Kemper turns 8 months old

This is the month of blissfulness!!  Our sweet little peanut (not so peanut anymore) has turned into a dream of a sleeper and a wonderful eater and is always full of laughter (and screams as well).  It truly has been perhaps my favorite month so far in this little man's life, I think because his schedule both eating and sleeping is finally solid and predictable, and because he has turned into just this little snuggly, lovey, playful little being that he is so enjoyable to be around all the time. 

Sleeping:
WE ARE ALL FINALLY SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT!!  Yes, all of us.  Mommy, Daddy, Peyton and Kemper all sleeping all night long.  Its fantastic.  And I think the best part about it is that we didn't have to do the hard core cry it out with Kemper.  He just naturally progressed into it on his own.  We did first cut out any eating in the middle of the night, but literally within a week or two of doing that, he was sleeping through the night.  He still goes down to bed between 7:30 and 8:00pm and he is up between 7:00 and 8:00am.  As for napping, he is still on a two nap per day schedule, the first one around 9:30 and the second around 2:00.  He still sleeps on his tummy in a sleep sac, with his white noise machine and pacifier (although he usually spits this out relatively soon after falling asleep).  His night bedtime routine is still bath, book, bottle, song and bed.  He is also gotten really good about putting himself to sleep vs. having to be asleep in our arms before being put in the crib. 

Eating:
John and I sort of had this epiphany this month about Kemper's eating when we went back and read Peyton's blog when she was around this age.  We realized that we were being much more exploratory with Peyton than we had been being with Kemper, so we ramped it up a bit this month with Kemper.  We hadn't been giving him any finger foods yet (besides puff's), so we tried that and Kemper immediately fell in love with finger foods.  Every part of it.  Eating them, grabbing them himself, feeding himself, etc.  Needless to say, his food list has grown tremendously this month, and we are feeding him all sorts of things now, like eggs, cheese, green beans, tofu cubes (although we have some suspicion he might be allergic to soy because of some really bad, painful gas he has one night after eating it and we haven't tried it again since), hot dog (much to my disagreement!  :) ), and fruit.  This month, we used the last of the frozen breast milk and he is now 100% on formula and is doing great with it.  He has 3, 8oz bottles per day and still prefers them warmed up.

Clothing:
Kemper is currently wearing 12 month clothing.

Teeth:
Kemp has 4 teeth currently (2 on top middle and 2 on bottom middle)

Milestones/Other interesting Kemperisms:

• Said his first "word" being "dada" on Halloween this year
• Able to "walk" around now in his walker
• Able to stand up holding onto a standing toy, or the ottoman
• Able to somewhat scoot around, but not crawling yet
• Working on some sign language with him such as "more" and "all done"
• For the past month or two, he has been very active with his hands.  He is always shaking them around, moving his fingers and rotating his fists around (looks like he is really excited, but he is doing it all the time, even when not excited).
• Loves his johnny jump up still
• Loves to sit on a blanket with his basket of toys and just play
• Loves his sister who is always making him laugh
• When you go to pick him up, he immediately snuggles into your chest and tucks his hands under his body (best feeling ever)
• Screaming very loud when he wants more food (hence the reason for attempting some sign language)
• Tried turkey for his first time on Thanksgiving!
• Getting more and more curls in his hair
• Spent his first night at Grandma and Grandpa's this month
• Has a little separation anxiety and does not like being left in a room alone

  

777777777SEVEN777777777 Months old!

Here we are at 7 months old with our little boy!  It really has been a big month for Kemper with lots going on.  He continues to be the most smiley baby I literally have ever come across (he'll flash his two pearly whites for anyone that smiles at him, and even flirts with many people).  We are really enjoying watching his personality develop and listening to him try and find his voice and form words (although he hasn't said any yet).  Here's what he's been up to this month:

Sleep:
Always the most important, right?!  Thankfully this month, Kemper's sleep has FINALLY taken a turn for the good.  Really good.  Shhh!!!  I don't even want to say it out loud or even type it for fear it will jinx us!  With the exception of the week when he was sick this month (read below to see the details of that), he has either been sleeping all the way through the night, or getting up once around 4:00am to eat and then goes back to sleep.  We've continued with the 7:30-8:00 bedtime.  He has a bath, book with mommy, then a bottle and sleep.  He's still sleeping on his tummy, in a sleep sac and with a pacifier (although he usually only has the paci in for about 5 minutes when he first falls asleep and then he spits it out and is fine without it).  We are trying to wean him off of eating completely in the middle of the night, even if he wakes up because his doc says he certainly does not need to be eating in the middle of the night.  I have cut his bottle down to 4oz in the middle of the night, and will move it down to 3oz this week and so on until he isn't getting anything.  He has really become a good self soother and will put himself to sleep if we put him in the crib before he is fully asleep (both for naps and bedtime), which we are of course welcoming with open arms.  His naps are still happening twice a day and last around and hour and a half to two hours.  He still likes his music on (or at least we put it on always when he sleeps). 

Eating:
A HUGE decision was made this month to wean Kemper off breastfeeding.  I didn't think it would happen this early, but Kemper began to bite me (very hard and even to the point of bleeding once), as well as push me away most times when I would try and nurse him.  I decided to read his cues and stop breastfeeding.  In addition to his very bold cues, I began a new job at the end of this month and felt it was a natural progression to stop breastfeeding and then I wouldn't have to pump at work at a new job.  That being said, he has not seemed to care AT ALL that we are no longer breastfeeding.  He is still getting 100% breast milk for now, as I had about a month's worth stocked up in the freezer, but once he goes through that he will begin formula.  Kemper is doing really well with solid foods as well.  Here's a list of what he's had to date:

• avocado (still his favorite by far)
• banana
• applesauce
• oatmeal
• beets (loves!)
• tofu (pureed with other foods)
• cauliflower
• white sweet potato
• quinoa (pureed with other foods)
• carrots
• peaches
• butternut squash
• infant whole milk yogurt