Kingston: 8 Months

Last week, our sweet little man turned 8 months old! Can you believe it? We can't, but that's not unusual! Kingston has accomplished more in this one month than he ever has before. He is a completely different baby now at 8 months than he was when he turned 7 months.

Physically, Kingston has hit so many milestones! If you can believe it, K had never rolled from his back to his front. He totally had the capability to do so, but never had the motivation. He was much happier sitting up or standing! This month however, within the same day, Kingston rolled from back to belly, learned how to sit up from laying down, and started crawling! Since then, K has not stopped. He is crawling everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Having a mobile baby is a completely new chapter in this parenting adventure. He goes from room to room, down the hallways, in the kitchen, everywhere! He is pulling up on the furniture, and in doing so has taken a couple minor spills. I swear this stage is going to give me a heart attack! But, I couldn't be more proud of him. He learned so much in such a short time. I love that he can go where he pleases and get things for himself, but it is definitely a stage in which I have to be even more hyper-vigilant than usual!

On that note, Kingston is getting into a lot more mischief than he ever did before. He goes after the dogs food and water bowl. We are playing musical dog bowls as we find where in the house is a good spot for it now! He also has been trying and succeeding to open the cabinets and drawers all around the house. This brings us to baby proofing. We installed the baby gate at the beginning of the month, right before he started crawling. We love it! After our other baby gate did not work for the stairway, we settled on the Munchkin Extending Extra Tall and Wide Metal Gate and love it. It works great and keeps K safe. We also put the outlet covers in since little munchkin was enjoying trying to stick his finger in the electrical outlet. EEK! We also bought a bunch of different baby proofing stuff for other areas of our house: tables, fireplace, drawers, and cabinets! This is a new era at the House of Burke. 

Another really exciting event that happened this month was that Kingston signed with Model Club Inc. in Boston! K is now being represented by an agent, and we couldn't be more thrilled. We took him to an open casting at the beginning of the month in Boston. We sat in the agency with a handful of other families, and met with one of the agents. Kingston was really excited, waving at and clapping for everyone! He is in his element when the attention is on him. We left them with a couple of pictures and our application. A few days later, I received an email that they were interested in signing K in their Baby Division where he will be represented until he is 3 years old! We are so excited for our little model and this new opportunity. Now we will just wait to see if he gets booked for any work! Here is his first Baby Book card: 

Not only did Kingston get a new job, but Dada did too! He started a new job this month. We are excited for all of these new opportunities happening for our family! 

This month, Kingston helped me celebrate my first Mother's Day! He spoiled his Mama with adorable homemade gifts, Chewbeads, and an Iphone 5. I was blown away!  He also gave me lots of snuggles and kisses. Kingston is truly the only gift I could ever need! We had such a fun day at the Glamparents house, pampering all of the Mama's and eating Chinese food. Yum! 

K has been to a lot of new places this month too! He has been to a ton of new restaurants this month. He is an official pro at sitting in his high chair with his chair cover and playing with his toys. Also this month, we took a day trip to North Conway to join the Glamparents on their vacation. We had a great time showing Kingston all of the shops and perusing the outlets. K couldn't get enough of the giant stuffed black bear at Zeb's. 

We had a park day with friends this month also. We were so excited to go. I slathered my fair-skinned angel with tons of sunscreen and reapplied several times. We had a great time at the park, but when we came home I was panicked to see that Kingston had a minor sunburn! After some reassurances from the pediatrician that everything was okay, I relaxed a bit. I was horrified though! We are going to have be super careful this summer to not be out a peak sun times. I don't want to risk my sweet boy getting sunburned again!! 

Kingston's sleeping habits this month are much better than last month! We still have our days, but for the most part he is only getting up one-two times a night. We have had A LOT of changes with sleep habits this month. He has been taking fantastic naps lately. More importantly, he now takes all of his naps in his crib with no problem at all. He no longer uses a sleep sack, and sleeps on his BELLY! I was very paranoid at first for him to be sleeping on his belly, but he sleeps more soundly, and doesn't wake himself up as much as he did before. Now that he is mobile though, he will wake up at night and jump right up and sit up. We have moved his crib to the very lowest setting now. It is so low that I actually have trouble getting him in and out, but I am getting used to maneuvering! He is now wearing two piece pajamas for the most part, which make him look so grown-up. I can't even believe how big he looks in them. 

Nursing is going really well. I had a bit of a scare mid-month when Kingston's distraction while nursing made me nervous that he was refusing the breast. After cutting back on the amount of solids we were feeding him, he began to nurse as normal again. Now he is nursing on demand and eating both lunch and dinner. This month, he has tried a few new foods: quinoa, cauliflower, frozen blueberries in the mesh feeder, puffs, garlic green beans, a tiny taste of ice cream (that was ALL Todd!), and a couple bites of pasta. Here is his "quinoa face" that he made when he first tried it: 

I can't even get over how big our sweet angel is getting! His personality is phenomenal. He is such a chatty, happy, giggly guy! He loves eating Mama's hair, hanging out upside down, and when we say, "OH TOODLES!". He loves spending time with all of his family, and he even said "Mam-Ma" this month while reaching his hands out for Glam*Ma. After everything he has accomplished this month, I am almost scared to see what he does this coming month. My baby is growing up and it is SO SO bittersweet. Mama loves you Kingston baby.