The Wonder of Eight!

Our baby is 8 months old!  He has grown so much this last month - you won't believe it!  He now has two bottom teeth (I like to affectionately refer to them as fangs).  I thought I didn't want to lose the toothless grin, but the grin now with those two first little baby teeth is so priceless!  He is so close to crawling - right now he is still doing the alligator crawl/scoot across the floor... and he's getting faster and faster with each day that passes!  I seriously cannot believe he is already on the move!  Since it's cooled off significantly (YAY FALL!!) we have been able to spend more time outside, which Zaiya loves.  He loves to watch the trees and play with the grass - he'd probably dig a whole to China if I'd let him!  :)  He has loved all the rain we've had here as well.  He loves to be in the car when it rains and watch the raindrops fall on the car - it puts him to sleep every time but I love to stop the car and watch him watch the rain... I love the wonder and excitement in his face!


He's really started showing his personality this month as well.  We had a very interesting battle over spoons and he won... now he gets to hold one spoon every time he eats while I feed him with a different spoon!  (Hey - otherwise he wasn't going to eat!  Give me a break!)  He also has figured out that he can administer medicine himself - and he gets pretty angry when he wants to push the tylenol dispenser himself... as in... screaming bloody murder!  You can ask Auntie Kristen about this one... :)  We would like to give a shout out to Auntie Kristen for letting us borrow the miniature bottle dispenser for medicine because unfortunately Zaiya has needed a lot of it this month and it has made our lives so much easier!  This kid definitely has an opinion and Marc and I are prepping ourselves for lots of fun times ahead!!  :)  (I mean, I have no idea where he would get a strong personality from, do you??)


In other news I finally found a job!!  I'll be working for Canvas on Demand, a wonderful company that I interviewed with a few years ago but had to turn down an offer to work at UNC (sigh) b/c the benefits were so much better at UNC (sigh).  But I dug up the owner's email and thought I'd see if they were still hiring and sure enough, they were and they remembered me!  SCORE!  AND their company has grown significantly and so has their benefit package!  We are very excited to be entering this next era... and a little apprehensive, of course.  To be honest, I am tearing up just writing this!!  I know that it's the right thing for me to go back to work and I feel great about where I'm going - but... ;) I really don't wanna leave my little guy.  Since I got the offer I've really been pausing to soak up every bit of love and laughter I can get in these quiet moments that remain.  I know life will really never be the same as it has been during these last 8 months.  But we are both so thankful that we've been able to establish this solid foundation for Zaiya.  He's a happy boy and I am sure that all the new friends he is about to make will love him... ALMOST as much as we do!  :)


Wow, I really feel like I could go on and on about all the new and exciting things this little guy is into.  We are continuing to love every minute with him and we hope you have enjoyed these updates... because I can't promise those to come will be quite as extensive... ;)  

Having some fun after bath time!

 

This is what I look like with tamed curls!  Pretty cute, huh?  My hair is getting so long!

 I'm pretty serious about my big boy sippy cup!

 And here I am making my new favorite face!

Well, Marc got his wish: His very own little Barack!

 Another photo session with mommy!

Practicing my weight lifting form... and checkin' out my muscles!

 This is now one of my all time favorite pictures... the first time Zaiya wore real shoes!  Incase you can't tell, he thinks shoes are the greatest things since toes!  :)

 Well, he still thinks toes are pretty cool too... especially Mommy's!

Look out, world... here I CRAWL...

Um, actually, I think I'll check out my shoes again.

Okay.  I'm ready again... Here I go... watch me...

Hahahaha!  I was just kidding I can't really crawl yet!

Now.  This time I'm serious.  I can do this.  Don't mess with me.

Who needs this crawlin' stuff anyway.  HMPH.

And finally... here he is... live in action!

So happy mommy is home after her first interview!!
I wish she didn't have to go back to work!  (me too, buddy!)  ;)

Look at me! I can stand!!! (With help of course!)

I love Mommy and Mommy's Crab Plant (and Minkie) ;)

We had so much fun taking pictures before running errands on this day; I wanted to take pictures by my flourishing "crab plant" and it took Zaiya about 2 seconds to grab hold of a leaf 

and put it straight to the mouth!  :)

Our little man...

Our little guy is all grown up!  And we love every inch of him!

Happy Fall Everyone!!!