprayer will hook up to either one of them...?? Nope! I am so bummed, what a waste of $50 for the sprayer and I do not even want to think about how much spent on the cloth. I want to invest in those little tissue inserts for the poop, and then would like to try again.
Anyways, back to being on the changing table....something that I always notice is that he will grab my Pandora bracelet and try to play with it, it is so cute! He also does this throughout the day while I am carrying him etc. along with trying to play with my rings.
He especially loves to play/pull my hair (I try not to let him pull it) and also touch/pull my earrings and or necklaces.
Graydon is wearing 6-9 month clothing mostly. 9 month onesies fit him the best. 9 month pants are still a little big. 12 month pajamas fit him perfectly/on the verge of being small and he can also fit into 18 month PJs pretty well.
We start Graydon's bedtime routine around 7ish. He is usually pretty tired at this point and ready to eat and get to bed! He is usually sleeping by 7:30, 8 at the latest. He is still sleeping on his stomach sometimes but not as much as last month, he is sleeping on his back a little more. He usually wakes up once a night, for about 15-20 minutes. We quick change his diaper, he eats, and goes right back to sleep. He typically wakes up around 6 am and will play in his crib with some toys that we keep at the other end. Usually about 30-45 minutes later he is fussing and ready to get up! He typically has had a big poop by then. And if he did sleep all night long, his diaper and huge and most likely his PJs are soaked too. Sleeping through the night is totally sporadic though. Chris and I take turns every other evening on who gets up with him. I usually put him to bed though, and Chris usually gets up with him, as he goes to work a little later than I do. He moves all around in the crib now too. Sometimes we will find him sleeping sideways, which he is a little too long for that, but sometimes he manages to get his feet in between the rails...
We are still working on his naps. When he is home I try to get him to nap in either his crib, his pack n play or in our bed (I usually take a nap too at this point.) His swing or carseat is last resort, but sometimes cannot be helped if we are driving etc.
Graydon isn't crawling yet. He hasn't really been scooching backward much either. He has hated being on his stomach lately. He does get up on all fours sometimes. I am thinking that maybe he will be crawling right before he turns 9 months. We will see I guess!
He still loves to stand and sway, as always. And we practice walking with him sometimes.
He doesn't really like his jumpy anymore either. He might be content in it for like 15 minutes at the most and then he wants out. Sometimes he only lasts like two minutes, it just depends. I try not to put him in it unless I am desperate, but Chris likes to put him in that or his swing especially if he needs to get ready for work.
Graydon has been experiencing what I think is separation anxiety this past month. He has been super fussy especially in the evening. He either wants you to be holding him or right down there on the floor playing with him. If he IS content and sees you walk by the room and hears you he is instantly crying. The last couple of weeks have been rough and sometimes it has been hard to get things done around the house but it is OK. We make it work! Usually one of us will stay in the room with him while the other is doing stuff and take turns.
He has also been starting to get a little bit of stranger anxiety, but I feel he has been handling it well. I have just recently noticed that when he doesn't know someone he just kind of looks at them. It takes him a couple minutes to warm up and then he will finally start to be his happy self and smile and be cute. It is good though.....he is around a lot of different people regularly and handles it well, which I like!
Graydon has been doing really well in the jogging stroller this month and seems to enjoy it. He usually takes a nap while I am running unless he had recently had one.
Another first this month was taking a ride in the new Bike Trailer that I got on Craigslist. It is an In-Step trailer that can fit two children. We tried it for the first time over Memorial Day weekend and he slept the entire ride! (It was about 9 miles.)
Da Da Da is still his favorite words to say, but he finally started to say Ma Ma this past month! I was pretty excited about it. :)
Graydon loves to hum his lips and tongue and blow spit all over, especially when he is upset. There were a couple of days this month that he started making this popping noise with his lips and he thought that he was so funny....also, if we did it to him, he would mimic us and pretty much do it on demand, it was hilarious!
One of my favorite things this past month was getting to experience my very first Mother's Day with my little man (and family of course!) It was great. Chris got me the little baby carriage Pandora bead for my bracelet and we went out to eat at Electric Cheetah. I also got a sweet little E-card from "Graydon" aka sneaky Daddy Chris. :) Being blessed with having Graydon in my life is just an overwhelming, unexplainable feeling, and even though I am reminded of that daily, it was awesome to celebrate a day that recognizes me as his Mother! How lucky am I?? So lucky!
We also traveled to Vassar this month for a couple of days. We went shopping with Aunt Megan, cousin Amelia and Grandma Dottie at the outlets and just got to have some quality time! It is great to see Amelia and Graydon together and how much they are growing.
Graydon went to the zoo for the first time this month. Unfortunately I did not get to be there with him. He went with his daycare family!
Another favorite part of this month was Memorial Day weekend. I got to have 4 days off with the little man! We went to Muskegon and spent most of it at Chris's parents house. Graydon did decently well for being somewhere different for a couple days. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the greater for our little vacation away from home but we made the best of it, and visited family and just hung out. On Monday, Memorial Day, the weather was awesome. Graydon also took a ride in a little infant swing for the first time! At first it seemed like he wasn't sure what to think about it but he ended up liking it. I think that his Daddy was just pushing him too fast... (typical paranoid Mommy, right?) :)
Graydon has gotten very observative. He loves to look over your shoulder, or look around and see what is going on, especially wondering with the dogs are up to. He is very easily distracted especially if he is in his high chair eating and the dogs come in to the room. He is so curious, it is so cute!
We have to be careful when we are carrying him too because sometimes it seems like he is going to leap right out of our arms, especially if he is "looking" for something.
Another thing we noticed is that he is always crossing his ankles....in his carseat, swing, when he is sleeping etc. It is so cute! I do this all the time as well, so I think he got it from me. :)
