8 Months

Wow, my baby is 8 months old. I know it's cliche, but HONESTLY: Time flies!

Crawling

Last Tuesday, just days before his 8-month mark, he started full-on crawling. For about a month, he would get up on his hands and knees and lunge. He would also go forward with his right side, then the left, but then he would come crashing down. That all ended early last week, and now he is getting everywhere.

Every room I go into, he follows - finding all sorts of things to get into trouble. Case in point: the toilet. How do moms use the restroom in peace? He also loves the fireplace (AHHH! We don't have glass doors, and he gets covered in ashes), the DVD and VHS shelf (Who would have thought they'd be such fun to dump out of their packages?) and the kitchen floor (which is awful because now I have to sweep EVERY day). He also found some artifical flowers on a basket I made my frosh year in college and started chowing down (hope they're non-toxic). He loves chewing on shoes and toes, and he puts every little crumb he finds on the floor into his mouth. He likes the door stops that vibrate up and down too. He is definitely trouble. I never thought he'd find so many things to get into. What a curious kid.

Skin Tone

So I was at my makeup store last month, and they discontinued my foundation so I had to try all these new products to decide what I liked best and which shade was right. I finally decided on the absolute lightest shade, and the makeup lady says, "I think your baby is darker than you are!" Now what do you say to that?

So Collin is super tan. It is funny because his ankles and wrists have a roll of fat on each, and if you point his toe or bend his wrist a bit, he has a perfect white tan-line. Silly dark-complected child. Must have gotten that from his daddy.

Hair

In case you are wondering, he is still bald, bald, bald. I put him in a hat most of the time we are out of the house. Then people don't see how bald he is, and I think he looks rather cute like that.

Napping

Collin is taking two naps each day now. He sleeps from about 10:30-12noon each morning, and then from 2-3pm each afternoon. He usually goes to bed between 6:30 and 7pm, and he wakes up between 7:30 and 8:30am. I know: I was totally blessed with the best sleeper ever. We count it among our Seminary Blessings.

Eating

I don't know if this is normal, but Collin would never stop eating if I didn't stop offering the food. He eats about 4 ounces of solid food each meal each day (3 meals per day), plus he is still nursing 4-6 times per day. He still isn't a fan of drinking water from his sippy cups (I've tried two designs) or from the bottle, so we'll have to keep working on that. He eats just about everything (carrots, squash, green beans, applesauce, pears, black beans, wheat bread, grapes, pickles, lettuce, rice, daddy's smoothie...). Yeah, he eats it all. No wonder the kid is in 12-month clothes!

Teething

Apparently I never posted that Collin got two teeth on the bottom less than a week after his 6-month birthday. I thought they'd keep coming rather regularly after that, but we haven't seen anything new since. He has been gnawing a lot yesterday and today, so maybe those top ones will make an appearance soon.

Car Seat

We did buy Collin a new car seat. He got the Evenflo Triumph Advance LX. He seems to like it, but it is HUGE. It is as tall as the headrests in both our cars (Volvo S70 & Toyota 4Runner) making it difficult to go in reverse. He'll have to remain rear-facing at least 4 more months, so I am starting to see why so many people opt for the mini-van so early. He sits in the middle, which is good since Ry and I have to keep our front seats all the way back for our long legs. It'd never fit on the sides while in rear-facing mode. I think his seat will fit much better when we can turn it around for forward-facing though.

I took this picture to show that the first time he rode in his new chair, he immediately had to play with the head rest. We picked the LX over the DLX because we like the angled head rest, and what does Collin do with it? Bat it above his head.

And that's a few of the 8-month feats of Collin. Next month is Collin's 9-month doctor's appointment, at which time we'll discover his new length and weight. My guesses: 30 inches, 20 pounds.