8 months

On January 27th you turned 8 months old! It is hard to believe that you are so close to being 1 year old. Right now you are crawling 100 mph, you babble and repeat sounds we make. Love to shred paper, specifically magazines. My poor Southern Livings have taken a beating the past few months. You LOVE riding in your car around the house and will honk the horn with one arm laying on the side of the car....you're one cool dude. You have this obsession with the refrigrator (you must get that from your dad) and will crawl as fast as you can to reach all the condiments (see pics). You also will climb into the dishwasher if we have it open....I can't wait until you can walk so you can unload it for us;) You hate having your diaper changed but FINALLY is into a bath. We bought you a big duck you take your bath in and you like to splash the water while we bathe you. You like taking a bath so much that when the tub is not in use we have to block the bathtub off with pillows or you will climb over the side and try to fall over into the (water free) tub...not speaking from experience or anything;) You LOVE music and will stop from being in constant motion to listen. We are finding American Idol is our savior so we can relax for a minute!

You know how to throw a fit like no other....I hope this will replace the terrible 2's because I cannot imagine what those fits will be like when you are much older and way more feistier. This is stemming from your babysitters' personal desires to constantly carry you around their homes from 7:30am to 3:30 pm each day. :0) You are one active little dude and when we pick you up from your grandma's (the babysitters) they always tell me you were perfect (like me;) and are an active little guy. You never stop...you pull pillows off the couch, open cabinet doors, crawl behind us everywhere we go, climb steps, pull floor lamps over, bang your hands on anything that will make noise, tear books in half, push the trash can over, and stand at the front door banging on the glass. Yes, the house is baby proofed but you find your ways around all of it! Bless our hearts:0)

You got your first tooth on the 27th this month (in time for you 8 month bday) and the second one the next day. You started crawling at 6 months and had your first ER visit (with more to come...we predict...as active as you are) on News Years Day for a minor NOTHING. We thought you had an ear infection and everything was closed. Needless to say you got a true MSH visit....welcome to the club...I've had a few on those in my life;) Bless your heart.

In way of eating you LOVE solids. There is nothing that you don't like. A typical meal is cereal and a fruit/or veggie with a little bottle. You love eating applesauce so much that you will lockjaw the spoon. You are down to 3-4 bottles a day. Naps are still inconsistent (no specific time) but you will normally sleep 2 1/2-3 hours when you do. You usually sleep through the night and if you do get up you make sure and turn on your crib ocean music player...which in turn wakes us up! You will take a bottle and go right back to sleep which we are hoping to stop soon.

At your last dr appointment you weighed 19 pounds which is 75% and I can't remember exact length but you are in the 97%! Yes, this is true because we were told by the nurse and then had it confirmed by the doctor. As we were standing there bewildered and yet ecstatic, Dr. B said not to get our hopes up and buy center court season tickets at Mizzou (yes, Greg corrected Dr. B and said we wouldn't ever buy tickets for the tigers) b/c there is still a HUGE possibility that he just went through a growing spurt. We are still holding out for a miracle.

We love you John Parker! We are so proud of you and love watching you change and grow each day. We hope that our parenting skills don't scar you too bad;) but we love you and could not imagine our life without you!!!