I guess there is no sense in apologizing, as this posting once a month has become a bad habit at this point. I assure you once again that it is due to lack of time, not interest. Anyhow, I hope that now that the school year is winding down, I will be able to get on here more often.
The biggest news right now is that uncle Kevin is staying with us until daddy graduates, which is in just 9 days! He came to stay a couple of weeks ago, as he knew that daddy was getting very stressed out trying to juggle everything (they gave him a horrible schedule for this session at work). We picked him up during a road trip to St. Louis for my first mother's day; we met up him as well as nana Linda and pa-pa Junior, for a brunch at Amici's, the restaurant where mommy and daddy had their wedding reception.
We love having uncle Kevin here and you do, too! You smile when you see him, you love when he plays with you (which he does often) and he does a great job of babysitting you when we need it. To visit for this long, he brought his dog with him, which you seem to find fascinating, but perhaps do not really understand (you jumped the first time you heard her bark). We are SOOOO thankful he is around and helping--don't know how we would have gotten through this patch without him, honestly.
This week, we had your eight month pictures done--EIGHT!! Wow! Despite having a good sleep and being well-fed in advance of this, you were once again super serious with the camera around--had to tickle you to get a quick couple of smiles, which the photographer thankfully captured. Your bottom teeth are visible in a few of them, but the top two that you have coming in are not in far enough to be seen except in rare instances (they have barely broken the skin--can feel them very well, though!)
A couple of weeks ago, we (including uncle Kevin) went on a road trip to attend (daddy's) cousin Kristen's wedding. Mommy got to drive a minivan for the first time (it was the rental we ended up having because they were out of the one I had reserved). The wedding was outdoors, beautiful park, very warm and humid weather, and a few drop of rain just before the ceremony. You behaved very well; you sat with grandpa Kerry through it. The reception was at a casino/hotel; we sat with grandma Judy, grandpa Roger, and (daddy's) cousin Jake. There was very tasty food; your favorite part, however, was the dancing and lights for the dance floor. You even danced with the bride :) But after a little while, all the day's excitement took its toll on you and thus we left after just a few songs. We stayed at grandma Judy's new house out in the countryside; it was a bit crowded because your uncle (daddy's brother) Shaun, two of his friends, his dog, cousin Jake and his brother were all staying there as well. Thankfully, it's a huge place, so it really wasn't a problem.
That weekend, I bought you a walker. We set it up as soon as we got home--that is, after mommy 'a fait une bêtise'--I left my purse in the rental minivan, locked it, turned in the key and realized it just moments later (thus defeating the purpose of turning it in that night). Anyway, you LOVE the walker! You haven't quite figured out how to get around very well--you mainly enjoy the toys on it (we have LOTS of pix of this)--am sure you will get it moving more soon. I also got you an inflatable cylindrical toy that is supposed to help encourage you to crawl; you still haven't quite figured out how to coordinate all the movements, but you are trying more and harder each day it seems. You don't 'floor swim' as much as you used to do; instead, you now grab and rub your hands on the carpet, and push your rear up sometimes while you make forward motions like crazy. The problem is, you have not yet realized that you need to lift that belly and use your arms to push up, not out.
A couple of days before the wedding road trip, mommy had a car accident while she was on her way to a tutoring appointment. Fortunately, it was not my fault--the other car rear-ended me when I was stopped at traffic light. I'm very thankful that no one was hurt, but more so that you were not in the vehicle at the time. Today I got my vehicle back, looking and running better than ever.
Back to your growth and progress--you went for about a week straight of sleeping through the night, and now do so about every other night, sometimes two or three in a row. I've tried to figure out what the magic formula is to make this happen all the time and thus far, there doesn't seem to be one.
As you are now getting top teeth as well, I've been trying to get you interested in trainer/sippy cups to start breaking you of the bottle. So far, there has been much failure in this category; you only want to chew on the spouts and/or play with the cup. I've tried 4 different models so far--am guessing I'll just have to keep trying and we'll get there eventually.
As far as talking goes, you are as chatty as ever, with your favorite sequence being 'dadadada...'. You have figured out how to click your tongue and seem impressed with yourself every time you do it. You really like doing this when you are in the middle of being fed. And on that topic, your current favorite food is when I mix in fruit purée with your oatmeal. This week, you got to discover watermelon via the mesh feeder--oh how you LOVE this! (And oh how messy you are with it lol!)
This past week, I finally got your clothes switched out to the 12months size and did a nice, thorough cleaning on your room. You may not know the difference, but it makes me happier :)
We went to the park a couple times this past week; you seemed to like the swing much better this time (your second time doing it so far in your little life). You went to the Cosley Zoo a couple of days ago, which was also your second time and you seemed to like better this round.
That's all I can think of for now. I love you lots and hope you know it ~ mommy
