..sam is 8 months..

dear sweet sammy boy,

i can hardly believe you are already EIGHT MONTHS old! life just has this way of moving at warp speed...sometimes the days go by slow but months fly by. i'm not sure how that happens? anyhow, life is so good right now. we are enjoying spending our days outside in the hot summer sun - sometimes it's too hot, but i won't complain about that. i think we all can agree that warm sunshine is much better than cold snow. ;)

grandma is done with work for the summer, so we are hoping that we'll get to spend more time with her. we love it when she comes down to play with us. we've also been going on weekly adventures with chelsey, locke and mccoy. sometimes we go places, other times we stay at one of our houses and play. it is fun to be around other people for a change of pace. we've also been hanging out with lindsey, robby and cute corbin, the kettle's, markham's and brant and laurel. we're making all kinds of friends and i'm loving it!

some things i want to remember about you as an 8-month-old:

- you are rolling over a ton.
- you started scooting (on your tummy, mostly backwards). it's not crawling but it's movement and that's progress so i'm so proud! :)
- you can sort of bum scoot, but mostly you just sit and rock back and forth, without really going anywhere.
- you are starting to eat the same food that we eat! this is so fun, i love this stage. so far you've enjoyed strawberries (loved 'em!) and bread.
- you still don't have any teeth. what gives?!
- you light up when dad gets home.
- you love being outside on the grass. love it! which is so weird because most babies your age hate the grass!
- you love jumping in your johnny jump-up. the cute little red car that plays the annoying song. ;) you just giggle and bounce with delight.
- you started holding your own bottle this past month. it still is a little unsteady and i'd say about half of it ends up on you (or your surroundings) rather than in you haha but it's a start.
- you roll all over your crib and play with your stuffed animals before you go down/when you wake up.  i often hear quite the party in there!
- you love love love your bunny and gray blanket. pretty sure you can't go to sleep without them. ;)
- you are getting so dang heavy! way too heavy to carry in your carseat, so we usually just leave it in the car these days.
- you are intrigued and a little scared of your big brother. haha he is a little too hands-on for your comfort, so when you see him coming you still give me that nervous look, like, "uh oh mom, help me...!"
- you are still very easy to take to church. you just sit on our laps, on the floor or in your carseat. it's so nice. your brother at this age was a total nightmare at church! ;)

as always, i am loving watching you grow and learn each day and i just feel so blessed to be able to stay at home with you and your big brothers all day. it is the greatest blessing and gift, and i'm so thankful to our heavenly father and your dad for making it possible.

love you my cute little chubby man.

mom