Matthew at 8 Months

Our little baby boy is actually getting pretty big. He hasn't been weighed since his 6 month appointment, but he feels like he's gotten so much heavier and he's looking lots chunkier too. Whew! It probably helps that he (typically) spends less of his time throwing up. As soon as I say that, he'll spend an entire morning tossing chunks, but generally speaking, he's doing better. It's weird because he mostly just throws up milk and it will randomly get worse even though I have totally cut out dairy for the last 3(maybe 2) months. By the way, I still hate that I can't eat dairy. ESPECIALLY since Matthew isn't completely "cured." Speaking of Matthew and eating, he's been eating more than Adaline lately. It almost seems like he never gets full-we just run out of food or decide he can't possible need to eat more. He had two hot dogs at dinner the other night...with veggies! He is also a very animated eater. Each bite is often accompanied by a scream and kicking his feet like crazy on his tray-it's all out of happiness. Well, unless it's something he needs help eating and we aren't feeding him fast enough...

Yes, he ate them all. And he had a bowl of oatmeal (like real people oatmeal. The same stuff I was eating, just without the sugar)

I guess he needs the calories, because he is quite the little mover. He loves to crawl! Matthew is no longer bothered by the hard floors so he'll go anywhere-including in the bathroom so that he can suck on the toilet lid-it's his absolute favorite. He also enjoys cruising the furniture (and his sister), can go from sitting to standing without holding on to anything, and can also stand for a few seconds without holding on to anything.

It can be hard to get a picture of him because as soon as I pull out the camera, he is in my lap.

hahahaha

He and Adaline love to wrestle and giggle, although she sometimes "forgets" that he isn't quite as big as she is.

Another of Matthew's favorite things is to be held by EVERYONE at church. During sunday school and Relief Society, he gets passed around like crazy. He loves it. One of his favorite things is to rest his head on our shoulders, suck his thumb, and play with the hair at the back of our necks. It is so sweet. He's definitely a snuggler and he'll do that to pretty much anyone.

Matthew is a lot of fun at this age, but still causes me some grief. Probably the most frustrating thing is when he's hungry but screams at me instead of nursing. I think it's a result of having to feed him medicine with a bottle before nursing him for a couple months, but I could really do without it. Luckily it isn't all the time, but it sure is a bummer when it happens.

We love our little guy and we know we are so lucky to have him. I hope you've had a great 8 months in our family, bubba, cause we sure are enjoying having you around!

A couple things about Adaline while I'm at it:
Our little girl is SO full of love. She is always giving hugs and kisses and asking to snuggle and getting so giggly happy when we hug or snuggle her. She loves hugging and kissing Matthew and telling us all that she loves us "so much." And that we love her so much. I'm really grateful that she's so affectionate.

Adaline is becoming quite the performer. Every other time she passes the stair railing on the way into our apartment, she has to climb it, lean back, and belt "LET IT GO LET IT GO..." It's hilarious. Her activities inside the house are pretty similar.
Every single day Adaline asks to either go play with a friend or have a friend come over (Mara, Natalie, Maryam, Mara, Kiera...) It's cute until she finally understands that it's one of the few days we aren't going to see any of them. I'm really glad that there are some girls from church that she enjoys playing with and (in the case of the older girls) that don't mind playing with her. If only her best friend wasn't moving. (insert sobbing emoji)

They really do love each other, it's just difficult to get a picture that proves it.

Adaline got a little braver in the swimming pool recently! Yes, it's a little scarier and a little bit harder to watch her, but it's the quickest way to her learning to swim and ultimately being safer, so I think it's great.

Another of Adaline's favorite things is reading Arthur books. She specifically asks to check out "DW books" from the library. We got at least 10 last time and we've read them all a handful of times already. She'll also spend a solid 3-5 minutes on each one when she's "reading" them by herself. It's so cute to watch because she is so focused trying to absorb every little bit.

This is how a found her SECONDS after we got home from the library. She couldn't wait to read her books.

Again, the very first thing she did the morning after we checked them out. She sat like this for a good thirty minutes just pouring over her books.

One of Adaline's new words right now is "probably". It sounds so funny coming from her all the time. My favorite was when I asked her where her cup of milk was and she said, "Umm, I put it in sink, probably." Another thing she likes to say is "ma'am" I especially like it when I ask her something like, "do you want to go to the park?" and she replies with, "Yes!!! ma'am." Sometimes I'll say, "are you kidding me right now?" when Matthew suddenly starts spitting up a lot and she'll respond with "yeah, he's kidding you right now." Hahaha she cracks me up.