the byron family: bouncing baby boy

No kidding. This baby does NOT sit still... ever! And it is so.much.fun. :)

This is how the majority of our pictures are - a blur. I have to use a special setting on my camera that captures action... on that setting the flash doesn't always go off so I am struggling with taking some good pictures of this crazy boy. Maybe that means a new camera is in my future :)

At 8 months, Mr. Benjamin Luke, you are:

so, so, so much fun... i mean it. your daddy and i just LOVE this fun stage
your personality is DEFINITELY beginning to show :) and we love that, too. At daycare you are rico suave and the king of the classroom. You pretty much run the show and that cracks us up. You continue to be the class flirt, Ella and Kate are your favorites. You love to hang out with Ella and then leave her high and dry and crawl over to Kate's crib... who taught you that??!! We will have to work on that later... much later :) You also love to take toys away from other babies in the class... and crawl over anyone in your way. I love the determination in you, buuuuut, we're going to need to work on "sharing". That will be later, too :)
Your biggest 8-month accomplishment is "pulling up" - you have MASTERED it!! Just a few days after your 8-month bday you began kneeling, then one foot up, and then to a stand! I don't know much about the "proper way" to stand, but Daddy does and he said you are the poster child for how to stand :) YAY BABY BEN!! :) We are so proud of you and your achievements! You got another certificate at daycare for pulling up.... we put it right next to the first one you got (for "crawling")!

Scratch that - - - THIS is the BIGGEST accomplishment... you are sleeping though the night!!!!! Hallelujah!! Can you hear the angels singing? Because I most definitely can! You slept through the first 4 nights you were 8 months old and are sleeping through most every night now. Every once in a while you will wake up once, but we just pat you back to sleep with no feedings and no rocking. This is REALLY hard for me because I can't stand for you to cry... but Daddy is my strength and in just minutes you are back to sleep! You are sleeping so, so much better. You take 2 naps a day, the first at 10am and the second at 2pm (ish). You are staying up later now. Bedtime is around 8pm instead of 7pm. This is great for allowing Mommy and Daddy to get out and go to dinners and such; however, we also kind of miss our alone time! By the time we get you down, we are pretty much ready for bed ourselves!

happy boy!

You want to walk so.so.so badly!! You "bear crawl" now, with your knees off the ground. I think that is you trying desperately to walk and just not quite being able to do it. It's so, so cute!

You are ALL BOY!!! I mean it! I posted last month about your infatuation with balls, cars and dirt... but I have to mention it again. Especially balls... you have a ball in your hand 24/7 at home. It's so, so funny! We love our precious baby BOY :)

eating dirt every time i try to take a picture :)

the next few pictures are of Ben and his Ball :) it goes EVERYWHERE with him!

crawling with the ball...

eating with the ball...

bathing and sleeping with the ball!

For your 8-month birthday, Mommy and Daddy had a weak moment and went shopping and bought you lots of fun, new things! You got a piano (you LOVE this... little Beethoven!), an elephant toy that shoot balls in the air and counts and sings, a Thomas the Train, and an activity table. We love spoiling you rotten :)

You still have NO teeth!!! Where are they?? We know they are in there...

You are eating SO much better! You can eat whole packets/tubs of baby food at one sitting and are trying more and more things. Sweet potatoes still are your favorite. You also love apple cinnamon oatmeal, lasagna and bananas with strawberry and mango.

(these crack me up because Ben's shirt says Handsome Like Daddy... and his face is covered in sweet potato... what a mess! Like Daddy! haha. And, the ball is present yet again!)

At the doctor we found out you are in the 25th percentile for weight and height! You're just a little guy! You are 27 inches long and 19 lbs. Your head circumference is in the 75th percentile though :) Must be a big ol' brain in there!

(before the shots :( poor thing!)

We also found out at the doctor that we can start you on big people food! Fruits and veggies and whole grains now. Next month dairy, meats and more. This is going to get fun! The first thing we gave you was a banana and you LOVED it. We also give you Ritz crackers and you love those, too. Buffett loves it, too, because you drop LOTS of crumbs!
You are a crawling machine... we have established that. You can really book it. It's so cute to watch your tiny little body scurry across the floor! And you ALWAYS have an object in your hand, which makes it much harder to crawl, but you can do it. And that, as is everything you do, is too cute!