Stats: Month Eight

River at 8 months:

Sleeping:  We had major sleep regression this month.  River started waking up at least once every night to nurse, sometimes twice.  We decided to leave him in his own room, in his own bed, despite the tempting convenience of just putting him in with us, in order to keep his routine in tact.  He still goes to sleep around 7-7:30 and then wakes up some time between 10-12 to nurse.  Some nights, he wakes up again around 3 to nurse again and then he is usually up around 7 in the morning.  Thankfully, he nurses himself right back to sleep very quickly.  I feel that this is all due to a growth spurt and major teething woes.  With time and consistency, River will start sleeping a lot better soon.  And the rest of us with him...

  

Feeding:  River is ALL ABOUT eating.  He is now eating three meals a day as well as nursing 6-8 times a day.  This month, we added lots of new foods to his menu including pineapples, mangoes, pears, peaches, zucchinis, plums, and steel cut oats.  He loves to snack on organic baby puffs but I really try to limit snacks, just as I do with the girls, to only once a day.  Nursing seems to be River's greatest teething comfort and eating 3 full meals a day has not slowed down his breastfeeding sessions at all.  I am still pumping twice a day while I am at work to keep up with this growing boy's demands.

Health:  River has been teething BAD.  He currently has two bottom middle teeth, one upper middle tooth, and one upper incisor.  He has been working on his other upper middle tooth all month long with lots of crying in between.  His amber necklace keeps the drooling and fever at bay but we also incorporate Ibuprofen and teething tablets when the pain gets too bad.  In the meantime, he chews on everything and has bitten each of us at least once.  Teething is tough business.

Milestones:  This month, River started full on crawling and pulling up in the same week!  He moves FAST and follows us all around the house.  He says "mama", "dada", "baba", and coos and shrieks incessantly. He has the sweetest little laugh and is very ticklish.  River loves to play with his blocks and his Daddy's guitar.  Shawn plays guitar and piano with him a lot and he loves to strum and beat of his instruments.  He loves to be outside and hangs out in his sling while I water the garden every night.  River learned to wave this month. When we bring him downstairs after his nap, he peeks out from our arms and starts waving at everyone, squealing and bouncing up and down.

You are the sweetest boy, River Scott.  I love you so much and need to finish baby proofing this house asap as I can only imagine the kinds of shenanigans you are about to get into!