Charlie's Eighth Month

Just after Charlie turned seven months old, he had his first weekend without Mommy. As mentioned in a previous post, I went to Yellowstone for a snowmobiling trip with the Apelus...so that left Charlie with Daddy for two nights. He was a good little boy...the only struggle was his bowel movements. Just days before I left, we started him on real solid foods (peas). With these kinds of foods comes a new kind of poop. The poor little guy was struggling. You could tell he was in pain, he would hold his breath, his face would get all red, and then he would start crying. The day of my departure, he had his first hard, solid poop. Way to go, Charlie!

Time with Daddy:

Workin' out the poop!

We've got a head-banger on our hands

He still LOVES his rice cereal. He just downs it! He has his mouth open and ready before it even seems like he could swallow the previous bite. His second food to try was carrots. We fed him carrots for the first time on January 24th. He wasn’t quite sure what he thought at first, but by the fourth or fifth feeding, he was coming around to them.

After our Christmas Holiday with the Grubers, Alli had us hooked on her essential oils to help with Charlie’s baby acne. It really seemed to help! By the end of January we were on a twice daily routine of the following doTERRA oils: melaleuca, frankincense, and lavender diluted with coconut oil. Alli was nice enough to send us these oils and educate us on this “skin-care regimen”. Thank you Alli!

Our days at home started taking on somewhat of a pattern. He would wake up between 7-8 in the morning, I would nurse him, he would then play on the floor, then between 10-11 I would give him a bottle and put him down for a nap (which would last anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours). Once he woke up I would feed him solid food and rice cereal, then he would play some more on the floor, then between 2 and 3 I would feed him another bottle and put him down for his second nap. After waking up, I would feed him solid food and rice cereal again and then let him play in the ExerSaucer. Once 7 PM came around, I would give him a bath and then feed him a bottle. By 8 PM, I would swaddle him and then nurse him to sleep. So a general day for us, if we had nowhere to go, would include a lot of floor play, two naps, and bottles of 4-6 oz each.

I have really started to enjoy our play time on the floor. As you can see, he spends a lot of his day on the floor, specifically on his playmat in his room. I love it because I will just sit next to him and read scriptures, read books, clean, or do other projects while he explores the different toys and starts rolling around. He can entertain himself there for a good hour as long as I am in the room with him. I also love turning on my Pandora Disney station and let him listen to the classics while I sing along. I can tell he really likes it as well. He can sit up very well unsupported for a good amount of time. He only falls over if he is reaching for something far away. 

Stuck underneath the changing table after some serious rolling around

Charlie has finally graduated from napping in his swing to napping in his crib. I think I was the one holding him back...for awhile when I would lay him flat on his back he would squirm and flail his arms and all of that time trying to get him to sleep would be wasted...so I would keep putting him in his swing where he would keep on sleeping when I would put him down. I was too nervous and too desperate for him to continue sleeping to really try to nap him in his crib. I finally decided that I needed to train him to sleep him in his crib, since we would not have the swing with us everywhere we go. So I bit the bullet and faced the fire...and it wasn’t bad at all. Apparently, he was ready (and probably had been for awhile if I had given him the chance). To be honest, I had napped him flat on his back before when visiting family and staying in Idaho, but was still stuck in the habit of the swing at home. So congratulations, Charlie! You are finally a crib napper!

We have picked up on a few items that Charlie loves...he loves remotes and he loves phones! In his seven month photo shoot, you can see he is holding a remote in some of the pictures. If you give him a remote, that will keep him entertained for quite a while. He loves looking at and reaching for our smart phones. We have a couple toy phones that are bright, colorful, and make noises and music, but he can tell it is not the same thing. He will always reach for our phones before settling with the toy phones.

Charlie has started to do these high-pitched squeals. It is SO cute! I wish I could have caught it on film. I think he must be mimicking the high-pitched noises we make when talking baby-talk and trying to make him laugh. Man he is a cutie! He has also started getting a chapped lip on his bottom lip from sucking on it so much. It is so cute when he sucks it in, but poor little guy is just making the chapping worse. He has also started to hate being changed. He cries almost every time we lay him down to change his diaper. He has started to show interest in holding his own bottle. He brings his hands to the sides of the bottle while eating. He isn’t holding it on his own yet, but is showing some signs of interest. 

Charlie and Uncle Tyson

Whatcha' doin' there Bubs?

 

Visiting Aunt Erin on her birthday (aka Valentine's Day) 

 

In Great-Grandma Arbon's room, being tended by Erin

My mom gave us one of these awesome car seat covers! They are perfect for keeping your babies warm and easy to get them in and out. Thanks, Mom!

He loves it!

Olivia and Charlie

Someone got a little sweaty after napping in his carseat

Very handsome...

   

Adorable PJ's that used to be Uncle Bryan's

um, yeah...time for some new pants

Trying on his new clothes

Good morning, my now eight-month-old!

And now, my favorite, Charlie's Eight Month Photo Shoot with Amy Stallings:

 

  

 

 

 

 

This was definitely the hardest photo shoot so far. Now that he is rolling around, the moment I would place him sitting on the bed, he would want to roll right over and head for the edge of the bed. He was constantly in motion. And then when we went outside, he was so "in the zone" looking at all of the rocks and everything else around, he did not want to take a moment to even look at us (not to mention smile). We were hooting and making all kinds of silly noises trying to get him to smile (I even resorted to poking him with a stick to get his attention)...but we were just making ourselves look like fools! Oh Charlie boy! Love ya to death!