8 months

And our baby boy is officially 8 months. Time is flying. That is basically "big kid" status and boy does he think he's a big kid. It seems that he is learning something new everyday and he is really enjoying it. 

Last we checked he weighed 21 pounds on our home scale.

Still no teeth and no signs of them coming

Still going strong with his army crawl and each day he does more steps on his knees. Soon to be a full on crawler

Tries to pull up on furniture, usually only gets up to his knees on his own. 

Can stand for awhile while holding onto furniture or bed. 

Climbing on mom seems to be his favorite 

Follows mom around the house.

Still very giggly and cheerful

Charlie has decided over the last month or so that he doesn't want to sleep through the night anymore. He was really good at being set down in his pack n play and falling asleep on his own, then sleeping through the night. But now he has been getting so excited about his mobility that he will roll onto his stomach, either while falling asleep or in the middle of the night. Then stresses out and starts crying. It's like he has forgotten that he can roll back onto his back . We hope he remembers soon because he hasn't slept through the night in quite some time. It's also been a challenge somewhat to have him sleeping in our room which he will be doing for the rest of the summer. His momma is a light sleeper and apparently can only sleep 2-3 hours before waking up now.  Hopefully this will get better soon as Charlie learns how to make himself comfortable. 

Any parenting suggestions are welcome...

In the meantime here are some pictures of the little guy..

Trying out his new pool toy on the carpet. 

I've been taking so many picture of him that he starts to make these faces in anticipation of the flash. 

Preparing himself for the flash....

He just gets so excited learning all the new things he can do with his body.

He also tries to be my little helper.

I don't know if this video will work but it's worth a try.

He sure love our little guy, even in our exhausted state. He is a joy to have in our family.

The Red, White, and Blue.

Another holiday celebrated in a new place. We were just discussing how it will be fun to settle somewhere so we can have some consistent traditions for the summer holidays. However, it has been kind of exciting trying something new each year. I just can't get over the uber lame firework show of 2010 in Merced. But this year was much better and it was definitely fun to celebrate as a family of three. 

Charlie and I started the day early while Max got to sleep in a bit. Charlie has been perfecting hs Army crawl so this is what he practiced all morning. He thought it would be a great idea to crawl under the exersaucer. It turns out that he had a great time and played there for awhile, even rested his little head a bit. It's crazy that just a couple days ago he couldn't get around at all and now he goes wherever he wants. 

Max went to work in the morning to see if he could catch more people home in need of pest control. People turned out to not be very receptive so he came home around noon!!

When Max got home we all took a little nap. Then woke up and exercised. Yes, Max will do post natal Boot camp home work outs with his wife. He's a good man. After showering we went out to eat at Red Robin. We needed some good American food but weren't willing to cook it. It was delicious and Charlie enjoyed playing with his french fry and napkin the whole time. 

We came home with just enough time to get ready for the fireworks show and for Charlie to scoot around some more. 

This kid has been learning so much so fast. I can't keep up with him. 

 We found a good fireworks show at a park not too far from home. We parked a couple blocks away hoping to avoid crowds when leaving the park. Charlie fell asleep on the drive seeing as it was two hours passed his bed time. He woke up just as we got to the park and the fire work show was about to begin. 

Charlie seemed to enjoy the fireworks mostly, there were a couple long loud ones that made him fuss a bit but he got used to them pretty quick. 

Love these wonderful boys!

Love this face

I love my little family!

I guess that's it.

And just for fun. here is a tradition we started last year. We watch this clip. Enjoy. 

My favorite is how they portray "the pursuit of happiness"