8 months old

Eli is going to be 8 months old on June 5, which is also Geoff and I's 3rd anniversary. Its been a crazy, fun, amazing 3 years. We've been together since 2004, and married in 2008, so we've been together a long time and thankfully grown up a lot and more importantly, grown together. Our life is even better now with Eli in it, and its neat to see how much he has grown and changed in the past 8 months. He is crawling now, which is hilarious to watch because he has to stop and think about it then suddenly zooms across the floor. He is starting to pull himself up on furniture, which is an endless source of amusement for him. He is also really into shoes? Which is weird... haha he likes to crawl across the floor to our shoes and try and chew on them. Gross.
We had him baptized last Sunday and it was a wonderful ceremony. Most of our family came up to see it, Geoff's dad and his girlfriend, Dawn, Geoff's mom and stepdad and younger sisters, Emily and Sarah, Geoff's grandparents drove out from Missouri to be here even! On my side, my mom, dad, and brother were there. It was great to have everyone here and to have so much family support. Eli is doing really well now, he is getting very good at finger foods, which makes meal time more and less challenging. More challenging because he makes a waay bigger mess, but less challenging because i dont have to sit and spoon feed him. This falls in line with the aspects of baby-led weaning I have read about and that is a theory I'd like to explore further. He is also still breastfeeding multiple times a day. I am not sure when that will slow down for him, but am trying to be patient and sensitive to his needs.

On the subject of breastfeeding, I was prepared for it to be hard at first, but then to get much easier and more enjoyable, and it did. However, I was NOT prepared to go through HATING it at times. Seriously, I get to the point where he is tired and grumpy and doing the alligator death roll in my arms while trying to nurse and I literally cant stand it. At first I felt extreme guilt and anger at myself for not wanting to nurse anymore. But I got a link from a friend and realized these feelings are normal at times for some women and it made me feel much better. Sometimes I have to end a nursing session because Eli is being too difficult, but thats OK. I dont want to wean him until he is ready, so right now we are doing whats working. I guess I wanted to share that because I was not prepared for it at all. I was not prepared to get "touched out" at times, but now I know its normal and OK and 99% of the time I still LOVE nursing him. Its the best thing ever when he is all sleepy and wrapped up in his blankey to have him open his eyes and gaze up at me, or crack a milky grin because he looked up and saw me looking at him. I love being a mama :o)