8 Months!!

8 months sounds so old!!  It's going by soo fast!
Here are some new pics I took on his 8 month "birthday"  (With the next baby (whenever that will be), I'm going to try to do these blocks every month or do the month stickers that you can put on the baby's onesies.  I wish I would have been more consistent with Aaden's month pics, but at least I got them!)

(He has tears running down his face in these pics because Papa

sat him down on one of the wooden blocks) :(

A quick rundown of the happenings at 8 months:

• He can pull himself up in crib.  Actually he just started doing this today and he was pretty darn proud of himself!   He loves being able to pull himself up when people put their hands out for him.  This makes him sooo proud too.  He wrinkles his nose up and flashes a big huge grin and sometimes does quick little sniffing noises too.  It's the cutest thing in the world!
• He shakes his head "no" all the time.  I don't think he knows what it means but it's pretty funny.  I ask him things like, "Can Mommy have a kiss?"  and he shakes his head.  Little sh!t!  ;)  I also have a video of him where he farts and then I ask him, "Aaden, did you fart?" and he shakes his head no.  It's hilarious!
• His balance is getting a little better but if we have him standing and let go and he starts to fall, he FREAKS out and starts crying.  Poor buddy!
• He is SOOO close to crawling.  Now he is rolling everywhere!
• No teeth, still! 
• He says "ah-ba" all the time.  We're not sure what it means?  Maybe baba?  Maybe it means nothing?
• He just starting getting separation anxiety (espeically with me).  He wants to be held all the time and has been really clingy.
• He loves stroller rides. 
• He is fully weaned now - and actually weaned himself toward the end.  It was a little sad but I think it made the whole process easier on both of us.  He eats two solid meals a day.  Mostly stage 2 organic purees still but he's getting better at finger foods.  He likes puffs and yogurt melts.  He is practicing his pincer grasp with his finger and thumb and he gets really proud of himself and excited when he actually gets a puff in his mouth.  He gets little bites of our food too as long as it's appropriate.  He wants everything we are having.  He always stares at you when you are eating and has a look on his face like, "you gonna share some of that?"  He likes scrambled eggs and loves pasta!  He still gags on things so I have been a little slow to introduce him to more table foods because I'm a little freaked.  He is pretty good with the sippy cup.  Usually if we give it to him while he's eating, he'll take a bite of food and then immediately take a sip of water, over and over again.  It makes for a messy mealtime because water and food go all down his chest but it's hilarious.  Where did he learn to do this??
• He weighs about 20 pounds and is wearing 9-12 month clothing.  He is still in size 3 diapers. 
• He LOVES his Papa, he is always so interested in what he's doing or eating.  He can stare at Kenny forever and he always laughs at him.  We were joking yesterday that Aaden is going to be Kenny's little tag-a-long when he's a little older.
• He likes playing peek-a-boo and also starting to play patty cake.
• He loves other babies - he gets really excited and happy to see other babies and of course loves the adorable one in the mirror. (Just recently we were watching a video of him on the tv and he absolutely loved it)
• Here are some of Aaden's favorite toys -

Seriously, he loves this brush of his.  It makes him happy every time we give

 it to him when he's fussing on his changing table

And lately, he's been obsessed with men's watches
- just the sport type ones

And he loves the remotes

And apparently my cell phone is the bees knees

He has drooled on it so much that there is some discoloration in the screen.  Oops!
-And I swear we buy him toys and he has tons of stuff to play with but these things are his absolute favorite.  I tried to buy him a toy cell phone - nope didn't cut it.

Circus!!

My Dad took me, Aaden and Aaron to the circus today!  Aaden did sooo good!  He was pretty interested in all the circus acts and sat watching quietly pretty much the whole time.  He got tired towards the end and took a little nap on Aaron's lap.

With Pappy

 Watching the circus acts

 Outside during intermission

 The elephants!  I love seeing them but it makes me sad too :(

 Nap time!!

Aaden's First Easter!

Aaden celebrated his first Easter on Sunday!  I think he got more Easter gifts than he did Christmas gifts.  He had fun opening all of his baskets!  I hosted Easter at our house (Aaron had to work from 1030am-9pm).  We had fun with all of our family.

Aaden posing for his Easter picture

 Easter Morning - opening his baskets from Mommy and Daddy

All of his Easter baskets.  Spoiled much?

Silly boy

Opening his basket from Grandma and Grandpa

Opening his basket from Emmy and Papa.
"What is it, Papa?"

His new swim hat from Emmy and Papa

"Look at all this stuff from Emmy and Papa!"

Aaden with Gam and all of his "cousins" (my cousin's kids)

Motion

This boy is going to be all over the place really soon!  It's going to be a whole new ball game in no time. He's rolling all over the floor now.  He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth but his right leg always gets caught underneath him.  He'll be crawling soon.  Even his daycare provider's husband says he thinks he'll be crawling in two weeks.  He is starting to be able to pull himself up.  When he's standing up with one of us helping, his balance isn't the greatest and he does this motion that I like to call "Elvis Pelvis".  Maybe he's trying to dance, who knows?
He shakes his head no, although it doesn't mean anything yet but he does it all the time.  It's so cute!  My mom always asks him silly questions just to see if he'll shake his head because it's pretty funny when he does respond. 
He's starting to give "high fives" and we're working on waving.  His arms flail all over the place as it is (kind of like how I was when I was a kid) so it will be hard to tell when he's actually giving high fives or waving with intention
A new nickname we have for him is "Grabby McGrabberson" because he reaches for anything and everything.  He is so interested in everything.  And he's determined!  The other night we went to Old Navy and I was holding him while browsing through some clothes, before I knew it, he had ripped a tag off of a pair of jeans and was eating it.  And then my mom was holding him a little later and he was bending like a contortionist to try to grab some clothes off a rack.  Oh man, I'm scared! 
He really likes remotes, lap tops and cell phones and tries really really hard to grab any of these items as soon as he sets his sight on them.  I got him a fake, play cell phone the other day but it's just not the same.  I think he knows the difference between the $5 item and the $300 item.  Sh!t... 

Rock On

That is all...

Everyday Something New

    I swear, everyday Aaden does something new or perfects something different or discovers something else he's able to do.  I feel like right now he's growing up soooo fast, he's developing by leaps and bounds it seems.  Tonight, he pulled himself up on his own!  It seems like it came out of no where.  We were at my mom's and he was down on the floor next to a big plastic bin and all of a sudden he reached up and grabbed the top and started trying to pull himself up.  The bin had a lot of stuff in it so it was weighted pretty well but my mom held it down anyway.  The first few times my mom helped him pull himself all the way up and then he did it on his own a few times!  Aaron got there just in time to see him do it the second time.  :)
Just this week he started scooting.  He's not fast yet and he hasn't gotten it completely down but he's able to move across the room.  He's also perfected rolling.  He finally rolls from his back to his front.  We keep finding him in his crib rolled over onto his tummy, up on his elbows, playing.  We just moved the coffee table out of the living room so he has more room to roll, scoot, and eventually crawl.  I don't think crawling is too far off either.  He keeps leaning forward and is almost up on all fours but one foot keeps getting caught under him and so he ends up face-planting.  But, he will be mobile before we know it!  Good thing I just bought stuff to start baby proofing, we're gonna need it!  This boy has so much energy, he's a busy little monkey!  He really is, he reaches and grabs for everything in sight.  I can only imagine what he'll get into once he's moving around.
     He's starting to try new foods pretty regularly.  So far, no problems *knock on wood*.  He had soft apple chunks today, he did pretty good but his face was priceless.  He looked very concerned and serious like he was concentrating really hard every time I put a chunk in his mouth.  I think he's just not used to the texture yet.  He tried yogurt for dinner and he absolutely loved it!  The only things he doesn't seem to like too much so far is squash, green beans, and avocado.  Everything else he's had he's liked.
   He's also becoming more and more verbal.  In fact, on Monday, April 4th, he said his first word!  He said "Baba" and it wasn't just a babble.  He said it clear as day and it was when I was holding him and putting his bottle in the microwave!  It was so freakin' cute!!  I really can't wait to hear him start talking more.  I keep trying to get him to say "Mama" and he really tries.  He totally mimics my mouth movements when I say it but he doesn't actually say anything.  It's so cute.  I know my heart will melt when I hear him say it for the first time!
    Aaden can now pretty much hold his own bottle.  It's pretty convenient.  We lay him on his boppy and he just kicks back and feeds himself.  Gives us a few more minutes to get other stuff done.  We switched him back to regular formula and he's doing pretty good on it.  I think he must have outgrown his milk allergy.  It's weird though because right around the time we switched his formula, he started weaning himself from breastfeeding.  I would try to nurse him but he would just keep pulling off and crying.  And it's not like he wasn't hungry because I would offer him a bottle right after and he would take it.  He'll only nurse now in the middle of the night or early in the morning.  So I'm down to nursing just once per day.  It's fine by me, I made it past my goal of nursing him for 6 months so I'm happy (the extra freedom is nice too!).  Plus, I think it's easier for both of us for him to wean himself than having to go through the torture of trying to force him to wean, I can only imagine how hard that would be.
   On one hand, I'm excited that he's becoming more independent, but on the other hand, it's going too fast!  Slow down, baby boy!! 

He fell asleep while feeding himself his bottle

Cutie

Big boy.  I loved his little crossed feet!

Oh, this is the other new thing...sitting in the grocery cart like a big boy!  He loves it!  He sits in the high chairs at restaurants now too!

Yeah, everything goes in the mouth these days.  His favorite things: remotes and my cell phone

   

First Trip with Mommy

So Aaden and I went on our first solo trip.  We went to Lincoln to visit Sean and Andrea.  Jessie also came down and visited with her new baby.  It was a lot of fun!  Tiffanie and Carrie even came over on Friday for a few hours with their kids. 
Aaden did really good.  He was great while we were on the road, he slept most of the time and when he wasn't sleeping he played.  I quickly figured out to keep a stash of pacifiers and toys in the front seat with me so if he lost the ones he had I could just hand him a new paci or toy.  He ended up with 5 pacifiers in his carseat at the end of the trip!  Aaden was really good at Sean and Andrea's too!  He had a great time playing with the other kids.

Pit stop in Lodi.  First time in the grass!

Photoshoot with Sandy.  He absolutely loved her!

 Holding hands ♥

 He looks like he's saying, "Mom, can we keep her??"

 Calleigh and Aaden

Yummy prunes!