8 months young.

Better get this up before JP turns 9 months! Here goes…

My prediction was that John-Paul would have 8 teeth by the time he turned 8 months old. I was close – he was 8 months and 5 days when his 8th tooth cut through. He had about a week break, and now he’s a drool fountain once again and gnawing on everything (and biting daddy’s shoulder when going up to Communion).

JP eats pretty much anything we give him. Bless you, JP. Please keep this up.

We resumed sleep training just after he cut his 8th tooth. We gave the Ferber sleep training method a shot after trying the no-cry sleep solution stuff for a while. It was one night of misery/feeling like the worst mother on the planet and then….he slept through the night after that. There have been a few times that he’s woken up around 1 or 2 but for good reasons (wet through his diaper, ate too early a dinner and needed more milk). I keep waking up throughout the night expecting him to be up any minute…nothing. I’m so grateful to other moms who were supportive and told me how well sleep training worked for them – it gave us the confidence to give it a shot. He sleeps from about 8pm until 5am, wakes up to eat and then goes back to sleep for an hour or two, waking around 7am most days. I feel like a new woman! We’ve also started sleep training him for naps/night times in his pack n play (we’ll be traveling alot soon). It’s gone better than anticipated – he napped for two hours a couple of times! But it seems to only work when the pack n play is in his room, not ours. Anyone else have pack n play sleep issues? How do you help your baby sleep when traveling?

JP loves to pull himself up by holding our hands. He’s still not quite sure how to hold tightly onto objects/furniture to pull himself, but he tries every once in a while. Here’s a video one of the times that he managed to pull himself up on our footstool. I love how pleased he is with himself! 🙂

John-Paul grows more and more playful each day. I think he’s starting to realize that some of the faces and sounds he makes make us laugh, and so he’ll do them more. He’s also saying “mamama” “dadadadada” and “nananana” and it makes me a puddle. He also gives us kisses. More melting.

Do you like my greasy sideburns?

John-Paul attended his first baseball game! There’s a minor league team in State College, and we went to the game with our friends Elizabeth and Greg and their adorable two boys. We only get to stay a few innings, and even those can be tough juggling a child around…but I try to remember that these experiences are worth the effort. It’s quality time as a family and as JP gets older these moments will grow increasingly important. Might as well start now!

In other family news, Joshua promoted to Captain on Friday! Now that I wrangle JP, I’m not a free to take pictures during special events but here are a few snaps from the evening. It was such a great night! Josh’s brother, Mike (Army reserves), promoted him! It was very special, especially because Mike and his family are in the process of moving across the country to begin a new chapter as missionaries for the Lord through Emmaus Journey (Please consider supporting monthly or making a one time donation to this awesome family committed to spreading the Gospel!). We’re so grateful that Mike selflessly took the time to be with us that day. The ceremony was perfect and we had such a great time celebrating afterwards at the American Ale House. This promotion was a little different since we’re not at a base. Normally you throw a party for the men and women you work with after you promote, but we got to host a gathering for most of our civilian friends 🙂 I’m so proud of Josh!