Jack: 8 Months Old

It's been a little bit of a rough month for Jack.

Just hasn't been his 'happy' self as much.

At least when he's around me, he hasn't been.

Baby boy has become a momma's boy this past month.

So clingy.

He's playing, and then all of the sudden, he's crawling over to sit in my lap or be held.

I try and do something, he pulls himself up on my legs and stands there crying.

While I love how much my boy loves me...it would be nice to get a little break.

If I hide, he seems fine.

And with my mom and Moo (who watches him twice a week), he has been great.

But, I'm attributing this grumpy behavior to his two top teeth that have just about fully broke through. 

I started noticing them right before he turned 8 months old, which explains why he's been a little more difficult lately.

And, it also probably explains why he had a rough patch of sleeping this past month.

He's still going down around 6 or 6:30 and sleeping until 6 or 6:30 (that wake up time is no later than 6:30am anymore...and sometimes as early as 5:30).

But, some nights Jack's been waking up a few hours after he goes down (around 9 or 10) and then sometimes he will wake up around 2:30 or so...and then maybe again around 4:30 before he gets up for good around 6 or 6:30.
 

 As of 7.5 months, Jack has abandoned the army crawl and is in full crawling mode.

He's into everything, especially cords, the dishwasher, and anything in the bathroom (ugh).

He's also a pro at pulling himself to a stand, which he started doing before he turned 7 months.

But, he is much more stable now and will take steps if he's holding onto something.
 

 This toy has perfected Jack's standing.

He loves it!

I busted it out a little before 7 months, and it keeps him entertained for so long.

Best $35 I've spent in a while.
 

 Here are Jack's Facts at 8 Months:

Sleeping: 11-12 hours at night (waking some nights every 3-4 hours; others after about 9-10 hours)

Eating: 2 meals a day (brunch and dinner); Nursing every 3-4 hours

Diaper: Size 3

Clothing: 6 and 9 Month

Firsts: full crawl; two top front teeth, eating puffs (loves!)

Likes: crawling, exploring (cords!), music table, bath time, puffs, mama

Dislikes: getting dressed, having nails trimmed

And some comparisons at 2, 5, and 8 months:

A 'First' Mother's Day

All day, I kept getting, "It's your first Mother's Day."

And while it was according to the holiday, I kept thinking about how it's my 235th day as a mother.

While it was a wonderful day of feeling loved and appreciated (and loving on my own momma and mother-in-law), it is even more wonderful being a mother every day.

I feel so blessed to have the privilidge of raising Jack.

Ever since I was a little girl, all I wanted was to be a mother.

I feel like I'm doing exactly what I was meant to do.

And, I love it.

Yes, there are days that are difficult and challenging, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Here are some pitures of our Mother's Day Weekend.

On Satruday, we headed to the beach for some family time since we would be with our own mother's on Sunday. (These pics were super bright, so I put a filter on them to try and tone them down).

 

Jack was very intrigued with the sand, but wasn't so sure exactly how he felt about it.

 

I woke up to these on Sunday.

My favorite.

After church,we headed to Jason's parents for a Mother's Day brunch with his family.

His grandparents came down for the Sacramento area, so it was great to celebrate with them as well.

My sister hosted our family and her husband's family that evening for a bbq.

My mom and Jack.

The kids went swimming since we had such warm weather this weekend.

Jack enjoyed watching them.

Until he got splashed...

Great weekend.

Feeling so blessed to have so much family close by to celebrate with.

Hope all you mommas had a great day of feeling cherished for all you do and that you cherish all the days you have with your kiddos.

Cousin Lovin'

Living close to family is such a blessing.

We are pretty spoiled in that we all live about 5 minutes away from each other.

I love that we can all get together for every holiday, including the little ones like Mother's/Father's Day, 4th of July, and birthdays.

I love that my parents can be a part of their grand-kids lives and that my mom can watch Jack while I work.

I love that I can watch my nieces and nephews grow-up.

Specifically, though, I love that my sisters and my kids will know each other well.

 

We were never really close to our cousins growing up, as most of them lived a few hours away.

We always had fun when we got together a few times a year, but there is nothing like being a part of each others daily lives.

Jason grew up side by side with one of his cousins, and they are such close friends to this day.

I want that for my kids, too.

I'm so excited for Jack (and his future siblings) to grow up with his (their)  cousins.

I love that they currently see each other at least three times a week while my mom watches all of them when my sister and I are at work.

My nieces love Jack so much, and it is adorable to watch them interact with him.

Even though they see him all the time, they still get so excited to play with him.

I snapped these pictures of Kate and Jack playing the other day.

Seriously, so cute.

She was tickling him and calling him "Jack-y" as she always does.

Claire loves, loves, loves Jack.

I dropped off Jack about an hour later than usual yesterday, and when I walked in she came running up saying, "What took you so long! I've been waiting for Jack."

And the brother cousins are starting to figure out who each other are.

I pray that they remain close friends as they grow older.

Not everyone gets a cousin who is six weeks apart.

So thankful to capture these pictures on just a normal day.

On Going Vegetarian

Two weeks ago, Jason and I got this great horrible idea to stop eating meat for 30 days.
I know...crazy!

A lot of people we know are vegetarian/vegan, and some have just recently made this change, so they've been talking about it a lot. 
They all say how great they feel from not eating meat and are happy with their change.

I must say, we were somewhat critical of this diet, saying it wasn't for us.

Two weeks ago we were driving to see Jason's grandparents and were talking about vegetarian and vegan diets...if we would be able to ever make the change...what it would look like if we did it...the pros, the cons, etc.

And, we decided that we should give it a shot.
Don't knock something till you've tried it, right?

If you know Jason at all, this decision is even more shocking.
The man lives off of protein, specifically meat protein.
He eats two chicken breasts for lunch every day...and a dinner without some sort of meat...how dare I?

I only eat meat at dinner, so the rest of my meals wouldn't be affected. 
How hard could it be?

We set out to start our meatless diet that Monday (we knew there was NO way we could go vegan and survive).
In order to really try to give our body a chance to adapt, we decided to do it for 30 days.
Yes, no meat for 30 days.

Try 9 days.
We lasted 9 days.
Caved in at dinner last night. (I was making Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti for my friend who just had a baby. Who can resist that? Clearly, not us).

People, how do they do it?

I seriously could hardly find any dinner meals that looked appetizing. 
And, I felt like I was reading a foreign language.
Did not know what so many of the ingredients were in vegetarian meals.
Just didn't feel motivated to learn a whole new way of cooking.

So, we ate salad one night, made veggie pizza, had breakfast for dinner, black bean burgers, cucumber/avocado/tomato sandwiches with cream cheese...
I seriously can't even remember what else we ate.
Blocked it out.

We would both be starving 2 hours after dinner.
Had a bowl of cereal before I went to bed every night.
(I'm sure we could have found some more protein rich veggies like kale to throw in the mix...but who wants that?)
I'm sure if you do it right, you can be more successful.
But we just weren't motivated.
We like our meat too much.

And, we were both exhausted.
Again, if we gave our bodies more of a change to adapt, that probably would have gone away...

But, as they say, "Ain't nobody got time for that."

I totally agree with moderation, so maybe Jason should cut back a bit...
But we just can't cut it out completely.

So, meat it is!