8 months

it's been eight months since daxton was born.

it's been eight months since this sweet boy found his way into our lives.

it's been eight months since our hearts grew exponentially with a love we never knew.

daxton has been a little traveler this past month.  he experienced his first airplane ride, his first long car ride with no other friends in the back seat, and his first trip to the lake.  he had a good time in chicago and loved hanging out with his auntie conti and uncle keeker.  he did lots of sight seeing and hung in there even when the weather was hot and the trips out of the house were long.  he also had a good time visiting his nani and gran-gran in va this past week.  he played most of the days in his jumper while i worked and then he got to go to smith mountain lake on the 4th of july.  we didn't hang in there for fireworks, but a fun day in the lake was just about all the little fella could keep up with.

daxton's been progressing with textural foods.  he's still not so sure about mashed up bananas, chopped up mango, or puffs - but he loves his strawberry yogis and watermelon!  it's been hard to find organic watermelon, but every time we locate one we make sure to get it for dax.  he loves the flavor of it and i think that the flavor even overwhelms the textural aspect that he's sometimes not so sure of.  it's definitely his favorite thing so far.

daxton is still working on his sit up skills.  he will sit, if you put him there - until a breeze knocks him over - or something fascinating (which is generally anything) catches his eye and he turns his head.  sudden turns send him straight into a tumble.  he likes sitting up, but he's still not connecting the fact that he needs to use his arms to balance himself as he's falling over.  crawling is not even on the radar.  we get the butt going up in the air, and he reaches, and stretches for objects he wants that are not in his grasp, but he is not attempting to move to go get them just yet.

we keep thinking that teeth are on the horizon.  i think we've been thinking this since he was about 3 months old - alas - there are no teeth poking through.  it's funny to watch him eat his puffs because he actually chews them - nom - nom - nom - as if he had teeth, but he's just chewing with his gums!  he'll sure have a cute little grin when those pearly whites make an appearance!

daxton's been a water bug as of late.  he's been to pools and the lake and he loves being in the water.  in fact, he got so relaxed at the lake that he fell asleep while wearing his life jacket submerged in a float in the water!  we had to hoist him out and let him rest on the boat.  when we put him back in the water later, he did the same thing again.  he loved watching everyone float around in the lake on rafts.  while on the boat he saw everyone out there and he climbed up and actually stood (while holding on to the seat) to look over the edge and see what was going on.  he never wants to miss out on the fun!  he played with his cousin ellie in the kiddie pool and thought it was pretty funny when she was splish splashing all around.  they were great buddies together!

daxton never meets a stranger.  he's fascinated and happy with everyone he meets.  he spends his sunday mornings in the nursery at church, and he goes from care taker to care taker without any issue.  he's hung out with friends of friends at the lake and with the neighbors and he's never met anyone he does not like.  he spent a good deal of time with his cousin james while he was in roanoke and he loved just laying on his play mat with him and watching what he was doing.  he's a friendly and personable little fellow.

jumperoo.  hate to mention it again, but it still goes down in the history books as the all - time - favorite - daxy toy.  we even took one apart and drove it to va so he could jump while he was out of town.  he missed it terribly while we were in chicago and i could tell he was happy to see it when we arrived in va.  we got it out of the car and set it up and he immediately started clapping and jumping!

it's been eight months of 1540 diaper changes.

it's been eight months of 1488 bottles for a total of 54.1 gallons.

it's been eight months of cuddling, rocking, and loving on our boy.

it's been eight months of the purest joy you'd ever know.