8 Months

**(Ok. I typed this post out a week before Bryson's 8 month birthday on the 21st knowing full well that I wouldn't have time once school started. All I had to do was upload the pictures. Well, 2.5 weeks later, here's the post. Ha!)**

How in the world is Bryson already 8 months old!? Ahh, time is flying by too quickly.

Bryson is all over the place. All. Over. The. Place. The only time he is ever ever still is if he is sleeping. I'll set him on the floor in his room and I'll walk to the laundry room or over to our bedroom and he follows right behind on his little hands and knees talking and drooling all over the floor. :)

He stands up on everything and, in the past few weeks, has gotten brave and tries to let go with his hands and stand on his own. He'll stay for a few seconds and then fall to his bum. He likes to walk around the perimeter of his pack and play and his crib and has gotten very good and slowly lowering himself to sitting down instead of crashing down on his bum. I guess he decided falling down didn't feel too good :)

He learned how to wave with his full arm and also with his fingers...except he has it backwards. It looks like he's fanning himself. It is the cutest thing ever!!

He also says "dada" and "hi" pretty regularly. I am waiting very patiently impatiently for him to say "mama"! Can't wait!!

He also plays peekaboo with us. He looks down at the ground and then after a couple seconds, looks up with a huge grin and waits for us to say "peek a boo!" Ahh I love how interactive he's getting. He picks up on things so quickly.

He has been SO much easier at night since I went dairy free. He's slept completely through the night several times and it is wonderful! He's been teething for a while and has been waking up because of that, but once I force my way into his mouth and put Oragel on his gums, he's back asleep. Right now he has the one tooth one the bottom that he's had for a while, the tooth next to it is cutting through and then he's about to cut both of his top two teeth. Poor baby is in a lot of pain! **update since I wrote this: two of his teeth have cut through and they bother him like crazy. :(

Poor baby is also trying to get over being sick for the first time. He is miserable and I hate seeing him like this :( He has a stomach virsus and the nastiest "snotty day care runny nose" on top of teething. He snores all the time because his nose is SO stopped up. I am ready for him to feel better so he will actually get some sleep soon!

He's still a great eater. If he keeps up these eating habits, he's going to eat us out of house and home when he gets older! Along with oatmeal, fruits and veggies, and milk, he also eats puffs and sometimes crackers. Puffs are the greatest thing in his life right now. He LOVES puffs! I started giving them to him about a month ago and it was the funniest thing to watch him try to pick up a puff and put it in his mouth. It took a good 3 minutes for him to find his mouth, and that's only if it didn't dissolve in his hand first! Now, he picks them up and stick them staright in his mouth over and over and over and....

I had to go back to work this week, which means Bryson had to start daycare school this week as well :( I have been dreading this all Summer and on Monday, I had to face my fear. I feel completely confident about the place we picked and I know he is in good hands, it's just that I wish he was in my hands. Michael and I dropped him off Monday morning. We kissed him good bye, shed lots of tears (ok, maybe that was only me) and went to work. Poor baby had an absolutely awful day. It broke my heart. He cried the entire day non stop and even threw up because he had gotten so worked up. It progressively got better as the week went on, and actually really enjoyed crawling around and playing with the other babies. I can watch him on video monitors (next best thing to being there!!) on the computer and he is always on the go! He crawls all around and plays with all the fun toys. It's so cute to see him playing with other babies!
Mr. B's 1st day of "school"

We took Bryson to the water park last weekend. Michael thought it was the silliest idea to take him when he can't run through the water, but I was so excited about it! We happened to have an extra swim diaper in the car, so after lunch, we stripped him down. He wasn't sure about it at first, especially with the sun straight in his eyes, but he ended up having fun! :)

His monthly pictures are getting close to impossible to take because he wants to move all the time. He's a busy body, for sure!

Bryson, we  love you to the moon and back and are so blessed you are our son. We can't wait to see what this month holds for you! :)

Baby Dedication

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord."

1 Samuel 1:27-28

Bryson was dedicated at church on Sunday!

I'm not quite sure we can call it a baby dedication since he was 8 months old, but I guess he's still a baby :)

This was a very special time for Michael and I as we publicly commit to raising Bryson in a Chrst-centered home and pary with and for him. Our prayer is that he will grow to know and love the Lord and walk closely with Him every day of his life.

We are so thankful for our family and friends that joined us Sunday morning. It was so special to share the day with them :)

After service, everyone came back to our house for lunch and to catch up on life. All 18 of us gathered in our little dining room and Study. Haha! We were in close quarters...good thing we all love eachother! :) It was great to just get to hang out and talk with everyone!! I was so busy talking/eating/taking care of Bryson that I completely forgot to pull out the camera at the house until the very end and only snapped a couple of pictures. Darn.

Convocation

I love convocation! I know a lot of districts have convocation at the beginnning of the year and it's a bust, but Plano is quite the exception.

Convocation is the one time of year that every single employee in the entire district from teachers and bus drivers to administration and janitorial staff get together for a massive pep rally and welcome the new year.

All 8,000 of us pack into Prestonwood Baptist Church and listen to a few speeches, talk about how we can further help our students succeed and even all perform a (semi) coreographed dance together. HA! I got a short clip of it with my phone. It was funnier in person :)

Also, Dr. Doug Otto, our Superintendent, gave an awesome speech about how we as learners are always changing and how we can adapt our teaching skills to accomodate their needs. He showed a video with stats about "Social Media" that was really eye opening. It's not on You Tube yet, so it's just an old fashioned link, but you won't be sorry that you spent the extra 1.5 seconds to copy and paste it. :)

http://pisdtv.pisd.edu/communications/features/90

I am really excited about this year, but am SO overwhelmed with everything going on at work and with Bryson starting daycare (a whole post on it's own...later. All I can say is pray, pray, pray. Poor baby is having a hard time, and so is mommy.) and a lot more things on my plate right now. But I am ready to see the sweet smiling faces of my kids in a few days!!

*gasp* A post without pictures of Bryson!?

I.Love.Cheese.

Weird title, I know. But, I really really love cheese. It's border line addiction...

I put cheese on everything. Even if there is a pound of cheese already inside the dish.

I plan meals on what type of cheese I want. Lately, it's been Feta or Blue Cheese. YUM!

When I was about 8, I convinced my aunt to make 2 boxes on Mac&Cheese for me and my 2 sisters, knowing full-well that my mom only made one box(and we had leftovers) and I ended up eating over half of it myself.

I'll cut slices of cheese (instead of using yucky chips) and use them to scoop up salsa.

Even if I'm full, I will keep eating the parts of the food where I can see cheese. If the cheese is gone, I'm done.

Earlier, we had 9 different types of cheese in the fridge.

I really love the stuff.

BUT, I love Bryson more.

If you remember, Bryson has had beyond awful gas since he was a baby. We got some medicine at his 6 month check up and it seemed to be working, but he was still waking up 3 or 4 times in the middle of the night screaming and needing to burp, which left mommy extremely sleep deprived. I have tried cutting everything under the sun out of my diet (caffeine, spicy foods, carbination, etc) with no success. Until last week when I finally tried cutting out dairy. **Cue harps and horns and chimes** Why it took me 7 months to even think to do it, I don't know. Within 3 days, Bryson was a different kid!! He only wakes up once around 3AM and he doesn't even have to burp! He's back down and sound asleep within 15 minutes. AND, he slept completely and totally through the night last night. Big deal for us! He's so much happier during the day and naps are a piece of cake...most of the time. :)

So, as of last week, this momma is dairy free. I thought I would have a hard time with it, but I honestly haven't even thought twice about wanting cheese *gasp*! True, it's only been a week and I'll probably be singing a differernt tune a little later. It's a little inconvenient going out to restaurants, but I can usually find something pretty quickly. I've been looking for dairy free recipes for dinners, so we'll see how that goes. Poor Michael kinda gets to go along for the ride whether he wants to or not. Sorry, Babe :)

Hopefully, it's not too good to be true. :)

And, what's a post without pictures of B? I found a couple on my phone :)

Teething on a carrot. "What's up Doc?"

Need A Laugh?

In B's 7 month post, I mentioned that he makes the SILLIEST noises. Well, I got a little of it on tape yesterday.

He keeps us laughing all day long! About 10 seconds after this video, he was squeeling and giggling. He is a goofy goofy boy, and I love him like crazy. :)

There's a good chance, as in 99%, that it is only funny to his own parents, but oh well :) Ha!

We're Not Terrible Parents. I promise.

Ok, maybe I should have kept the last part of Monday to ourselves.

I promise going to the casino is not a normal thing for us (first time ever, actually) and Bryson just happened to be there.

We thought it was funny, and actually went in laughing about it. We're really not terrible parents, I promise!

If it makes you feel any better at all, we were there for less than an hour, he was held the entire time and didn't touch anything, no one touched him. If it doesn't make you feel better, then, sorry Charlie. :)

Ok, now for some long overdue pictures!

He's found Orion's food and water bowl and likes to go play in it. He hasn't put any in his mouth. We're not terrible parents, I promise!

We're Terrible Parents.

Well, we started off as not-so-terrible parents when we took Bryson to the mall this morning.

He went on his first carousel ride

and loved it!

He was buckled in and held on tight

He was a little concerned when it started going faster, but enjoyed it none-the-less.

We planned for him to take his afternoon nap in the stroller as we shopped, but he was wide awake squeeling and smiling at all the passers by. :)

He, of course, fell asleep in the 10 minute car ride home, so we decided to keep driving and let him nap in the car...

...and we ended up here.

Thus, the "terrible parents" part. :) 

It was Bryson's (and Michael's) first trip to a casino...
 Anyone else thinking of the "baby in the bar" part of Sweet Home Alabama right about now?

We're high rollers and spent $10 playing penny slots...

And ended up winning $35. Sweet!

It ended up being a completely and totally random afternoon, but it was so much fun!! Bryson loved the bright lights and noises, we won a few dollars, Bryson napped on the way there and back, we went on a weekday, which means no people were there, which means there was next to no smoke (which is what I was worried about), and I loved spending quality time with Michael.  :)