The past 8 have been great!

Caden is 8 months old today. This past month he has really developed a lot more skills. He is so much fun to have around! We love playing, singing, reading, and enjoying life. Here is an overview of some of his new milestones:

- Caden can crawl forward! This past week he finally discovered he could move forward. He not only crawls on his hands and knees but also in a bear crawl (knees off the ground). It's so funny to watch. The ladies at the nursery who watch him while I attend MOPS and my ladies' Bible study say he's really strong and it won't be too long before he's walking.

- Now Caden can feed himself cheerios. A few weeks ago we decided to introduce him to a few finger foods and this was the first one. He can now pick up a cheerio and put it in his mouth.

- He drinks water from a sippy cup all by himself. I'm still breastfeeding so between feedings and with his meals he gets water in a sippy cup.

- He eats two meals a day of solid foods. On average he eats about 2 Tbs of dry grains mixed with water and two Tbs of a fruit or vegetables or a mix of the two.

- He can take a few steps while we hold his hands. It's so cute how he pulls himself up and wants to try and walk with our help. He can also now walk backwards in his walker.

- He can go from tummy to sitting. He practiced this a lot once he discovered he could lay flat on his belly and then sit up. When he first did it I was super surprised and excited. No more "forced" tummy time, he now gets plenty on his own.

- He is babbling more. He'll say "ahh, baa, caa, daa, hi, hey, dada, daddy, and several other babble sounds." Still no mama or ma, just maaahhh when he's upsit and wants me. It's in a cry form so I don't know if that really counts.

- He can bring his hands together and bang two objects together.

- He now has 8 teeth! Yes, that's right, 8! He had been teething and drooling so much for months. I'm so glad his teeth have finally decided to make their presence known. He has 6 on top and 2 on bottom.

We took him to the doctor yesterday because he has a cold and were able to get his 8th month growth measurements. They are:

- 29.33 inches (87th percentile)
- 21.67 pounds (76th percentile)

Caden is still a big healthy boy. Sadly he has a cold but he's getting better everyday. He really grew a lot the first few months he was born and is now on a more slow and steady pace.

A few more notable things:

- He wears size 12 month clothes
- He sleeps 10-12 hours through the night and takes 2 naps a day, one morning and one afternoon anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

We are enjoying parenthood and really love our sweet baby. Caden is so much fun to have. We're looking forward to seeing my parents next week. The hardest thing about living in Germany is not being around our family and friends.

Here are some recent pictures of our sweet baby.

You can see my two front teeth!

Caden likes standing

I love his laugh and smile!

This was after his haircut, he was really tired

Caden the morning before his haircut, he has a lot of hair! =)