Rhett is 8 Months Old!

December 5, 2012

Dear Rhett,

Apparently your eighth month was one for getting down to business, because you sure accomplished a lot over the last several weeks!  In the course of one month you started crawling, learned to pull up, and cut your first tooth!  The world is your oyster now, little man, and not much is stopping you from getting into things, much to the chagrin of your older brother.  Riggins is not quite sure what to do with this newly mobile creature who innocently grabs for his toys.  I had not planned on becoming a referee this early in your relationship, but the time has come!  Just wait, baby brother.  A day will come when you will hold your own with that big brother of yours!

At eight months old you are wearing size 9 and 12 month clothing and a size 3 diaper.  People often comment on how long you are, although you have some cute chub to balance out your length!  You nurse about five times a day and still think that solid food is worthless.  I can occasionally get you to try a few bites of something, but you consistently respond as though I am poisoning you.  Frustrating as it may be, it is quite entertaining to feed you and watch your full-body shudders and repulsed facial expressions.  We're trying to be relaxed yet persistent in trying; surely you will come around one of these days!

Your sleeping is improving a bit, but you are still a restless sleeper who has a hard time getting yourself back to sleep after you've awakened in the night or from an interrupted nap.  You typically take two one-hour naps and then go to bed early, sleeping from 7ish to 8:00is.  You usually wake for a quick feeding around 11p.m. and then sleep til 5:45 or 6 when I bring you to bed to eat and snooze until Riggs wakes at 8.  But there is often some sort of interruption in that 11-6 stretch where you have a hard time settling back down.  You are definitely an "escalator" when it comes to crying; once you really get going it usually only gets worse!

This month you enjoyed two road trips.  Daddy and I took you on a whirlwind trip through Texas, visiting cousin Nelson at Texas A&M and watching him in his role as Head Yell Leader.  You tagged along to the Midnight Yell Practice at the stadium and were a total trooper as we joined 30,000 fans at the stadium in the dead of night!  We then headed up to Waco where you met lots of our friends from our Baylor days.  The trip was capped off with a stop in Dallas where we got to meet your new friends Jude and Sloane.  Riggins spent the weekend with Mama Anne and Papa Tom, so we loved spending a whole weekend with just our Rhettaroo!  The next weekend we headed to Arkansas for your first Thanksgiving!  You did not partake in the feast since you think food is silly ;)

You love bath time, being outside, Weber's paws, riding in the grocery cart, the music table, and sitting in your high chair as I cook.  You do not like being groomed, being rocked (you prefer to stand and sway), reading before bedtime (put down the book and put me in bed, lady!), eating, or getting in your car seat.  Although you smile if someone merely looks your way, we have to work really hard to get you to laugh.  You are honestly the most content, easy-going, happy baby I've ever seen (minus the whole sleeping thing!).

When I think of you at 8 months old, I want to remember how you scrunch your nose when you smile, how you laugh like Beavis and Butthead, how you giggle when I pretend that you have stinky feet, how you open your mouth wide when you're excited, how you bounce your arms at your sides when you're happy, and how you can scream like a crazy Jekyll and Hyde monster in the night!

I love you, buddy boo.

Momma