8 months

Jake turned 8 months old this week! It was a rather eventful month for my little guy who so desperately wants to be big. Jake has perfected crawling and now pulls himself up, walks with a walker, and runs with our hands. He talks and laughs and squeals all day long -- including when he is supposed to be sleeping. We're still working on that one, you know.

 If Jake is upset, musical instruments seem to do the trick. Especially when he is the one making said music.

 He still loves doing everything with his Daddy, and has become quite the Mama's Boy.

Jake has always been liberal with his kisses, but he now gives them on demand and it's my favorite thing. Hopefully he doesn't get sick of the whole "Give Mama a kiss!" routine any time soon.

You wouldn't know it from his size, but our little guy has developed quite the appetite. He loves feeding himself grownup food (think soft finger foods like bananas) and is a bit picky when it comes to baby food -- only the homemade stuff will do. (More on that later.)

Some of my favorite additions to his crawling routine are the plank and downward dog. So zen of him.

One day, I went in to get Jake from his crib and found that he had pulled himself up for the first time. So, like a good mom, I whipped out my iPhone, took a short video clip, took a picture, and then rescued him. Then I informed my husband that it's time to lower the crib mattress. Now, Jake pulls himself up on anything and everything he can get his hands on -- the crib, our coffee table, our friends' pant legs...

Speaking of our friends, Jake's little friend Emery is in town. This time, she brought her little walker with her. We were just hanging out in the family room last week when Jake crawled over to the walker, stood up to it, and then took six steps all on his own! Those were followed by many, many more. Jake has always liked walking with our hands, but he now wants to spend every moment of the day walking. He'll pull himself up to our legs and wait for our hands, then literally run around the house until we (his parents, that is) get tired. Jakey is loving it.

He's a rather confident little guy. A couple days ago, he was standing up to the couch and decided he wanted to go somewhere else, so he just turned around and stepped his foot forward ... and then face planted, because he's still way too little for that business (whether he knows it or not). He just wants to be big so badly! After the face plant, Jake rolled over, looked up at me and Matt, and started laughing. That boy is my favorite.