8 months

At 8 months Carter...

Is such a people person! He totally lights up and is in his element when he is surrounded with a ton of people. Over Thanksgiving break we went with Richard's family to see all of his extended family in Utah and he just couldn't get enough of all the attention. There are probably over like 50 cousins under the age of 25 also so yes, lots of attention. He also surprised me with a total lack of stranger danger. People he had never met would just scoop him up and take him away and he would dish out smiles and be totally fine!

Speaking of Utah, we gave him a small introduction to snow while we were there but he wasn't much of a fan haha. As soon as he got some on his bare hands he started crying. Real California boy over here. I'm sure he'll change his mind when he gets a little older and Dad introduced the concept of a snow ball to him...

Climbs up on (and into) everything! Once he learned how to pull himself up to standing there is just no stopping him. Basically the only reason he crawls now is to find something to climb on. He has pulled himself up utilizing the usual storage ottomans and couches, but has also succeeded on our dresser (using the tiny knobs), the piano bench, stairs, chairs, changing table...but my favorites have been the lamp and the wall. Yes, my 8 month old has successfully climbed up a wall. Wish me luck in life.

He has also successfully learned how to use the stairs over Thanksgiving break thanks to his Uncles Chase and Michael. Chase bribed him by placing a light up bounce ball just out of reach from him and he climbed up a 15-20ish step staircase haha. My mom has a ton of stairs at her house but there's baby gates all over so he never really got the chance to try them out.

Is a big talker. He will get in these moods where he'll babble on for minutes at a time with different inflections in his tone and everything. I have got to get it on camera. The only "real" words we have been able to distinguish from his sentences so far have been "baba", "mum", "dada" and "mama" in that order. Sooo technically "mum" came first but he really only said it when he was sad (typical). The "dada" thing he would repeat when we said it to him first so Richard and I are still deciding which word counts as his first ;)

Is kind of over the song "Popcorn Popping" but now LOVES "Baby Bumblebee"

Is still an avid reader. "Brown Bear" is still the top contender but there's this "Noisy Bears" bears book that he gets a real kick out of also. Maybe the kid just likes bears....?

Definitely prefers to feed himself over us giving him pureed baby food. He still isn't much of a fan of fruits, but loves veggies and beans.

Has made it very clear that he still hates his carseat. If he's not crying, the face of disgust that he makes while sitting back there is just too much lol

Really likes to use his wrists. Instead of shaking his whole arm he'll just shake his wrists up and down to wave hi, shake a rattle or taunt Daddy when he grabs his glasses :)

Has perfected his cheesy grin. He smiles with his teeth like mama and I couldn't love it any more

Had his first hospital visit :( This was actually on the day he turned 8 months but we'll go ahead and record it now. He developed a terrible case of croup the night before we were driving back from Utah. After a miserable (for him) 14 hour drive, we thought we'd turn on his humidifier, give him a steamy bath and help him try to get better at home. We were trying to avoid going to the hospital at all costs. However, after about three hours at home, his breathing just sounded so terrible and got worse so we decided to take him to Valley Childrens. My Mom came with Richard and I and brought a bunch of pillows and things for the long ER wait that we surely thought was ahead of us. However, right when we brought him in a nurse took a quick look at him and his sunken in chest (strider) and rushed him right back. I felt horrible. After 3 breathing treatments and some steroids he still wasn't improving... so much to our dismay, they decided to keep him overnight for monitoring. The next morning he was doing much better and they sent us home. He still has a terrible cough over a week later so we're going to the doctor yet again. Wish us luck.

Anyways, one thing that I've learned about my son Carter is that he is a total trooper. Even if he feels terrible, he will do all that he can to smile through it...