Elan 8 months

Wow time is flying by! I can't believe Elan is 8 months old already! He is doing so many fun things these days. For one thing, he is a great sleeper at night (praise the heavens! I still say we paid it forward for this during his first 3 months when he ate every other hour all night long!)! He sleeps 10-12 hours every night and really never wakes up before 5:00 when he once in a while needs some food. (knock on wood!!) He is taking more regular naps too, although I kind of manipulate them so he'll sleep as long as I can get him to! Right now he usually takes a shorter nap in the morning (sometimes he gets woken up so we can take Ashlyn to something, and sometimes he sleeps in the car as we run errands, so he doesn't always get much of a morning nap), and then he'll sleep 2-3 hours in the afternoon. Yeah! 

He LOVES cruising around in this walker! He has totally figured out how to get to what he wants. I have to close doors now or I find him in places I don't want him! This walker is so awesome. It has made its way through so many families in our family and we're enjoying our turn right now! Although if he gets much faster in it I'm going to put it away! It's kind of dangerous! But fun. For reals he absolutely loves it. Except for if he's hungry / tired, then it's pretty comical (for a few minutes) because he keeps half-heartedly wheeling himself around moaning and fussing. Such a hard life!



My little buddy as I get ready most mornings. He has a loud YELL that he uses as fussing. He isn't cool with playing in his crib for long once he's woken up in the mornings, and I don't want him to wake up Ashlyn, so he gets to come hang out in my room while I'm getting ready. He's always super happy and chipper at that time of day! I love it!



I got him a "new to us" high chair at the consignment sale and it has been SO nice. He wasn't big enough for the little booster chair we used for Ashlyn, since she sat in the Bumbo to eat for so long. (And by the way, I completely put the Bumbo away. This man will have nothing to do with it. Sad!) I didn't rush him into solids like I feel I kind of did with Ashlyn. (first born = burnt pancake, right?!) I tried giving him some like once a week for probably 6 weeks before he finally was interested in eating it. But once he was.... he loved it! He has gobbled down everything he's tried. Including vegetables! Now that he has these 2 adorable little teeth he really likes crackers and little teething biscuits. Actually he likes them so much sometimes he will refuse other baby food! Oops. but oh well. It's awesome having a kid that will actually eat stuff. We're on to stage 2 baby food and so far he likes everything.




Oh my gosh seriously those eyes. He totally has his birth mom's eyes, I think. Gorgeous!! He is already such a lady killer! We are going to be in trouble when he's older! By the way, this picture was a time he had wrapped himself up (not on purpose) into a little baby burrito in this blanket. It was funny for a minute but then he realized he was trapped! Ah baby problems.



I actually took him out for a jog during preschool one day. I wish I did this more. Crappy jogging trail options around here, that's for sure! But it was really fun. He loves riding in the stroller. He doesn't really want anything to play with or hold, he likes to just look around. I hope that lasts!



See this big smile I get whenever I take his picture?! Such a dreamboat.



The biggest trick Elan has learned this month is.... army crawling! He is getting pretty fast at it. Well, fast for dragging his whole body across the floor using just his arms! I bet he will be thrilled with how much faster actual crawling is when he figures that out! Anyway, the whole Elan crawling around thing was a little rough for Ashlyn. All of a sudden he could get to her toys! She is slowly getting used to that but I broke up a lot of fights (*fights* ha ha ha) between then the first week or so that he started doing that. The thing he LOVED to play in at first was her little tent. He crawls over and goes right inside, and if I'm nearby he'll play peekaboo with me! It is pretty much the cutest thing of my life. He will just lay in there looking up at the top of the tent. It's pretty funny.


He was charmed by his cousins just like Ashlyn always is!


Ah my melting heart! Oh one other little Elan thing this picture reminds me of.... this past month we all of a sudden have been having some serious peeing through his diaper issues! ugh!! He never had before, and I don't know what the deal is lately. We went up a diaper size and that helped a little, but not enough. Then we started buying the more expensive diapers thinking maybe the cheap ones were the problem, and that also helped a little more, but still we had problems at night! Next up is trying out the dang expensive overnight diapers. Is it just boys and that their pee comes out at a different angle or something? I don't know. But I do know I'm sick of changing crib sheets (a chore straight from Satan!!) and clothes. He peed through this outfit that day, that's what made me remember this! :)



And our little calendar model. Someone told me he reminds them of George Costanza (Seinfeld) when he posed like this..... if you know what I'm talking about you'll know why that's funny! And now every time he does it I think of that and it's even funnier! What a cute kid. Those chubs, I just want to eat them up!



A dang cute church outfit!


This is Elan's daily life right now! Where can I crawl and what can I check out?



Halloween Spoiler alert! I had to document this pic though in case I don't get a good one later! Is he not to DIE for!


He will have NOTHING to do with this little exersaucer now that he can move around. He doesn't want to be trapped!


Love that double chin. He is so loved by his big sister, too.

Some other cute things Elan does are:
*Claps! If I say "Yay for Elan!" He'll clap his hands a few times and then throw them both up in the air over his head. It is pretty much the cutest.
*Babbles little baby talk all the time.
*When he's *yelling* (otherwise known as Elan's version of fussing), it's usually on the vowel "EEEEEE!" He shouts it louder and louder and louder. I keep trying to get a video of it but he pretty  much only does it when I'm not paying enough attention to him so that's hard.
*He LOVES bath time, still. He has figured out how to kick both his legs at the same time, and it makes BIG splashes! Lucky for whoever is bathing him, we get drenched. He thinks it's the greatest. He's got a big grin on his face the whole time and I think he knows he's soaking us.
*He does NOT like to lay still long enough for diaper/clothes changes. Sigh. I think we're about done with the changing table, sadly. It's hard to pin him down on that thing!

He is finally not too much of a bum about riding in the car, which is nice. Although he yells at me a lot more when Ashlyn's not with us, he must be lonely back there. She keeps him pretty entertained when we're all together.
 Sadly, he won't let me carry him around in the wrap any more! That just happened this month. We got 7.5 months out of that thing! The last 2 trips I took him to the store in it, he just tried to climb out and was just grabbing things and hitting me (playfully) the whole time. It was pretty awful. So no more. He CAN ride in the seat in the cart now!! He seems like such a big boy doing that! ahh! He loves it though. For like 15 minutes. So that's how fast my shopping trips are!
 He is doing great and we love him tons, of course! Can't imagine life without him. He makes our family so much more wonderful, and brings smiles to us each day. Love our little Elan boy!