Your Eighth Month

My goodness we have definitely had some big changes this month! You are not crawling...yet. You are definitely trying to and kind of have an army crawl you will do when you're super desperate to get to something far away. You only do it on special occasions. You are however sitting like a pro and can transition easily from sitting to stomach to back and vice versa very well.

You had a HUGE growth spurt this month, initiating a couple of changes such as you are now in a convertible carseat since you are already 30 inches long and you were able to fit into size nine month clothing for a whole...three weeks. So we've skipped twelve month clothing and just gone straight to size 18 month because I find it pointless to buy you all twelve month clothing in case you do the same thing. Along with this huge growth spurt and changes of clothing sizes also meant that you diapers got quite a bit tighter as well. While you are not close to the weight restriction for size 3 diapers (28 lbs I think?) they are just getting to short and narrow for you, so onto size 4!

You finally broke your first tooth on August 11th, two days before your turned eight months. And you broke your second one three days later so we officially are no longer gumming everything! But unfortunately with your second tooth you have started teething and wanting to be cuddled and held most of the day. But I don't mind. I love how you have started to lift your arms up when you want to be picked up and the way you wrap your arms around my neck and squeeze tight just makes my heart melt. My favorite is your slobbery kisses on the side of my face when you say hello.

You are still eating pureed baby food, but we are starting to introduce more and more true solids to you. So far you've had pancakes, graham crackers, strawberries, grapes, peach slices, pear slices, a couple fries (naughty daddy), and a bite of bacon (naughty mommy). You definitely are all about textures just like mommy, if its slimy or super rubbery/chewy you are not a huge fan. It's fun to see you experience things for the first time and decide if you like them right away or not.

Thank heavens you are still sleeping through the night, and you still take nightly bathes which is definitely fun to see you play in the tub sink. You still love your Dory, and typically because your the most tired during bath time since it's right before bedtime that is your loudest period when you squeal and gab a lot. It's fun to see you be more and more vocal and you have also started saying, 'mama mama mama' but it's to nothing particular but I like to respond, 'Yes, I'm momma'. Even though you can't understand I'm trying to train you in hopes that's your first true word.

We love you so much little man, you are truly the most special part of our family and I can't imagine our family without you now, it's like you were always a missing piece.

Daddy: is loving your sweet blue eyes and how you laugh at farting sounds

Mommy: is loving giving you raspberries so that you will giggle

Puppies: are loving cleaning up your high chair for you once you're done eating

Family Pictures 2014

Another thing off my bucket list and new years resolution list for the year! We had our family pictures taken the end of June by the amazing Amanda Castleberry, seriously I was so impressed! Hilton didn't cry or fuss once, and she got some of the best group shots with all of us I was so happy I can't even tell you. I'm so glad she was able to squeeze us in while she was visiting in Utah for possibly her last trip before her second baby is born. Thanks so much Amanda!

Location: Temple Square, Lion House and Fountains

Yellowstone 2014

Jared and I had been talking about making this trip since we got married and it just so happened that it all came together this summer. However it was not exactly planned out very well with a seven month infant. Let's just say an eight hour car ride was not the best idea when you have a baby strapped in his car seat the whole time. We did take a break every couple of hours but it still wasn't enough for poor Hilton. By the last stretch of our car ride when I went to put him in his car seat he started screaming the instant he saw it. But besides that it was a great trip!

 

Happy to be out of the carseat and in the wide open spaces!

We stayed in a small private little cabin north of North Yellowstone in Pray, Montana. The town is as small as it sounds. But it was just what we needed with it's own little fire pit where I roasted marshmallows and with a cute little deck where we could look out across the valley and hills.

At Patriot Cap

 

At Mammoth Hot Springs-a large crack in the earth's surface caused by a hot super pressurized water spring underground reaching the surface. According to the guide this one has been going on for almost one million years and will probably go on for a couple more million.

At the Artist Paintpoints-literally huge boiling pools of water or mud!

We spent the majority of the first day after we arrived seeing the west half of Yellowstone. We made all the major stops on the way down to West Thumb including Mammoth, Artist Paintpots, Old Faithful and many others. Hilton definitely had the most fun this day I think because we stopped frequently, probably every half hour and took quite a couple hikes so he had to spend less time in the car. We hiked to Artist Paintpots and everyone who walked by us kept commenting on 'how happy of a baby' he was and my response was 'anything to be out of the carseat'. But I do think he enjoyed the smell of the pines and all the amazing new things to see.

 

Random vents of steam became a very common sight as we drove along to our various stops

 

The Old Faithful Lodge

 

Good Old Faithful herself-so much taller than this picture gives justice to!

 

  

The second day we spent seeing the east half of Yellowstone. The only things we did this day was to stop at the Great Yellowstone Falls, specifically we hiked the lower falls-in our flip flops and Hilton in the stroller which wasn't the smartest idea but live and learn, stopped at a field between the falls and Yellowstone Lake because of a huge amount of bison, and Fishing Bridge at Yellowstone Lake. This was a bit rougher of a day for Hilton but still fun. Hilton loved watching the falls, and seeing the bison so close. We got him a stuffed animal buffalo and he slept with it every night during the trip which was adorable!

This pretty two point belongs to a herd of elk just hanging out in the north part of Yellowstone

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

We took Hilton down the lower falls hike in the stroller...not such a great idea.

But he sure enjoyed it! Even though daddy almost died trying to push him back up to the top

 

The Lower falls of Yellowstone

Hilton sure was excited by all the water. p.s. don't judge me that Hilton isn't wearing any pants...he leaked through a couple diapers already by that time and all four I packed for the day were already wet or spit up on

 

We got out of the car to let Hilton see the bison and then they started walking up to the cars...so we got back in the car but it was so cool! They walked within ten feet of the car and were crossing the road and had traffic stopped from both directions for a good fifteen to twenty minutes.

The rest of our trip we went and stayed with some friends in Yellowstone, unfortunately we didn't take any pictures while we were there, I wish we had. It was so nice to see them but once we were on our way home we were definitely happy to know we were going home. All in all it was a great trip and I'm so glad we finally were able to do it, but we will wait a couple years to go back.