James at 8 Months

Today James is 8 months old!

Disclaimer: He is on day 5 of a nursing strike and super ornery from teething (I'm thinking the two are related but he's been an angry nurser for months) so I am beyond distraught. I will try my best to come up with other milestones and positive things about James but to be honest, I am so sad and frustrated with him and pumping and him not nursing that it's pretty much all that comes to mind. Add in that most of the time he just wants to snuggle with a blanket in his crib instead of me rocking him to sleep and my heart just aches that I don't get to do any of the bonding things anymore. But I'll keep trying because I'm more stubborn than him.

Plus--this face. (He's watching Erica jump on the trampoline.)

Likes: Eating and trying new foods, pulling grass, toys with wheels, knocking down stacked toys, peek-a-boo, his brother and sisters, yelling really loud in stairwells. He also likes baths now that he sits up in the tub instead of lies down in the water.

Dislikes: Nursing, changing clothes, nursing, being awake past 7:30, teeth cutting through his gums.

Remember last month when I announced that James had finally mastered sitting up? I was so excited because babies are so happy and easy when they just sit in one spot and play with toys and I thought this would usher in a respite of baby James being high-maintenance?

Yeah, that lasted one day and then he moved onto this.  He stretches out onto his stomach and then pushes himself backwards until he's far away from his toys. Sometimes he reverse scoots until he's under the bench or a chair. I don't like it and he doesn't like it but he keeps doing it.

After he got bored of watching Erica, he noticed the air vent.

And then it turned on and became even more intriguing.

Other things he's good at: Pulling at my jewelry until I take it off, eating more than Erica, being noisy at church, growing hair, producing slobber.

He didn't want to look at the camera but at least he gave me some good grins.

Oh James. Such a pill but he's my pill.