8 Months

I'm now at the point where I feel like I'm starting the countdown until Raleigh's first birthday - how is it possible that he's only 4 months away from turning ONE?! Time needs to slow down a bit. Each month I say I've reached my favorite age with my boy, but where he is right now is absolutely my favorite. Every night while I feed him his bottle, I can't help but stare at him and just think about how lucky I am to have him in my life. Raleigh is truly one of a kind and makes my heart beat just a bit stronger when he is near me.

Here are a few highlights from the past month...

He knows his name - we say Raleigh and he turns and smiles at us.

He crawls all over the place and pulls himself up onto his toy trucks. I've always thought I've kept a clean house but his white socks and white onesie's would suggest I need to mop a bit more often.

The crawling and climbing have led to a few bumps and bruises, but nothing a few snuggles can't cure.

He says Dada and gaga...and we think we may have heard him say kitty.

His laugh is the sweetest sound I've ever heard in my life.

He waves and smiles at strangers (someday soon I'll teach him about "stranger danger).

He slept through the night on his 7 month birthday and is slowly becoming an all night sleeper.

He'll feed himself a pouch of food, Mum Mums or a handful of puffs in about a minute flat. He has quite the love for food with the acceptation of peas.

He's an excellent dinner date when we go out to a restaurant.

He had no issue with Santa, but that may have been due to the fact that Santa didn't say a peep and for all that Raleigh knew he may as well thought he was sitting on his Dad's lap.

When he doesn't get the immediate attention that he's looking for he lays belly down on the ground, tucks his hands and arms under his face and cries. I usually laugh and try to grab a camera, as I have yet to catch this fit on film.

He has 8 teeth! 4 on the bottom and 4 on the top. When I brush my teeth in the morning I now hand him his toothbrush at the same time and we "brush" together.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!