8 months old

Holy Cow...time is flying by. When I think that in just 4 months Brooks will be 1 year old, I seriously cannot believe it. We are having so much fun these days. Brooks is really moving now. He is crawling pretty fast all over the house. It's fun to watch him crawl over to his toys and entertain himself. It's less fun to look up and see him trying to pull the speakers over. He loves crawling on mommy and daddy's legs when we lay on the floor, and he is starting to pull up and climb all over us and all over the furniture. My favorite is when I go to get him out of his crib and he's crawling around in a circle. Speaking of crawling around in his crib; The other night, Chad and I went in to watch our son sleep before we headed to bed. Brooks was laying there so sweetly. Chad and I hugged at the thought that we made that little baby. But Chad couldn't keep his mouth shut and he said, "Can you believe he's our son?" (or something sweet and cheesy like that). Brooks opened his eyes and Chad and I hit the deck. Brooks immediately started grunting and moving around. We didn't want him to see us of course, because then he would really wake up. I ducked down on the chair and Chad ducked down on the floor. When I dared to peek up behind the chair, all I could see was the top of a little head bobbing around the crib, so I didn't move, and tried really hard not to just crack up laughing. Then Chad tapped me and motioned to the door, so we quietly crawled (literally) out the door.
(That's just a fun story that has nothing to do with Brooks being 8 months old.)
Other than the crawling, Brooks' vocabulary is growing...he now says "mama", "dada", "bababababa", "up", and a farting noise with his mouth that I don't know how to put in words. Of course, none of the words are really associated when meaning - but we pretend that they are when we hear him say "mama" and "dada". My favorite is when it sounds like this: "dadadaDADADAda", sometimes he can get really loud. He is also getting one more tooth, which takes the grand total to 2 teeth. Hopefully now that we've started that process the rest will come in quicker and with less pain. These two have made Brooks quite cranky at times.
I don't know his measurements, but we go in next month so I guess it'll have to wait. I really love knowing his measurements because it shows me for sure that he is growing. He seems really tall to me, and still skinny of course...I'm guessing 15 or so pounds and 29 inches tall right now. He's definitely eating like a champ, but because he is also crawling then that also means that he is burning calories. He just looks tall and handsome to me. Gosh - I love this kid!



As you can see, all Brooks wants to do is crawl.

Brooke and Brooks

We were lucky enough to travel to California last weekend to meet up with family and friends. First, I got to spend some time with my dear friend, Lexi, and her baby girl, Brooke. Talk about confusion...trying to have a conversation mentioning Brooke and Brooks, and Brooke's and Brooks'...too much! Brooke is absolutely adorable, and looks a lot like her mommy. The kids didn't really play much, but us mommies sure had a nice time catching up.

Just some fun in the sun

Back when it was warm outside (last week) we spent lots of time outside. Brooks loved playing with the grass. He is so happy outside...just like his daddy. I also put a baseball hat on him for the first time. It's a little too big, but it was only a dollar. I was surprised that Brooks kept it on. Every once in a while he would look up and notice something on his head, but he pretty much just left it on his head. He is becoming such a ham for the camera - maybe that's because we are always taking pictures.

A New Noise

Brooks learned a new noise the other day...



He crawled around all day making this sound. It was cracking me up!

A BIG WEEK

I know I usually give an update each month on Brooks' "birthday", but this time I just couldn't wait. Brooks is exactly 7 1/2 months old, and it has been a big week for him. On Saturday, he finally made sense of the whole "crawling" thing. He was rocking back and forth on his knees and then picked his hand up and moved it forward...and then the other hand...and then he was crawling. And now, all he wants to do is crawl. It's hard to change a diaper on a baby that is trying to get away. On top of that excitement...my baby is FINALLY getting his first tooth. I just happened to feel around in his mouth the other day, and his gums felt a little different. I checked it out (which is nearly impossible to look into a baby's mouth) and sure enough - I could see a little bud trying real hard to poke through the gums. No wonder he has been fussing and drooling so much. All of a sudden, my little baby isn't such a little baby anymore.

I just can't get enough

This last one makes me laugh...his hair was going crazy because of the static, and he's had this obsession today about sticking out his tongue.

Fun Food

Brooks enjoys sucking on wagon wheels, but he has been taking too big of a bite lately. So the other night I decided to break them apart into smaller pieces and put them on the table for him to grab. He loves this! He grabs the pieces with his tiny little fingers and tries to make it to his mouth. Some times he'll get distracted by the other pieces on the table, so he ends up dropping one piece just to grab another. And when he gets a piece in his mouth he actually does a really good job "chewing" it. It's totally cute! Tonight we went out to eat ($1 mini margaritas and Mexican food), and I brought some wagon wheels to break apart and give to Brooks to chew on so he wouldn't get bored. He gobbled up 3 wagon wheels and would've eaten more if I had brought any more. As soon as one was in his mouth, he was grabbing for another piece. He was getting a little greedy! When our food got there I thought it would be nice to share some of my black beans with Brooks. I put a pile of the beans in front of him, and he loved grabbing them and shoving them into his mouth. (And for those of you thinking that I put food down on a dirty restaurant table, I will have you know that I totally washed it down first.) So, Brooks pretty much ate the entire time that we were at the restaurant. It was amazing! Some times I look at his belly and wonder how anything else will fit in there.
[For those of you who are wondering what the heck a wagon wheel is, I added a picture as a visual aid.]