8 months old

What's new at 8 months old? Using the walker is definitely a new thing. He'll be walking soon and that's both scary and exciting! He can crawl up the entire staircase now without stopping or getting tired. He chases the animals around all day. I still can't believe how mobile he's become in such a short amount of time.

Travis and I have swore that he was cutting a tooth since he was 3 1/2 months old, but still nothing. Despite not having teeth, he really doesn't eat any baby food. He hasn't for the last month or so and even when he was eating baby food, it was very limited amounts. He has always prefered eating what's on our plate or just regular food cut into pieces and now he gets very upset if he thinks he's not included when you eat something (even if it's just a snack). It's cute to see him gum his food. He tried a grilled cheese sandwich and a grape jelly sandwich this past week and loved them both! He also tried key lime pie and loved that too! Yes, we do offer him small tastes of sweets if we are eating them. We're a family of sweets around here- we'll just have to monitor how much he gets.

We were really hoping to doing some type of sleep training during the holidays, but with all the running here and there, Tyler's regular napping and bed time routine was messed up so we've been playing catch up to get him back to his regular schedule before trying to do sleep training. So unfortunately, we're still waking up all night. I am hopeful that we'll figure out something that works soon!

Other than that, we're just enjoying every day as Tyler becomes more interactive with us. :-)







We're surprised that Tyler is already interested in his walker! This is from a couple of days ago. Check him out!



Daddy enjoys playing with Tyler's toys too!





*notice how Daddy is still playing after Tyler leaves*



This video cracks me up! I caught him dancing and of course, he stopped once he saw me!



I know that opening a door doesn't make Tyler a genius, however, it's learning little things like this that make us very proud! *He was laughing at Rylee when he opened the door.*

Merry Christmas... x 5!

Yes, Tyler celebrated Christmas FIVE times! What a lucky little boy, huh?! Travis took this past week off work (I had Wed-Fri off) and I think we both need a vacation from our Christmas holiday!! I was so excited for Tyler to experience his first Christmas and I thought he would love opening presents since he loves tearing/trying to eat paper in general, but he wasn't as interested as I figured he would be. It was still fun for Travis and I to open his gifts and see the excitement on his face once we gave him whatever was in the box. Of course, this being Tyler's first Christmas, he received SO many great gifts that he will enjoy for a long time. Now we just have to figure out where to put everything. :-)

Our first stop~ We spent Christmas Eve day with Poppa and Peggy in Waco. Uncle Justin made it in the night before and Christine, Robert, Bonnie, their daughter, Stacey, and her son, John, met us there. We fried a turkey and had a really nice dinner along with some great treats that Peggy put together for us. The boys were goofy as usual when they are together and were very eager to open presents. The first present Tyler opened was from his Uncle Justin and it quickly became his favorite! Justin has been bragging about that ever since.















Our family Santa, Uncle Robert (thank goodness Tyler wasn't scared of him!)



Poppa, Tyler and Robert





All smiles~











We came home and spent Christmas Eve night at our house and shared our first Christmas morning as a family. It's nice to start our own family traditions. Tyler received some more great gifts from Santa!













Tyler took Cooper's Christmas present from him~











He really wanted Daddy's drill for Christmas~



Our next celebration was spent at Aunt Sandra's house on Christmas day where we had another wonderful lunch! She decided to mix things up this year and served a rib roast in lieu of turkey (yumm)! We played a polite game of Chinese Christmas and then Tyler opened more gifts. We had a great time, but I have to mention Tyler's very first busted lip. :-( He was playing with their pups as we were getting ready to leave and he fell over on the hardwood floor. At first, we thought he busted his lip from the fall, but after looking at it later, we think that he startled one of the dogs when he fell and started crying and the dog nipped him. Poor little guy. It was the first time I saw blood on my baby, but I'm sure it won't be the last time. Despite the accident, we still had a great visit.











"Yeah.. a hanger!"



Tyler and Great-Grandpop



After lunch, we headed to Mamma's house in Bastrop for dinner. This is still my favorite stop for ham and brown sugar/honey pineapples! There were 20 of us that filled my grandma's living room and somehow we managed to organize a ton of group photos since we haven't taken any in a long time. And you guessed it... Tyler opened more presents! :-)







with Pappa (Tyler's Great-Grandpa)



with Grammy



with Grammy and Mamma



Mamma and Pappa with their kiddos



Mamma and Pappa with all the grandkids



Our last stop was at Grandpa Bill and Grandma Dale's house the day after Christmas for lunch. Tyler was in such a great mood and on his best behavior this day. It was a nice change since Travis' family usually catches Tyler when he's having very fussy days. You would think that Tyler would be a pro at opening gifts by this point, but he wasn't that interested. He still enjoyed getting his goodies after we opened them.









with Grandpa Bill



Whew~ we're glad that Christmas is behind us and excited to start the New Year! We hope that you all had a wonderful holiday spent with your loved ones as well.