EIGHT MONTHS OLD!

WOWZAS! Andy is turning 8 months old tomorrow, and I had a few minutes to blog so I wanted to do his monthly post today...

I realize I say this every month, but seriously, y'all!  How can he already be 8 months old?!?!?! Time is flying by and I am trying so hard to just hang on to each minute with these sweet, wild, and loving little boys.  There are so many days where I just feel like I can't kiss him enough.  He is unbelievably lovable. Look at this face! He smiles like this every time the camera comes out-- he cracks himself up!

Andy continues to be a big boy.  I am not sure of his measurements right now and we will find them out next month for his 9 month check up, but everyone that sees him assumes he is one.  A lady at the gym last week said he looked like he was big enough to walk right out of there-- crazy.  He isn't fat-- he's quite lean, actually, but he is loooooong.  And his hands are HUGE.  I think he is going to pass Cal height-wise before too long (crazy to think about!). 

how about those for some kissable cheeks??  He looks sooooo much like my brother did!

Revelation this week: I wrote before about him soaking through his night time diapers... I went back to read some of my posts about Cal at this age and I realized I wasn't nursing Cal as many times as I am Andy.  I have been nursing Andy when he wakes up in the morning, when he goes down for morning nap, when he woke up from morning nap, when he went down for afternoon nap, when he woke up from afternoon nap, and then before bed at night.... NO WONDER HE IS PEEING SO MUCH! He isn't eating on both sides for each of those feeds (ex. I would feed him on the right when he woke up in the morning and then on the left when he went down for nap...), but still... so I have been cutting out the waking up nursings and the past two nights he was NOT soaked when he woke up at 3am... he just woke up to visit with me.  Who is a sucker.  Who will be letting him cry it out once this illness leaves our house. 

no teeth yet, but everything goes straight to the mouth!

Eating: other than nursing, Andy is loving baby food.  He hasn't turned down anything yet.  I am feeding him lunch and dinner and he is eating roughly 2 jars of food at each (!!).  This seems like a ton to me, and I don't remember Cal eating that much, but maybe he was. 

Andy still does not have teeth, so he can't eat anything other than baby food, but I gave him some of those little yogurt puff things and he really likes those.  I also gave him a biter biscuit and he liked that, but couldn't figure out what to do when he broke the thing in his mouth. 
I am trying to find a sippy cup that he likes.  He is basically just gnawing on the mouth piece now, but I think he will get the hang of it eventually.  I have a feeling teeth are coming soon....

still a finger sucker! and how HUGE does he look in this picture?!?! SUCH a big boy!

In an effort to start weaning myself down from nursing, I have stopped pumping.  I don't want my body to think it needs to make more milk.  Because of this, I have stopped trying to give Andy a bottle-- we haven't tried in a while.  We did this same thing with Cal and he took cow's milk from the bottle fine-- he just wouldn't take MY milk from a bottle! At our next doctor's appointment I am going to ask about weaning him down and starting milk... I'd like to skip formula all together if I can.  Cal started cow's milk at 10 months... that's right around the corner!

Moving: Andy is not crawling yet, but he sure wants to.  He will get on all fours and try hard to crawl, but then tires and drops to the floor.  He can roll anywhere he needs to go, though, and he is speedy at it! I have a feeling this will be happening soon too...

last night he was standing while leaning on the chair and he thought that was pretty cool-- just as long as he crawls FIRST...sheesh!  I am not ready for him to be walking running away from me!

Andy LOVES watching his big brother and always wants to have eyes on him when they are in the same room.  He is so happy all the time and we just love him to pieces.  He wakes up happy and stays that way until bed time-- when he's happy still!  I've been putting him down away for naps and bed time and I love listening to him chat away in there until he crashes.  Best sound ever.

I am not sure what I did to be blessed with these amazing boys, but I am beyond grateful for them.  I adore being their mom and I feel like the luckiest person in the world to get to love them.

A SUPER(man) birthday

Jackson, my sweet nephew, is turning FOUR this week and he had a birthday party this past weekend.  Don't even get me started about him turning four.  I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday.  How can he already be four?  CRAZY!

The theme of the party was super heroes and it was such a cute idea!  I wish I had taken more pictures, but I didn't, sadly.  This was when Cal started acting like he wasn't feeling well, and we had to wake him up from his nap to go to the party, and Andy didn't take a nap, so he was exhausted and I ended up putting that big boy in the bjorn so he could sleep-- so my hands were a little full!

When the kids arrived, they all got to make their own capes, which was such a cute idea-- the kids loved it!

brad was there too! brad never disappoints when it comes to wearing a costume!

Happy birthday, sweet Jackson!  We love you so so so much and we are "SUPER" proud of you! (you see what I did there?? haha)