8 Months Old

Another month has come and gone.  This month brought a lot of growth and change for you.  The biggest change is that you are now mobile.  That's right.  You're crawling all over the place and trying to pull up on everything.  I put you in your room while I was getting ready a couple of weeks ago, and a few minutes later I heard your sister say, "well Fletcher, how'd you get out in the hallway." 

We definitely can't leave you alone for even a minute.  You haven't reached the point where you can crawl faster then we can run, so your siblings still think it's really cool.  They'll be in for a rude awakening soon though when you pick up speed and start really getting into their stuff. You are so curious about everything though. One of your favorite destinations is the stairs.  You haven't quite figured out how to navigate them, but you sure do try. 

Even though you just started crawling, I don't think it will be too long before you're standing and walking.  You try to pull up on everything.  Tables, toys, my legs, and even the dogs. You especially like pushing your walker toys around.  It still takes a lot of effort for you to get those legs to move, but you try so hard and don't get frustrated at all...at least you don't get frustrated until you lose your balance.

Fortunately, you haven't discovered the dog bowls yet. When that happens, I don't know how we'll keep you away from them because you LOVE to play with water. Bath time is your favorite.  As soon as you hear me turn on the faucet in the bathtub, you come crawling as quickly as you can and try to pull up on the side of the bathtub.  I am pretty sure you'd take 3 baths a day and not lose any of the excitement you have about bath time. 

It is so exciting to see how you're observing and engaging with the world around you, especially as we near the Christmas holiday.  You have gotten dragged all over the place shopping, going to events for your siblings, and attending holiday gatherings.  You take it in stride and seem to really enjoy the new sights and sounds.  You have staretd trying to wave, but I don't think you really understand why you are doing it yet.  You just like to see your fingers move.  Even if you don't always do a traditional greeting, you are always smiling at people, even complete strangers.  You especially love to scrunch up your nose and squeal like a little piglet when you're really excited.  I think it is your way of laughing, but you have to be over the top about it because as the third child, you're rarely the center of attention for long.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that you're continuing to expand your diet as well.  We really haven't found anything that you won't eat.  As long as I cut things up small enough that you can gum them into submission, you're pretty easy going when it comes to food.  I know the holidays will bring many more new flavors and foods for you to try.

It seems like I should have more to write about, because you are learning new things every day.  I know this next month you're going to continue to surprise us with all you can do, and I am so excited to see what you learn next!

O Christmas Tree

Every year, Christmas brings so much joy and excitement as we celebrate the coming of our Christ.  While I try to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas, I always tend to get at least a little caught up in the pomp and circumstance too.  I mean, who doesn't?  I especially love the way my house looks when it is full of holiday décor.  The wreath on the door, garland on the stairs, and trees filled with ornaments adorn my home.  With the construction going on in our basement this year, we had to tone down the decorations a bit.  We didn't put the tree in the bay window in the office like we normally do, because the office is filled with Legos that normally live in the basement.  I don't have any wrapped gifts under the tree yet, because my wrapping paper is all out in the garage, and so are the gifts we've been buying because I have nowhere else to put them. 

Despite the scaling down we've done, there is one thing that we did bigger and better than ever before...the real tree in the living room.  We haven't always measured the tree.  We know it's big and guesstimate based on the size of the living room, the size of the ladder we use to decorate, etc.  Despite the lack of actual measurements, there is no doubt that this is the biggest tree we've ever gotten.  I even went back through pictures of our previous tress to make sure.  Here's what I found.

2013 was the first year we celebrated Christmas in this house (technically we bought it on December 17, 2012, but we didn't move in until after Christmas that year.  The tree that year was by the windows in the living room, and you can clearly see that it only goes to the top of the square window.

In 2014, we moved the TV from the right side of the fireplace to the left, so the 2014 tree was on the opposite side of the fireplace from the 2013 tree.  While the large wall of windows isn't comparable in the pictures, the windows above the fireplace are.  The 2014 tree looks to be about the same size as the 2013 tree, with just a couple of extra inches at the top. 

The 2015 tree looks a little taller that even 2014, even though it also looks to be slightly narrower. It seems that we just inched our way slightly taller year by year, until now. 

This year, you can see that the tree clearly goes above the top of the rounded window in the middle.  That is at least 3 more feet than the 2013 tree.  The best part of doing a real tree this year and every year is the smell.  Our house definitely smells like Christmas!