8 Months old

Standing up and climbing is all he wants to do. He makes Mummy and DaDa very nervous. With us having hardwood floors, he's cracked his head several times and I bet he does it a million more times before he gets walking mastered. Also instead of just saying Da Da, he also says the Na and Ga, but no ma yet. And the best part of 8 months old is he FINALLY likes to cuddle. I've been wanting this since day 1. It has made my heart blossom with more love than I thought was possible. I LOVE cuddling with my baby boy!

"Baby gate my ass, I'll get through this somehow."

"I will conquer this toy!"

"I'm way too cool in my new floaty."

When will I get to sleep in until 10am??

Dane woke up at 6am today, about an hour or so too early. I'm so thankful that he sleeps as much as he does, but I still can't get used to the early mornings. I remember the days of waking up on my own, stretching my arms up and saying, "Hello day, I'm ready for you." Now I wake up grumpy, stumble downstairs to start the coffee and after about 2 cups, I say, "Hello Dane, I'm ready to play." I wouldn't change it for the world though, and I know it won't be like this forever. Before I know it, he'll be sleeping till noon and definitely not wanting to play with me. :)


Thankfully Vincent steps in for me and plays big brother.

Play date

Tomorrow we have another play date at the pool. A few months ago I joined a mothers group and luckily have connected with a few mothers with similar aged children. The meetings are awkward but the playgroups are fun. With Brad and I being so anti-social, I hope one day Dane will be able to make friends with children on our block. We are not the type of people to start chatting with the neighbors. There are tons of families with babies so I'm sure it'll work out. Until then.... a few photos from the playgroups.

Water baby

Dane LOVES to be in the water. He's been to the local pool a few times and last weekend we set up his baby pool. I was a water bug when I was a little tot and he is following in my foot steps. Plus the sun and water wear him out so he's completely content after swimming. So cute!

Ah stand up

Now Dane can pull himself to sitting and standing. He loves to practice these new skills over and over. He's still not quite crawling on all fours yet. He drags himself, but is getting fast at it. Over the weekend we added a baby gate to our basement steps and completed a few other babyproofing projects. I'm not sure what to do about the steps going up because the cats have to come down. The gate with the cat door doesn't work at the bottom of steps. The more I do, the better I feel because I know it only takes a second for them to hurt themselves. Here's a few recent photos of our little man.

July 4th Parade

Daddy took Dane to Bexley's fourth of July parade on Saturday. Dane enjoyed himself immensely. All the sounds and people kept him entertained. He also got to see his two uncles and his pap. Dane is a very blessed little boy to have such an awesome daddy. It also gave me a few hours by myself, which is a rare occurrence since Dane's arrival. Here's a few pictures Daddy took with the camera.

Later that same day, uncle Brian and Rikki came to our home for a visit. It was a good day.

Boy

You are such a little boy. You're rough and tough and love to wrestle; you love being outside; and I've yet to see a tear come down your face when you cry. I figure it won't be too long before you're picking up an ant and eating it. Daddy loves it! He's so happy he has a partner in crime. Here's a picture of him enjoying his little buddy.

Granny P

Yesterday we hung out with Pandora aka Granny P. Pandora is the mother of one of my best friends. Over the years Pandora has become a very good friend of my own. Pandora worked at a daycare center for several years and has a soft spot for babies. Besides that her 2 grandchildren live out of state. Anyways she adored Dane which of course made me very happy. Next week she is going to watch Dane while I run some errands. She even wants to watch him overnight soon which is going to be hard for me to turn down considering Daddy and I never go out here in Columbus anymore. The way I figure it, can a baby have too many grandmas? I think not.