Liam - 8 month check-in - The Blessed Mess

Today our sweet angel of a baby boy turns 8 months old. I have no idea how he has gotten so big but I’d really appreciate it if time would slow down. At night, when I put him to bed, I find myself holding him a little longer, taking in his sweet face as he rests his head on my shoulder while he drifts to sleep. Before I know it he won’t want to snuggle with me so I’m savoring everything I can before he’s saying, “Ew Mom! Don’t kiss me in front of my friends!” Guh, I dread that day.

New this month:

Sheeeewww y’all! This kid is on the move! Gone are the days of being content playing in his jumperoo for 30 minutes or sitting on a blanket playing with a toy. He isn’t really content sitting anywhere for more than a few minutes at a time. He is pulling up on EVERYTHING. Me, the couch, the ottoman, his toys. Literally everything.

Liam is also now walking with this walker with one of us walking behind him so he doesn’t fall but I swear he’ll be walking on his own in the next few weeks. It’s exciting but at the same time I know once he starts he’ll be full speed ahead which will mean we are constantly on the go! And, per last month’s recap, we still haven’t baby proofed a thing. We’re really on the ball.

Liam also gave me the wonderful Mother’s Day gift of saying Da-Da as his first “word”. Wasn’t that nice of him? I was just an incubator folks…

Sleep:

As I mentioned last month, Liam is still waking up fairly regularly around 5:30-5:45am. If we give him a bottle we can usually get about an extra hour to two (if we’re really lucky!) out of him before he’s up for the day. He has recently within the last week started waking up around 1:30 and just needing to be readjusted and patted to settle back down but it seems that this is a bit of a habit as of late. But he also has yet another ear infection so maybe that’s why?

Now that his nighttime sleep is better, it seems his naps at daycare are not so great. He’s only sleeping for 40 minutes per nap on average and napping twice at daycare. Sometimes we’re able to get him down for a catnap once we get him home but other times that’s all he sleeps during the day. But on weekends, we’re able to get a good hour and a half or two hours out of him…No idea why it changed or what the deal is but I want to make sure he’s getting plenty of rest. Any one else struggled with this issue before?

All in all, we’ve seen a vast improvement in how Liam was sleeping a few months ago to now so we’ll take it but we would like to get him taking better naps while at school too.

Food:

As the ladies at Liam’s school reminded me yesterday, the boy likes to eat! As is evident by his weight of 23 lbs. at his sick visit earlier this week, the kid is certainly not missing any meals. He’s still eating a lot of purees but he’s get much more adventurous with finger foods. Also, he’s getting much better at actually getting food into his mouth which is helpful both for Tyler and I being able to eat simultaneously and for clean up purposes.

Dixie has also definitely figured out that he drops quite a bit into his lap though and has been caught on a few occasions sticking her nose up into his high chair trying to get the goods. She even pushes his chair back from the counter trying to get it! Can’t hate on her for being so determined but geez. Liam also enjoys letting her lick his fingers while he’s in his chair which is adorable but also not the most hygienic. But, it can’t be much worse than the germs at daycare so, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!

Recent favorites:

Pickles (totally my kid!)
Salmon
Cheeseburger
Sweet Potatoes
Hummus
Avocado
Bread
Any and all cheese

Liam eating a pickle and making a cringing face — It may not look like it in this photo but he really does love pickles!

Likes:

Momma
Being mobile/Crawling/Pulling up on anything and everything
Letting Dixie lick his food covered hands and/or dropping food for her off of his tray
Pulling hair
Being outside
Swinging at the park
Babbling like there is no tomorrow
Saying Da-Da

Dislikes:

Having his nose and/or face wiped
The Nose Frida (still hates it but it is so much more effective than the bulb syringe!)
Getting dressed or changed – must stay still for too long
Sitting still for more than 3 seconds