Kolbe- 8 months

 

Kolbe just turned 8 months.  Because he is still under a year, he is hitting milestone after milestone so there is always a lot to share about what he's been up to each month.  

 

At the end of last month, just after he'd turned 7 months old (and when many of these pictures were taken), he really took off in so many different ways.  He began pulling himself up to stand on the furniture and climbed his first few stairs.  

A few days later, he climbed up the entire staircase (it's like 14 stairs).  Chris went behind him in case he fell, but he did it all on his own like a crazy maniac.  Now I have yet another area of the house to keep an eye on because we don't have a baby gate.  

 

A week later, in early April, we discovered that he was getting two more teeth (they are now halfway in).  Just a few days ago, 4 more teeth began cutting through his sore little gums.  The pictures above in the plaid shirt are from a sad teething day in early April.  He still tries so hard to smile through it, but he's been a bit of a mess the past week especially with so many coming in at once.  His napping has been affected (read: he barely naps at all!!) so one day he was so tired, he passed out playing in his exersaucer.  

 

I began the packing process for our move earlier in April and Ava kept Kolbe busy playing trains one day so I could get out boxes and pack a few up.  Mostly he just wants to nurse, climb on me, pull my hair, and be so cute that I can't get as much done as I feel like I should.  Oh well.  Babies don't keep.  I guess we'll just snuggle.  

Chris dubbed this outfit his John Lasseter outfit.  

The little man loves to listen to his daddy play the guitar.  

 

I put him in this cute sweater and khaki pants on Palm Sunday and he just looked so BIG!  Like a little MAN!  Kayla asked for silly faces, so I obliged.  

A candid that Kayla caught.  

We finally gave Kolbe his first solids this month.  Almost 7 and 1/2 months and he tried some sweet potatoes.  He liked them pretty well.  In the past couple weeks, he's also had puffs.  He is quite good with his fine motor skills picking them up and getting them to his mouth and he seems to think they are quite tasty.  He can also drink out of a sippy cup on his own.  

 

He plays piano. 

Just kidding.  But he does like to bang on our toy one.  

He is such a happy baby.  This has been a tough month for him with getting a cold/cough and all the teeth he's getting, but he's still a pretty generally happy baby most of the time.  He never wants to sleep for me and he wakes up a lot at night, but when he's awake, he is almost always doing his best to smile.  He loves smiles and attention.  And nursing and snuggling to sleep.  

He's pulling himself up on EVERYthing and has even let go briefly before dropping onto his rear.  He's cruising along furniture and is just everywhere.  He crawls super fast now (he started doing that just after he turned 6 months, so he's had nearly two months to perfect those abilities and he certainly has). He's a little speed crawler.  It's probably a safe bet that he'll take his first steps in the next month/ month and a half just like his sisters did.  

Not everything about him is enjoyable...

He refuses his paci (and has for months now).  He doesn't suck his thumb.  He is only mildly attached to his blankie.  He is NOT good at putting himself to sleep at all.  

He finds it soothing to pull at my face and lips and hair while he nurses which is extremely painful because he squeezes really hard.  I am so ready for that phase to be over.  

But he smiles and giggles and babbles often.  He loves to be around everyone especially his daddy.  He has THE chunkiest (and cutest) thighs ever.  His chins and rolls and chubby cheeks are perfection.  His little hair fuzz is adorable.  And his smile lights up my world and everyone he meets.