Lily and Carter's Paige : October 2013

Well, here we are at eight months. Carter is fabulous, and aside from the constant runny nose and terrible dermatitis he couldn't be cuter...or maybe those make him even better because its so funny to see a snotty nose smile :) Anyway. We are up to two teeth now, both the bottom front ones, and a few more foods - I have made banana bread with soy milk and rice flour and we have made gluten and dairy free pancakes, both he could take or leave at this point. Also we made rice pasta with "Will" butter (a dairy free margarine that his cousin Will uses and now is loved by our whole family). Again, not in love with the pasta but didn't hate it. Carter is officially done nursing. It was a fairly easy transition, but in many ways it has been bitter sweet. It is easier on me but sad that we don't have that time everyday. But then I think, well really we still do (because I am still the one who gets up with him first thing and Jeff and I rotate in the evenings) but now I don't have to fret about how much milk I drank that day or if there was cheese on my sandwich and I don't have to pump everyday at lunch. He is drinking soy formula and playing with cups of water, which really means dumping water all over himself and the floor.

He is sleeping "through the night" which means going to bed about 6:30/7:00 and waking about 5:00 for a bottle and then sleeping another hour or two depending on the day and the amount of screaming Lily is doing that morning...

He is crawling everywhere, pulling up on everything, and really getting ready to move on two feet soon. It is crazy fun to watch and it is freaking Lily out because he can now get a hold of her things. We have been working very hard on sharing or making sure that if Carter gets something he shouldn't that she can replace it with something of his instead.

We don't go back to the doctor until next month so no weight or height update, but in my opinion he isn't growing as fast and is starting to look longer and leaner than he did. He is still big, many of his clothes are 12 month size already but most of them are still a little long.

Carter loves: Lily, snuggling when he just wakes up, Raf, warm bottles, playing in the bath with Lily, crawling, smiling

Carter does not love: being strapped in his car seat, having his nose wiped, cold wind, having a toy taken away by Lily, having his legs stuck out of the sides of his crib, the insane amount of lotions and creams we have to put on him every night after his "soak" in the tub to help his skin (yes this has been prescribed by his allergist and I know, it seems counter intuitive to put him in the bath everyday)