8 months!

Hudson David, you are 8 months old! What a big boy you have become this past month, mastering new skills and growing that cute little personality of yours. You are even starting to look more like a little boy instead of a baby. Your hair has grown in thicker, and with that little comb-over, you look about 3! OK, maybe not that old, but you really are growing up fast! You get more and more handsome each day, just like your Daddy! Most of the time people say that he spit you out, but occasionally you can see a little bit of your Mama in you, or a well-balanced blend of the both of us. Either way, you are perfect just the way you are!

This month you have been on the move! You finally decided to give crawling a whirl. You have a cute little army crawl that gets you from point A to point B. Sometimes it looks like you are swimming on land - your arms and legs get going! I thought once you realized that you could get somewhere on your own that you would take off and be into everything, but you still prefer to stick close to us and play. You have been a little more clingy than usual. You get very frustrated that you can't get back into a sitting position from your belly, and will fuss until we sit you back up. From there, you either want to pull up on something or you grab our hands, stand up and start marching forward. That's your cue that you are ready to GO! We walk you all around the house. Our lower backs have been killing us from hunching over to walk you, but we do it because you are the boss ;) Your favorite places to walk are into Mama and Dada's bathroom to play with the shower curtain, and also into your bathroom for bath time. You LOVE bath time, and are now bathing in the big tub, sitting all by yourself. You splash and play with your toys, and you love to suck on the washcloth. We have to use two washcloths for each bath, because if we try to take one away from you to wash your body, you freak out!

You have started expanding your vocabulary into repetitive, babbling words. Dadadadada, Mamamama, Babababa, Lalalala, etc. We got excited when you started saying Mama and Dada, but we are pretty sure you don't really know what you are saying quite yet. At least we know you are practicing! You really like to watch and listen to us say words, and it sounds like you are trying to mimic us sometimes. It could be coincidence, but I think you really are starting to show an interest in learning some words. We trying to talk to you as much as possible in a normal voice so that you can start learning how things are pronounced. We explain everything we are doing, point out objects and colors, and repeat things whenever we can. We have been doing some baby sign language with you, but you haven't really caught on yet. You do get really excited when I sign/say milk, by kicking your little legs really fast and breathing really heavy - almost like you are a panting dog. Haha - you love your milk!

You have really shown more of an interest in your toys this month too. You LOVE your sock monkey (Maurice as Daddy calls him) and your elephant pillow-pet (Elly). You reach for them both first thing in the morning and will squeeze them tight like you are giving them hugs. We also bought you a little walker-toy that you will sit and play with for long periods at a time. You don't like to walk behind it, but you will pull up on the front and stand and play with the different noise makers. We have started setting a little bucket of your toys next to you, and you will reach in and pull things out to play with. Most of the time things go straight into the mouth, but you also like to shake things to see if they make noise. You also will turn things over to try to figure out how they work - I see you scratching at the screws on the backs of toys all the time. You are already so inquisitive and smart!

A couple other things I don't want to forget:

- Your eyes are still blue-ish gray. Sometimes they look more blue, but other times they have a hint of green. Don't know where they came from since your Daddy and I have brown eyes! You get a lot of compliments on your beautiful eyes.

- We have a lot of nicknames for you. I have no idea where we came up with some of them, but we are always calling you something different. We have to remind ourselves to call you Hudson every once in a while! You do turn your head and acknowledge us when we say Hudson though, so I think we are safe to say you know your real name! Your current nicknames: Little man, boo boo, boo bear, buddy, booger, and booger bear. When you are crying or sad, Dada always says "poor little tink tink". Seriously, I don't know where we get this stuff sometimes!

- You've tried a few bites of real food, and seem to like it. You've tried strawberries in your mesh strainer, little bites of lunch meat, waffles, banana and mashed potatoes. You are still getting the hang of chewing, but you get better each time. You also love your puffs - you can pick them up and put them in your mouth on your own. Such a big boy!

- On a negative note, we have been frequent clients at the doctors office the past few months. You have had 5 ear infections, a couple viral infections, croup and RSV. While we hate to see you sick, you are such a trooper, and rarely fuss when you aren't feeling well. We have had a hard time even realizing when you have an ear infection because you continue to sleep through the night with no problems, and hardly pull at your ears or cry. It's usually a small fever or Mama's instinct that prompts a visit to the doctor to get a check up. Hopefully we can get through this winter without too many more doctor visits, but ultimately we are just thankful that little colds are all that we have to deal with. We are so blessed that you are a happy, healthy boy otherwise! Plus, what can you expect when you go to daycare? Those germs spread like wildfires! A little part of me savors that first day of sickness where you will actually lay and snuggle with me, but I certainly hate to see you not acting like your usual busy, spunky self.

As we are approaching the end of 2012, I can't help but look back on this amazing year with a little bit of sadness. I hate to say goodbye to the year that we welcomed you into this world - it has by far been the best year of our lives! Sure it has been exhausting and crazy, but mostly you have brought unthinkable joy to us and everyone that knows you. Your next monthly post will be in 2013, and I look forward to another exciting year! Don't get me started on how close we will be to your first birthday though - I'm already wiping my tears. Love you so so much little man!