Levi: 8 Months

This entry is woefully late. #thirdkidprobs

Levi turned 8 months over the weekend while I was at Ladies' Retreat. I don't feel like that much has changed since last month.

He's a sitting pro now. I usually don't worry about putting pillows around him anymore. But he's still not moving at all. He refuses to stay on his belly, so he never scooches or gets up on his hands and knees. I've tried coaxing him forward a couple times while he was on his belly. He wiggles his butt and fidgets his legs, but doesn't move his arms and can't figure out how to go forward. Haha. Both of the girls were scooching by this age.

He also doesn't stand. You'd think he'd love standing after being in the Jumperoo so much, but I'm starting to wonder if it's impeding his progress instead of aiding it. He doesn't pull up on anything. If I stand him up next to something, he just folds in half and falls over. Even if I hold him upright on my lap, he usually won't put much weight on his legs. I'm trying to remind myself that all babies are different and he's just taking his time. But I'm getting a tiny bit worried.

Sleep is still abysmal. He takes a morning nap after we drop Lucy off at school - usually 8:30-10, another nap in the afternoon - usually 1ish to 2:30ish, and an evening nap around 5:30 (that usually only lasts an hour, but he's currently 1.5 hours in to his evening nap). And then night time sleep is a disaster. He usually goes down around 8 or 9. But then he's up every three hours or less. And he won't go back to sleep unless I nurse him. I tried to make him cry it out once last week and he screamed for 2 hours. I don't even understand how someone so little can have so much stamina.

I'm realizing that part of his sleep problem is my own fault. I've somehow gotten in the bad habit of nursing him to sleep all day long. It's just how his schedule works. Instead of eat, play, sleep we've fallen into play, eat, sleep. So he won't ever go to sleep without nursing first. Bad, bad, bad. I know better. The problem is that I'm exhausted from being up with him all the time so I'm too tired to work on it during the day. It's a vicious cycle.

We're still easing into solid food. I'm still doing largely purees and squeezies just because I want him filling up with vegetables. I give him a chunk of my bagel most mornings. He's had baked sweet potato slices, canned carrots, pears, apples, frozen banana, and grapes in the mesh feeder. I haven't given him any dairy yet. I don't know what I'm waiting for. Just being lazy I guess. He does great with everything I've given him. Although his pincer grasp is still terrible. He doesn't pick things up off his tray. He only eats what I hand to him.

He is a very laid back, content baby. He happily plays with his toys on the floor for much of the day. I keep telling myself that he's not blowing through milestones because he's just so chill. Justin is very much like that, so hopefully that's a good sign that Levi will have Justin's laid back, easy going personality. (And Justin has successfully met all his milestones. ;-) )

Levi still loves people and doesn't have too much stranger anxiety. He still prefers me, and I do occasionally get called out of church while he's in the nursery, but for the most part he likes other people.

He's still a big babbler, although he pretty much only says "Da da da da" and "ya ya ya."

No teeth in sight, but the girls didn't get any 'til they were almost a year. I love his gummy smile.

He loves playing pat-a-cake and so big. He's very ticklish. He loves splashing in the bath.

I change my mind every day about what color his eyes are going to be. I think he's just going to have Justin's eyes which change depending on what he's wearing. Look how dark they are here:

His hair is getting long and flops over his ears sometimes. Haha. Is he old enough for a haircut? This boy mom stuff is new to me.

He's such a sweet, happy, snuggly boy and we love him so much!