8 months old

Son, you are 8 months old. All I can think is that in FOUR SHORT MONTHS, you'll be 1!!!!!!! Holy smokes. This last month has been so full of new things for you. At 8 months old, you are:

*weighing in at 23 lbs. Are you ever gonna slow down?!?

*28 1/2 inches long. All your 6-9 month pants are highwaters, so you're in 9-12 months--which are big in the waist and constantly falling down :) It drives you nuts when you're crawling.

*have 4 teeth and I'm pretty sure you're working on 2 more. The 2 on the top that have come in are on the sides, so you look like you have fangs. They're not ALL the way down yet, but they've poked through the gums. Now, I'm pretty sure I've seen the beginning of 2 little teeth coming through the top in the middle and you have started chewing on your fingers again. Oh, how I LOVE teething.

*wearing size 3 diapers. We're running into the same problem we had with the 2s. Your size 3s fit around the waist, but they're not going up high enough on your tummy and back so we're having some leakage. The next box we buy will be 4s!

*eating stage 2 baby food and I think you're ALMOST ready for stage 3. You've recently discovered beef and vegetables and I think this is your new favorite. We also gave you these rice sticks (for lack of better terminology) called Baby num-nums. We laughed at the name until you started gnawing on them saying "nummmmmmm." After the great banana puff catastrophe of 2011, I've been nervous to give any solids, but you're done well with these and crackers, so we might try the puffs again soon.

*wear mostly 9 month and 9-12 month clothes. The 9 month stuff fits you better, but a lot of the shirts are too short, so we have to go up a size. You are really hating having to wear clothes. You were in a diaper most of the summer (unless we were going out of the house) so now that it's getting cooler and we put you in clothes, you freak out. The first time I put jeans and a long sleeve shirt on you, you started pulling at it to try to get it off. Then you started trying to crawl, but you just as far as getting on your knees and then just looked at me in confusion and started crying! Hilarious!!

*crawling ALL over the place. You're so fast and when you get excited, you just laugh and crawl as fast as your little legs will carry you! It's pretty funny, but sometimes frustrating because it is SO hard to keep track of you and you can't even walk yet.

*already gravitating towards money :) We have a huge change jar in our bedroom and you do whatever you can to get to it!

*have FINALLY said mama!!! Loved it! No, you don't understand the meaning yet, but it's still so cute to hear you say.

*loving the dog. To my dismay, you giggle every time you see Brutus. Yuck. But that's okay. To each their own, right? And I swear you said dog last night when we were at your grandma and papa's house. Maybe you were just making noise, but it sounded an awful lot like DOG-UH!

*really showing your personality!! You laugh all the time (usually because you see us laughing!), but definitely let us know when you don't like something. When you're tired, you're TIRED! When you're hungry, you're not waiting on anybody. But you have the sweetest little personality most of the time. You've finally started letting us cuddle with you a little bit more and I love it.

*dancing!! It's the funniest thing. Whenever you hear any type of music, even if I'm just singing, you start bouncing and if you're standing, you grab tight to whatever you're holding on to and "drop it like it's hot!" (drop your hiney VERY low to the ground and then bounce back up again). It's so funny!! But whenever we laugh, you stop doing it, so we try not to let you see us :)

Tommy, you are the  most challenging thing I've ever done in my life. When people say they put their blood, sweat and tears into something, man is that the case with you! I love watching you grow up and it makes me sad at the same time because everything just changes SO fast. You are a lot of work, but so very worth every moment of it! Your little face is the best thing to wake up to and the best thing to see right before I got to sleep. We love you and are so excited to see the person you become!