Max standing up

Max at 8 Months

This week, Max turns 8 months old – and wow, but what a month it’s been.

At 8 months, Max…

… has had his first haircut…

Max's first haircutHonestly, I didn’t really imagine this happening so soon, but he’d developed a bit of an awkward comb-over, which was always falling into his eyes, so we decided to get him a bit of a pre-holiday trim. Luckily for us, our hairdresser is a friend – who also happens to live right across the road from us – so Max knows her well, and while he was a little bit surprised when she went in with the scissors, he was way too interested in the comb to really care!

… and his first family holiday.

… has visited three new countries: England, France and Belgium.

… and three new cities: London, Bruges and Aberdeen.

… had his first train ride and boat trip…

… and has laughed and giggled his way through the month, just as he always does.

The most exciting development of the month, however, was this:

Max standing

Yes, folks, we have a baby who can stand up all by himself here: I repeat, we have a baby who can stand!

He discovered he could do this on our last night in Kent, and, since then, it’s basically been all he wants to do – which has certainly kept Terry and I on our toes, because, as soon as we sit him down somewhere, he’ll just immediately start looking for the nearest object to pull himself up on. And if he can’t find one? He’ll crawl to it. Yes, CRAWL. Because, a couple of weeks ago, he discovered he could wriggle along the floor on his belly, and then last week he graduated to “proper” crawling, on hands and knees… which is super-cute, but yeah: looks like we’re going to be doing a serious amount of house-sitting over the next few weeks!

Mobility has been the biggest change of the month, but we’ve also been making lots of progress with weaning, too, and this month he moved on from purees, to a kind of baby-led weaning, whereby we let him try a little bit of everything – within reason, obviously. So far, it’s been going pretty well, and he’s eaten everything we’ve offered him. I’d say his favourite foods right now are probably banana and broccoli, though – and while, under normal circumstances, I’d usually be ending that sentence with the words, “Not at the same time, though,” in this case I’m going to have to admit that, yeah, sometimes it’s at the same time. Because babies just don’t care, do they?

Max at 7 months

As fun as it’s been to watch him trying different things, though, I have to admit that, for us, the best thing about starting him on solids is that it’s helped with his reflux so much that he’s almost like a different baby. He does still get milk too, obviously, and he still spits it up from time to time, but, honestly, I can’t remember the last time I used a burp cloth (Despite taking a whole bag of the things on holiday with us!), he only needs a bib when he’s eating, and for a little while after, and he normally ends the day in the same outfit he started it in, which would’ve been totally unheard of just a few weeks ago. My washing machine is almost crying with relief at all of this, and I’m very much enjoying being able to put cute outfits on him, and not just immediately have to cover them up with a giant bib, so, yeah, happy days indeed.

baby standing at shoes shelves

Sleep-wise, meanwhile… well, it’s been a better month than the last one, that’s for sure. We had a rocky start to the month, because our trip to Kent took him out of his usual routine, and Terry and I had vastly under-estimated just how important that was to him – cue a week of sleepless nights for us. Once we were back home, though, he quickly settled back down again: I’d say he sleeps through the night maybe 4 nights out of 7, with the other three being nights where he’ll maybe wake up once, say, or sometimes twice, and have to be re-settled. So, he’s sleeping pretty well at night, all things considered, and although nap-time continues to be a bit of a battleground (Yeah, self-soothing is NOT going well…). I’d rather have him awake most of the day than be awake most of the night, so I’m not complaining: I’m just going to have to find a few more garden centres to visit.

family photo

Overall, though, August has been a pretty good month, and definitely our most memorable one yet: I know I say this in all of my monthly updates, but this is really such a great age – he’s still small and squishy and baby-like, but he’s also really starting to develop his own little personality, which makes him an absolute joy to be around. He’s not happy every second of the day, obviously, but he is generally still a happy little soul, who laughs easily, smiles at everyone, and is prone to fits of hysterical laughter when you’re pushing him around the supermarket in his pram. I mean, I know I’m biased, but he’s just the sweetest little boy imaginable, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed making lots of memories with him this August – so here’s to an equally fun September!

P.S. If you'd like to hear more from me, please consider subscribing to my newsletter…

books by Amber Eve
COMMENTS
  • Good LORD, why am I so emotional today. Just thinking of where your head was at this time last year and doing a wee cry.

    I love your wee family. Here’s to another great month of snugs and milestones!

    x

    August 31, 2018
  • That last photo! He looks like a wee doll! You have such a gorgeous family xx

    August 31, 2018
  • Rachel

    REPLY

    Lovely photos, especially the last one of all of you. Max is adorable!

    August 31, 2018
  • Becky

    REPLY

    Are you in matching trainers in that last pic?! He is just scrummy! xx

    August 31, 2018
  • Alice

    REPLY

    It gets even better, seriously. Having a toddler is so much more fun. My daughter doesn’t like going to sleep either – but now she tries to distract us. At bedtime she says “water! milk! story! hat! apple!” – various a series of random things she claims to want to distract us from settling her to bed…….. so far unfortunately for her it hasn’t worked.

    She tries to play jokes on us too – eg pointing to a picture in her book saying “it’s papa!”. When I say “is it really papa” she says “no it’s a bear hahahahaha” which is apparently hilariously funny.

    August 31, 2018
  • Caroline

    REPLY

    Fabulous picture of you all at the end. Max is absolutely gorgeous.

    August 31, 2018
  • Brenda

    REPLY

    I love these updates! Max is so sweet, I am so happy for you all. This is such a fun age and I am enjoying following along.

    August 31, 2018
  • Myra

    REPLY

    Now the fun begins, the time when you need eyes in the back of your head, but love watching your little boy developing. I don’t understand people who say babies are uninteresting when you can almost see the wheels turning in his little head to learn new things and to solve problems. It’s a great time and I know you’ll make the most of it. I’m glad you’re keeping a blog ‘diary’ as the early years pass so quickly.

    August 31, 2018
  • Kelly Glen

    REPLY

    What a lovely photo of you all at the end and you look so contented and happy as a family.
    It’s really nice to read your monthly updates on Max and how he is getting on. He just gets cuter and cuter.

    August 31, 2018
  • Gorgeous photo of you all! And I’ve LOVED the crawling/standing/generally-being-in-charge-of-their-own-bodies stage with both of mine because they’re Just.So.Pleased not to be stuck where we put them – it’s so much fun watching them explore (although I do wish Alice would stop crawling through to my bedroom and trying to eat my slippers).

    August 31, 2018
  • Veronica

    REPLY

    I know nothing about babies, but Max seems to be in a particularly adorable and exciting stage! And he looks super cute in all of his little outfits.

    August 31, 2018
  • geo mia

    REPLY

    He’s such a lovely happy wee boy with lovely caring parents.
    We learned pretty quickly that routine is key in having a good nights sleep.
    It’s our second year of eight hours of smooth sleep for Petro ?.
    A good tip worth mentioning is that we also make sure he’s half knackered before bed time.
    Speak soon ? XX

    September 1, 2018
  • Hana

    REPLY

    That last photo of the three of you is so dear! Max is the cutest thing ever and as for you, I’m having MAJOR hair envy right now 🙂

    September 2, 2018
  • Wow he looks so grown up!! It’s the jeans, isn’t it? I dressed Benjamin in some “big boy pants” the other day and he looked so grown up!!! He loves standing when he’s holding our hands, but I must confess I am somewhat nervous when he will start doing it on hiw own…but then again it is so cute to see them develop new things <3 Happy 8 month "birthday" Max <3

    xo, Rosie //The Cheeky Mom

    September 3, 2018
POST A COMMENT