Eight Months

Our precious boy is eight months old now.  Can someone please slow down the clock?  I suppose cliche sayings are cliche for a reason, huh? I can't tell you how many people have said, "Enjoy every moment, it goes by so fast."  It's so true, isn't it? 

John Hudson is moving and shaking these days! He's still not officially crawling, but he gets around just fine.  He barrel rolls and does his own variation of army crawling to go wherever he pleases.  He does seem to be frustrated at times by not being able to move quickly, especially as he's watching his friends at Mommy & Me learn to crawl. But this mommy is in no hurry for him to become fully mobile :)

Rolling under the table!

John Hudson is a happy little fellow most days.  Especially when he has lots of things to entertain him (like at Mommy&Me).  He has started crying sometimes when I leave the room or if I leave give him over to someone else, but nothing too terrible.  I pray that he can pass through the separation anxiety stage easily.  We love our time together, but I also want him to love spending time with other people. When I was pregnant, many people told me that mothers and sons have a special bond.  Its the truth.  I love this little guy from a deep, deep place in my heart. What a blessing it is to be his mommy!

Speaking of mommys, John Hudson and I are still enjoying our mornings at Mommy&Me Family Literacy.  While it is a challenge to be up and out by 8am every morning and sitting in 45 minutes of traffic every day is not so fun, it is such a blessing to have a job where I can bring my baby to work! John Hudson does so wonderful there.  He usually takes his morning nap and plays well with the other kiddos.  It is really fun to watch him interact with them.  I am so thankful that John's first exposure to the world is in a safe setting where I'm with him! I am even more thankful that his first friends are from all over the world. We named him Hudson because we desire for him to have a heart for the nations like our hero Hudson Taylor.  What better way to start?

Our friends from Congo and Russia!

 So a big milestone happened this month.  John Hudson's first haircut.  It broke my heart, but it was time. He was mistaken for a girl too many times to count.  Michael was the brave one who did the cutting.  We just snipped the ends off of the back so the top is still long.  I must say, he is a handsome little fellow!

 

 We were very busy this month, enjoying many weddings and wedding showers! We were able to travel down to Waycross for Kelli's wedding shower.  It was so fun to celebrate with Cory and Kelli and to show off our baby boy to our friends who have never met him before.   And of course it was a joy to stay at Grammie and Dado's house!

 

John Hudson's Doggie Uncle, Riley

At Cory and Kelli's beautiful wedding

John Hudson has also started babbling a lot.  He is constantly saying, "Bah bah bah bah bah bah".  Quite possibly the cutest thing ever! John's top two teeth finally poked through this month.  While we're waiting for them to come in completely, we're still enjoying this precious two-toothed smile!

Helping mommy with laundry

We went to our 8 month check up with Dr. Abrams.  Our little guy is 19lbs and healthy as can be.  He is in the 95 percentile in length and 50 percentile in weight. He still loves his mommy milk and nurses about every three hours during the day and twice at night (although the past two nights he has only nursed once, yay!).  John's favorite foods are sweet potato, butternut squash, chicken, cantaloupe, and beef liver believe it or not.  He is a good little eater.

It is getting increasingly hard to get a good monthly photo of him.  This one turned out okay...

But then he tries to crawl away...

Or eat his monkey...

Or lay down...

We are so blessed to spend every day with our precious boy.  Our greatest prayers is that John Hudson will love Jesus with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength and that he will love his neighbor as himself.  May our home be a model of constance grace, repentance, and forgiveness.

Its getting cold outside!

Seventh Heaven

Our precious boy is seven months old now. His little personality is showing more and more each day. A little bundle of sunshine and smiles is he! Every day I am in awe of how blessed I am to be his Mommy.

Believe it or not, this is the best monthly shot we could get! He'd rather eat his monkey than sit beside it!

John Hudson started eating solid food this month! He has been a champ with trying new things.  Some he likes, some not so much.  So far, he has eating egg yolk, avocado, beef broth, beef liver, banana, sweet potato and carrots. At first he seemed to like them all, but has recently decided that he does not like avocado (thankyouverymuch).  And the egg seems to give him an allergic reaction, so those two are off the list for now.  Many people have turned their noses up when we mention that John Hudson eats beef liver.  But after learning about how wonderful it is for him to eat grass-fed liver, I just couldn't pass it up.  Granted, it does stink and makes him smell like a little liver all day--but he tolerates it well!

John Hudson's hair is officially LONG.  He gets mistaken for a girl at least once a week.  Michael says its because of his teething necklace (which is probably a good assumption).  I'm just not sure if I can bring myself to cut that sweet baby hair yet! We'll just be sure to dress him in clearly BOY clothes :)

During playtime, John Hudson is scooting all over the place.  Although he's not crawling yet, he has learned how to barrel roll to wherever he pleases.  He flips and flops all over his crib at night.  This month we've particularly enjoyed reading.  He is so sweet to hold the book (and try to eat it) and seems so interested.  We enjoy reading the Jesus Storybook Bible as part of our nighttime routine.  A few weeks ago I bought John Hudson a new teething toy at Target.  It is the target version of the famous Sophie the Giraffe toy.  To say he loves it is an understatement.  Just one squeak from monk-monk instantly sends a smile to his face. It seems to really help his teething.

Speaking of teething, John Hudson still only has two teeth.  But if  constant gnawing is any indication of more to come, then we'll have more soon.  For now, I can't get enough of this precious smile.

This month has brought better sleep with it, thankfully.  We had to do a version of "cry it out" which I said I would never, ever do.  But when we hadn't slept in two months we became desperate.  He only cried for three nights and now we lay him down awake each night and he goes to sleep quietly and quickly.  Here is our nighttime routine:
7:30: Nurse, bath, coconut oil massage
7:50: Rock and read Jesus Storybook Bible (Daddy usually reads to us), sing one song, pray
8:00: Kisses and night night!
John Hudson usually wakes up between 1:30-2 to nurse and again around 5-5:30.  He's awake for the day around 7.  Some would say that being up twice in the night and for good at 7 am is not great, but compared to seven or eight times a night, we'll take it! Plus, nursing at night keeps my milk supply strong and its the sweetest time ever with by baby boy.

Fall has brought with it many fun things.  A trip to the pumpkin patch down the road from our house, our fall family gathering at Dickert farm, and morning walks bundled up for the crisp air.  We are enjoying each day with our little guy more than the last.  Truly, children are a blessing from the Lord!

JH and his buddy Irfahn

All bundled up for a stroll

JH and Uncle George

Dora the Donkey

Eating books with cousin Alaina