Happy 8 Months Baby Boy!

8 months...where does the time go? Our sweet, sweet baby boy is growing up way too quickly. I just cannot get enough of his million dollar smiles and giggles...they are so contagious and make our days brighter than ever!

At 8 months, Zachary is quite mellow and laid back. He seems to enjoy taking in the world around him and is very curious. He cracks us up when he is in his car seat, as he loves playing with the convertible top...constantly pulling it down from top the bottom. This is what keeps him entertained in the car (at least the times when he is not snoozing on the ride...which is the norm).

So what else is Zachy up to these days...standing, standing, standing. The boy loves to stand and play. Sometimes we will go to sit him down to play and he will simply refuse, keeping his knees locked and legs as stiff as tree trunks.

We are lucky to have such kid friendly furniture such as soft surfaced ottomans for Zachary to learn to cruise around. Speaking of cruising...Z-man is not quite there yet, nor is he crawling (at least not forward). This is typical of Zach right now...standing to play and instead of cruising to get to a toy out of reach...he will stretch as far as possible...then stretch even further, until he crashes to the ground, for his feet do not budge.

No, our little man just can't get the forward ump in his crawl or his step. We have pretty much given up hope on the crawling, as Zachary will get up in the crawling position, hold it for a while, then collapse into a Superman position with legs and arms flailing. He will eye spy what he wants, and try again, but has only made minimal forward progress...mostly from when he collapses. He has had a bit of a backwards crawl on occasion, but we figure he will go straight to walking before too long, as he is so eager to get on the move and chase after Riley.

Zachary already has his 4 front teeth, all which came through in a matter of 3 weeks. We have introduced him to many a different yummy foods (none home-made) but I don't feel so guilty, as we have found the most fantastic organic blends at Target which are probably way better than what I could have created anyway. This month, Zach has also had his first taste of a cracker, which he wasn't too sure about.

We have also introduced some "puffs", but after he about choked from gagging during the first two times we offered them to him, we decided he just isn't ready for textures, so no rush!

Other tidbits about our little man right now:

• My favorite...he reaches his arms out for you to pick him up (love it)!
• Z-man can go from sitting to a crawling position, and almost from a crawling position back to sitting.
• He loves to twist and turn and climb.
• Sleeps great as usual...and always on his tummy.
• He still loves to be rough housed...smiling and giggling during each event.
• Zach loves to play with all of his toys.
• When he is tired, he will let you know, as he doesn't usually like to be rocked to sleep. He will push off of you, telling you that he wants to lay down to go to sleep on his own.
• He is a quiet tike...not babbling much (probably because he can't get a word in with his sis and mom around).
• His favorite time of day - hands down...bath time. Zachary loves the water -splashing non-stop - making a crazy mess. He loves it so much, that he fusses when it's time to get out.

We love you Zachary Dean! You never cease to amaze us with how unique you really are!