Luke's 8 Month Update - Simply Sweet Storeys

Hi friends! Today’s post is all about Luke and what he’s been up to over the past two months. The last (and first!) update I did was when he was six months and SO much has happened in those two short months! I swear he’s gotten so much bigger and has learned so many new things. I’ll plan on doing update posts about every two months (both for me to document this time in our lives as well as to share any tips or products we’ve come across!). I’m sure I’ll say this every time…but this stage is so fun!!

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Stats

So I’m not sure exactly how much Luke weighs since he hasn’t been weighed at the doctor since his 6 month appointment (we go again at 9 months), but Blake and I weighed him at home last week (with the very scientific method of having me step on the scale by myself, then stepping on with Luke and subtracting the weights 🙂 ) and he weighed somewhere around 18 pounds! He’s definitely starting to fill out and get some more rolls which I LOVE. He’s mostly wearing 9 month clothes right now and I stocked up on a few 12 month sleepers that I found on clearance for when he starts to outgrow his current set. The 12 month pajamas have grippers on the feet and I was not prepared for the emotions that hit when I saw that haha!

Eating

When I posted his 6 month update, I mentioned that we had just started giving him rice cereal (and that he was not a fan). He still is not a fan, but pretty much loves everything else we have given him! We’ve done peas, green beans, oatmeal, asparagus, squash, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, apples, banana, pears, prunes, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, peanut butter, almond butter, chicken & turkey (he’ll eat these when they are mixed in with a fruit or veggie but gags when he eats the puree alone…which we don’t blame him because it smells TERRIBLE), and probably a few more that I’m leaving out! His favorite thing is green beans or peanut butter + oatmeal, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed he continues to like veggies as he gets older! He eats a LOT (usually about 4 times a day) and we just started giving him actual solids – we started off with teething crackers and recently introduced bananas and peas. I’m paranoid about giving him real food, so we’re doing a slow roll introduction haha. We switched to a new schedule which has him drinking four 8oz bottles a day in addition to the food above.

Sleep

Oh, sleep. We are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were a few months ago, but occasionally have a rough night or two and have been dealing with some early wake ups (typically anywhere between 4:50 – 5:15am…which is just a wee bit earlier in my opinion). We seem to take one step forward and then a step or two backwards. When he’s teething or is sick, he wakes up a few times during the night looking for some extra snuggles. He was sick recently so we gave him some Motrin and a bottle (with lots of cuddles) to help him get comfortable. However, I have to say that overall he is doing really well in the sleep department and usually goes down around 7 and sleeps until 5…sometimes 6 if we are lucky! I’m hoping he’ll gradually start sleeping a little later…

Schedule

We still (usually) follow the Moms on Call schedule. It has really helped us in the feeding department – having the schedule for the bottles ensures that he is hungry enough to drink the full bottles and get a significant number of calories in during the day. It also helps us determine if he’s actually hungry if he’s fussy or if there’s another reason (tired, bored, teething, etc). His naps usually are more random when he’s at Daycare, so we just adjust and do the best we can! Here’s what a typical day looks like for us (this changes depending on a really early wake up, if he’s sick, etc):

6:00am (Ideally…) – wakes up, babbles to himself, and then I go get him and change him/bring him into our room for snuggle and playtime

6:45 – Bottle (8 oz)

7:30 – Solids (usually peanut butter + oatmeal or a fruit/veggie)

8:00 – Get to daycare

9:00 – Nap

11:00 – Bottle (8 oz)

12:00 – Solids

1:00/1:30 – Nap

3:00 – Bottle (8 oz)

3:30 – Solids

5:00 – Solids and/or quick cat nap

6:30 – Bathtime

6:45 – Pajamas, Books, & Bottle (8 0z)

7:00 – Bedtime

Other

So much has happened these past two months!! He started sitting by himself and army crawling and now he’s so independent and on the go. As soon as he’s up in the morning, he wants to be able to crawl everywhere (but with you right beside him) and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. His Daycare says he is so determined, strong, and strong willed (Lord help us) and will knock over anything (or anyone…) in his path to a toy he wants. He pulls himself up and gets mad if there’s a surface that doesn’t allow him to pull himself up on it. He wants to walk around but can’t do it by himself so wants you to hold him upright and walk with him at all times. Needless to say, we’re exhausted most of the time 🙂

He also got his first two teeth and now he smiles with them jutted out and it melts my heart every time. He laughs hysterically at basically everything Blake does and says “DaDa”…even when I ask him to say
“MaMa” and then cracks up like he knows he’s saying the wrong word.

Blake and I are just so obsessed with him and crawl into bed every night completely happy and exhausted. We are so lucky God chose us to be his parents and we do not take our new jobs for granted!

Favorites

V Tech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker – My brother and sister-in-law bought this for Luke at Christmas and he loves it. He can’t quite walk around with it yet, but he sits or stands at it and pushes all the buttons and pulls on everything he can

Safety 1st Discovery Walker – Luke wants to be where we are all the time but since he wasn’t quite ready to use the walker above, we thought he might like something more similar to his command center jumper, but with wheels. This was a lightning deal on Prime Day and I’m so glad we bought it!

Bumkins Bibs – These were gifted to us at a shower and they are pretty much the only bibs we use now. They have a pocket at the bottom to catch food and are wipeable so clean up is a breeze.

Oball Grab & Rattle Football – Luke still hates being his carseat for more than like, 5 minutes, so we have to be prepared with distractions. He basically won’t go anywhere without this football now and tightly grasps it even when he falls asleep.