8 Months

Around December 9th, Will suddenly decided he wanted to start rolling from his back to his stomach. This is a big deal because before Will HATED his stomach.

Will can move across the room by rolling. He's rolled to the presents under the tree several times, and he screams when we have to take the presents away. He's already tried unwrapping several and I've had to tape them back together.

Changing his diaper has become a bit more challenging now due to his rolling. When you try to put the new one on, he'll roll over making it nearly impossible to get the new one on straight.

When I turn the radio up really loud in the car, Will starts to jabber and sing along.

Will loves to talk with you. If he yells or jabbers and you do it back, he will continue doing it. He especially loves this game with Lance and will play forever.

He gets SO excited for everything. He has this cheesy little grin and sucks in, making this noise that is hard to describe. I'm going to try getting video of it, so you can understand what I mean.

When he wants to reach something far away, he will go on his hands and knees to reach it. I'm guessing he'll be crawling here within a month or so.

His hair sure is growing. I thought he had a lot of hair a few months ago, but that was nothing compared to now. I even had to trim it around his ears because it was just too long. Plus I think it was tickling his ears because he was clawing at his ears and making them bleed. I was amazed at how much of a difference just that little cut made.

 During Christmas weekend, Will was grumpier than usual and had trouble sleeping. I thought it was because of all the excitement and noise, but I found a new tooth this morning (December 26th). So apparently he's been teething the past few days. I'm glad there was a reason for the sudden sleep changes. As of now, I only see one new tooth. It's on the top, off to the side a bit. (Kind of silly, I know.)

Even though it is cold outside, we still go on frequent walks to get out of the house. I bundle him up really good, though he hates his hands under the blankets and always pulls them out on top. And he doesn't like when I try putting gloves on his hands.

We've been trying to cut down on the number of bottles that Will has a day (mostly because we don't have a ton of formula.) He now eats about 2-3 jars of baby food a day. He will eat pretty much anything, but he seems to prefer the vegetables, especially the carrots. I am also starting to give him little pieces of things I am eating.

I've also started trying to teach Will how to drink from a cup. He tries to chew the lip of the cup while I'm pouring, so it usually ends up down the front of his shirt. But he's learning and gets better each time.

He can now feed himself little pieces of cereal and any other bite size pieces of food. Today we cut up green beans and little bits of bread and he gobbled them up.

Don't mind his crazy hair. We'd just got back from the pool.

Will has also started holding his own bottle. It's so nice because he can be laying on the floor feeding himself while I'm cleaning or doing something else.

There was a strand of Christmas lights going up the wall by Will's jumper. He loved to grab it and bang it against the wall. Luckily he didn't hit them hard enough to break any.

Will's sleep has been different the past month. He used to go to bed around 9pm, wake up between 5-6am to eat, then sleep until 8am. But suddenly he isn't sleeping well anymore. Lately he's been waking up as early as 1-2am and having a hard time going back to sleep. Then he'll wake up several more times throughout the night. It's been a bit rough, and I'm hoping it'll improve soon.

Back when Will was a few weeks old, I was talking to someone in my ward about her little boy and trying to find ways to help Will sleep longer. She said that her little boy didn't start sleeping through the night until after 9 months. I couldn't believe she had survived that long. There was NO WAY I could handle it if my baby didn't sleep through the night for 9 months. Yet here we are going on 8 months and Will still wakes up 1-4 times a night...and I am still alive. It is honestly crazy how fast the time goes and how much your body can do, when pushed.

Within this past week, I've taught Will how to give me kisses. When I have him standing up in my lap, if I pucker up my lips, he will slowly lean forward and give me a kiss. Little bit slobbery, but we've got time to work on that.

Suddenly today (December 26th) he has started pulling himself up to things. Ex: If I'm sitting next to him on the floor, he will climb up my legs until he is on his knees, kneeling up next to me. Or we put him in his crib and he grabbed the top bar and pulled himself up until he was on his knees.

He's such a curious kid and can't sit still for more than a second. If he's in your lap, he is constantly trying to stand up or push away. If he's on the floor, he is rolling all over the place. If I'm holding him, his head is constantly moving, looking at new things.

He is such a cute little boy and so full of personality. It's exciting watching him develop and learn new things.