Eight Months - Lots of Changes!

Zach, Luke and Eli - just playing around!

Well, now I know why I should blog more often... there's so much to tell you all about! First, let me start with what each of the boys have been up to lately (literally and figuratively).

Zach

Zachy is up to 21 lbs. 6.5 oz. now. I know it feels like he weighs that much every morning when I first pick him up, but I just can't believe he's more than tripled his weight! It really makes you think about how far they've come. Zach can sit up really well on his own now, and he's such a good eater that we've been able to reuse his bib a couple of times. This might not seem like a big deal, but when you go through 9 bibs a day, every little bit helps! He's totally sweet and always content, and he just loves to be around his brothers. He has two teeth and says dada (all day, every day!). I took him all by himself to Wal-Mart yesterday, and although we love the attention we get with all boys, it was fun to just walk around all by ourselves with no one stopping to chat. I hope that doesn't sound resentful - we really love talking to everyone when we go out. But it was nice for us to have some alone time!

Eli

Eli is now weighing in at 20 lbs. 12.5 oz. Some of this can be accounted for by his abundance of teeth! You can see plainly above his two little bottom ones, but what you can't see yet are the two coming in on top - not the middle teeth, but the ones to the outside of those. I can't wait to get a picture of the little vampire baby! He is still the wildest child that we have, but he is so sweet and smiley - usually. He sits up great on his own; he can even sit up from a reclining position. He's working on crawling, and he's getting close. He also can almost hold his own bottle - so cool! He needs a little help here and there, and sometimes he just doesn't feel like it, but it will be a great help when they can hold their own bottles! Eli and Luke had a tiny little cold last week, but they were great and really didn't need anything as far as medicine - just a little extra lovin'. Eli loooves to hug!

Luke

Luke is now 18 lbs. 6 oz. He's still smaller than the other boys, but still by about the same margin, so he's growing great! He can say dada and (drum roll please...) mama!! He said it on Saturday, June 26 and I was soo proud! I love to hear him say it, even if it is just a random syllable to him. He sits up great on his own and still has only the two teeth. The coolest thing about him, and I've noticed this for a while, is he gets so happy when anyone else is happy. For example, Eli will love to be tickled, but when you move on to someone else, he gets quiet. Luke just giggles and laughs when anyone is having fun, and I think that says a lot about him. He's such a little sweetie. Also, his head shape is improving dramatically. The last time we went to the doctor he was at 9 mm out of symmetry (started at 19 mm) and 5 mm is considered normal. If you really start to look around, you realize not too many people have "normal" shaped heads! Anyway, he doesn't have another appointment for 2 more weeks, and I'm hoping the helmet will come off soon after that. He's so good with it - it really has been no trouble at all, except you can't kiss his little head as much as you (or I) might like.

Well, this blog has grown to novel-length (as usual) so I'll sign off more and try to write again soon. I'll leave off with an action shot of boys playing with their "piano" - a super cool toy that makes lots of different musical sounds. What fun stuff they have to play with!