The big 8!!

I am proud of myself that I have gotten this written before he is 8 1/2 months! This last month has flown by. We are all settled back at home after our vacation and back into our daily routinue. Liam is like his mama and really needs a daily schedule. He thrives when we stick to it. Of course he is such a good baby that when his schedule gets out of whack with traveling or other things he doesn't complain or anything. I can just tell he likes consistency and predictability. I also mentioned in my last update that his sleeping was messed up because of teething, but now that his teeth have finished coming through, he is back to sleeping 8am-8pm and going 12 straight hours before waking up. It's so nice. He also dropped his early evening nap and is taking 2 two hour naps during the day. He is such a good boy about going to sleep. We have a routinue we do before he goes to sleep and by the time I lay him down he is awake but plays quietly in his room for a couple minutes and then falls asleep without crying. Except the past couple nights he has had a hard time going to sleep at night but I think he is teething again because the drool facet has turned on again and all the other things he did when he cut his first two teeth. But normally he is really good about going to sleep and it's SO nice. 

I love my boys more than anything.

He is the best baby ever. I know I say this all the time, but we are so blessed. There are so many times during the day when we are playing or he is kissing me that I get so sad thinking he is going to grow up too fast. I want my little baby to stay little or at least time to slow down. Sometimes I will just hold him smelling his little baby smell trying to soak up every second we have together. Because before I know it he will grow up and his poofy baby hair, baby fat, whole puncher teeth and slobbery kisses will be gone. It makes me sad but also inspires me to soak up every minute I have with him this age. 

I love these pictures of Liam! It shows how adorable and happy he is all the time! And crazy thing is that his teeth have come out even more since then!

New this month is his obsession with standing! He LOVES to stand at the edge of the couch, our chairs, coffee table or anything else. He especially likes to pound on the things he is holding onto. And he also really likes to walk while holding on to our hands or something else. 

He also really likes to sit on the floor and play with his toys. He isn't a huge fan of playing with his toys if he isn't sitting though.

 He is also SUPER close to crawling. He can army crawl really quick (like in the above picture) and can go a couple "strides" crawling with his belly off the floor but he usually face plants after a little while. Any day now! Can you also see how long his hair is getting?? It is almost time for his first hair cut, but I am not ready for it! Weird I know, but I am so sad about the idea of cutting his little baby hair! One of these days though our little man needs a hair cut and if Richard gets his way, it will be sooner rather than later! :)

Here are some more random pictures from the past couple weeks:

Reading scriptures with Daddy! He loves reading books even though most of it is spent trying to grab and suck on the books. But he stills enjoys it!

Standing holding onto mommy! He LOVES it when I sit on the floor and he stands holding on to me

 So cute! He also loves the camera and whenever I bring out the camera he starts crawling/army crawling as fast as he can to me and tries to shove it in his mouth. This is him trying to get to it as fast as he can! Look at those cute eyes!

This was so funny! Richard was with Liam in his room changing his diaper and getting him ready to go out and I heard both of them laughing really hard. He brought him out like this with a bear diaper cover on his head and then I couldn't help but join in on the laughing

At 8 months Liam can...

--Pull to standing on steady objects (with a little bit of help)

--Army crawl and take a few "steps" crawling with his tummy off the ground

--Stand while holding on to something

--Drink from a sippy cup

--Pick up and feed himself small food using pincer grasp

 (cherrios, rice puffs etc...of course all are safe)

--Jabber and combine syllables

--Understand object permanence

--Bang objects together

--Put objects into a container

--Walk if he is holding onto something with both hands and being a little supported

--Say mama and dada

--Understand action and reaction

ETC

(I am just listing some new things he can do. I didn't include everything he can do because that would take too much time)

At 8 months Liam likes...

--Taking baths

--Eating rice puffs and cherrios 

--Drinking from his sippy cup

--Eating the baby food version of: sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, bananas, apples and any fruit combination

--Playing with toys while he eats

--Playing with his toys

--Playing with anything even if it isn't supposed to be a toy (like his favorites are baby food containers, water bottles, fruit etc)

--When Daddy comes home from work

--Playing with Daddy

--Playing with Mommy's hair

--Seeing and playing with himself in the mirror

--Playing with kids of any age

--People singing to him

--Having his picture taken and trying to eat the camera

--Playing with Daddy's computer or any cords coming from it

--Playing with any type of ball

--Making loud noises and when people copy those loud noises

--Giving Mommy kisses (part of him giving me kisses is grabbing onto my face and pulling it into his...he is a STRONG kid and the other day he grabbed me so hard that it cut my face and I have scars! It's totally worth it though haha)

--Playing with any new toy or object (he loves inspecting things)

--Exploring our house

--Standing at our rocking chair and rocking it

--Standing at our coffee table and hitting the table making the flowers on it move and make noise

--Looking at books with babies his age/size in it (there is one with just faces of babies his age and he laughs the entire time he looks at it)

--Looking at pictures of people smiling (it makes him laugh really hard)

--Grabbing hair

--Trying to give kisses to kids his age (which usually makes then cry because it involves him pulling their hair to make them come closer

--Sticking his tongue out all weird and funny

--Making raspberry noises

ETC.

At 8 months Liam dislikes...

--Being away from Mommy even if I just walk into the other room (separation anxiety is definitely starting)

--Eating baby food versions of green beans, peas or meat in any form

--Having his face washed after eating

--Eating without toys or without being able to watch people

--When Daddy leaves for work

--Having to lay down on his back to get his diaper changed (most times we are trying to change him while he trying to turn over and crawl away...o joy)

--When he doesn't get enough sleep (we don't like that either)

Our little Liam is the biggest joy in our lives. I don't know what we did without him!! There is nothing like watching the love of your life being the best daddy in the whole world. Being able to stay home with him is the most wonderful blessing ever and I love that I am able to sit on the floor and play with him or go on walks while he is awake. I never thought I would enjoy and love being a mommy as much as I do! 

Enough mushy stuff for one post huh?

Here is a piece of Richards costume to give you a hint of what we are going to be for Halloween:

(we do not torture our child...he was smiling the whole time it was on except for the 2 seconds it took to take this picture...of course)

Our friends are hosting a totally wicked Halloween party and we are so excited to go all out for our costumes. We are coordinating our costumes as a family and it will be so cute. I can promise there will be some totally awesome pictures of our costumes coming soon... excited to see what they are?

(well at least Liam and I's costumes...I am sure you can guess what Richard is going to be)