8 Months Old | Kamuela James

Eight months old, on St. Patrick's Day, and our little man won't be stopped! He crawls like it ain't no thang, ever since February 15th, stepping with his left foot, crawling with his right. He pulls himself up on everything. He'll let go and stand completely on his own from 3-8 seconds or so and sits himself back down, gently. If he can push something around so that he can walk, he does: his activity table, the high chair, a stool, anything. And he's even taken a couple of lunging/falling steps to me a couple of times already! AND HE'S ONLY EIGHT MONTHS OLD! Gah. No wonder I'm finding more grey hairs every day.

He makes the most adorable squinty/squishy smiley face when he's feeling particularly cheesy and silly. He loves being tossed, thrown, tickled, wrestled, snuggled, and kissed. When he spontaneously decides to give me kisses without being asked, it's the best thing in the world, drool and all.

He has four teeth, two on top, two on bottom. They're the most adorable thing ever... and when they clamp down while breastfeeding it is a level of pain that is beyond explanation.  The first time that it happened, I pinched his nose to get him to release and then I sat staring at his sweet smile looking up at me and promptly burst into tears. More than the pain, it was emotionally overwhelming to have my sweet, innocent little baby cause me pain. I can't really explain it, but it felt like a betrayal of the worst kind. I know that probably sounds ridiculous but that's how it felt and I may or may not have had a week of depression because of it. Luckily, I have a very supportive husband, who even though he had NO idea what I was going through or why I was a complete emotional wreck, he was totally understanding that I was having a hard time and simply just helped me through it. I also talked, in tears, with my mom "I just don't feel like myself", texted my sister "I think I may have delayed postpartum  depression, is that a thing?" (totally a thing, by the way), but really, I finally came to the realization that every milestone is going to make me a little sad because it means my baby is growing up. And that's okay. So no matter how happy I am to have a healthy, growing boy, and no matter how proud I am of his accomplishments, I'm pretty sure that being a mother means there is just always going to be this slight tinge of bittersweet sadness on the edge of every milestone. And that's ok. :)

We started swim lessons! Kamu and I are taking a parent/child class together and it is SO MUCH FUN. I was grinning like a fool the entire first lesson. He absolutely loves the water, loves the interaction with other kids in the class (all of them way older then him and they refer to him as "the baby"), and would gladly stay in the pool longer then the 30 minute class.

He climbed up the stairs for the first time on my birthday, under the supervision of Grammy. I, of course, got all teary eyed as my boy crossed off another milestone. Seriously, why is he in such a hurry?!

(Don't worry, I have since trimmed that hair over his ears!)