8 months and 23 months

Time is flying in my house.

Gavin is 8 months old and it's amazing to me how different he is than Emily was at 8 months.

Emily was starting to "talk" saying 'mama' and 'up' and Gavin hasn't started this yet. He does shriek and squawk quite a bit when he's happy or mad and his little noises are the best sound.

In the physical aspect, Gavin is ahead of Emily at 8 months.  He started crawling on September 16th (7 months) and Emily didn't scoot or crawl until 9 months.  He is all boy, getting into anything and everything he can reach.  He throws balls, tries to stand up by pulling on furniture and is always banging two toys together to hear the noises they make.

His favorite thing is Emily.  That boy loves his sister.  He tries to crawl after her everywhere she goes and if she's playing with something he wants to be right at her side playing too.  Emily is slowly learning patience with him and some days are better than others in this department. 

His sleep is all over the place.   Some days he naps like a champ and then a couple days later he's fighting naps like they are the worst thing that ever happened to him.  Some nights he wakes up 3 or 4 times and other nights he only wakes up once.  We can't figure this out to save our lives.  Just the other day, after Steve had gotten up with him 3 times in one night, we talked about doing CIO.  Then the next night he slept from 7-4:30am.  What's the deal buddy?

Gavin is the happiest baby.  Steve joked last night that our toddler cries more than our baby, and it's true.  He only gets upset when he's hungry, tired, or if you take a toy away from him.  There have been a couple of times I have taken him to the doctor for a cough and we leave finding out he had a double ear infection and he wasn't even fussy.

He is loving baby food and eats a pouch for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  He even tried Cheerios at daycare and gets really excited when it's time to eat (shocker I know). 

He is tipping the scales at 22 pounds and he's tall like his sister. I feel blessed every day that he has come so far and is growing and healthy after the start he had.

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Emily is 23 months and holy crap that means she's almost 2.

She is repeating everything we say and she still has her awesome sense of humor.  She has had some pretty up and down days in the past month, sometimes she is so happy and agreeable and the next minute she's screaming and crying for who knows what reason.  The life of a toddler I guess.

She is very active; climbing, learning to jump (hilarious), running and always wanting to be outside.  She doesn't stand still for pictures anymore so I have a camera full of blurry shots or the back of her head. 

She still eats really well except she doesn't like some foods that one would think a toddler would love like- mac & cheese (or any noodle), PB&J, or pizza.  Her favorites are fruit and veggies, chicken with ranch, and yogurt.

She STILL will not regularly drink her milk out of a sippy cup, but I'm working on it.  She might go to college and drink her beer out a Dr. Brown's bottle....

Emily loves going to "school" and having books read to her.  She will say part of the alphabet and count to ten but she is kind of shy about talking.  If she isn't sure about a word she whispers it and waits for a good reaction.  There are times that she "talks and talks" and we have no idea what she's saying- but is sure sounds like a good story!

Our days and nights are busy and sometimes blur into one another, but we wouldn't have it any other way!