8 Months Old!

Brennan is 8 months old today! He's growing and learning so much. We are unbelievably blessed to have such an incredible son.

~Brennan has so much so say! His vocalizations seem to grow longer by the day. He also experiments with the pitch and volume of his voice. Some of his regular phrases include: "Hiya-Hiya-Hiya", "A-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-daa-daa-daa-daa", "Issssh, Issssh"", "Da-da-da-da-da", "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba", "I-did-I-did-I-did", "Ah-vvvv" and "Ya-ya-ya-ya"
~He continues to enjoy food...and a lot of it! He has a combination of homemade and store bought food, depending on the type of food and prices. He enjoys a container of fruit in the morning and a container of veggies and a grain at dinner. He drinks water out of a sippy cup at dinner, although he doesn't drink much. Sometimes, he'll smack his lips together like a fish when he's hungry and/or eating. He also nurses/drinks a bottle six times a day.
~Brennan is officially mobile! He's becoming more proficient at crawling every day and is very proud of himself! It's fun to watch him move around the room.
~He's starting to pull himself up, including on chairs and window sills. Consequently, we've lowered his crib mattress a bit, just in case he gets adventurous.
~He sleeps approximately 11 hours overnight. Bedtime is between 7-7:30pm. Saturday through Tuesday, I'm able to feed him and put him back to bed if he's still tired and he'll typically sleep until around 8:15am. Wednesday through Friday he goes to the babysitter's house. He's doing much better at taking naps. Typical nap times are 9am, 1pm, and a brief nap around 4:30pm. Length of naps vary from 1 hour to 2.5 hours. He is doing a fabulous job at putting himself to sleep, including at naptime! He talks to himself for a few minutes (if at all!) before drifting off to dreamland.
~Brennan is a teething machine. He has 7 teeth, all appearing within the last 2 months! He's handled it wonderfully and knows exactly what the Orajel and Ibuprofen bottles mean. He also enjoys sucking on his frozen teething toys. We caught a glimpse of number 8 this evening.
~While he continues to be an incredibly happy guy, Brennan will let you know what he wants (or doesn't want!) through protest.
~Nothing, and I mean nothing, get's unnoticed. Brennan wants to know what is going on around him constantly. When nursing in his room, he'll stop and stare at the door if he hears Daddy walking down the hall. Sometimes, he'll stop nursing, pull himself up to sitting, look around, and then return to eating. If playing in the family room, he'll stop and look at the doorway when he hears the garage door. He's also noticed the refrigerator kicking on when in another room.
~We enjoy taking family walks in the evening. Brennan loves observing as we walk through the neighborhood. I'm going to miss our walks when the weather gets colder.
~Brennan's "job" is to press the garage door button when we leave/come home. He looks and reaches for it immediately when we enter the garage/walk by. He needs a little help to press the button hard enough.
~There continues to be a debate regarding who Brennan resembles more, Mommy or Daddy. Some say he looks exactly like Mommy. Others say he looks exactly like Daddy. Some say he looks like a combination of both of us. Whatever it is, he's adorable!