Dear Lucas Walter,

You are now 8 months old. EIGHT. MONTHS.OLD.   Seriously, is this real life?   You are growing at hyper-speed!   We had lots more firsts this month.  First, and most importantly, you said Mama!!!  Mamamamamamama!   I’m not sure if you actually know what you’re saying, but it sure is nice to hear.   Your 3 favorite things to say now are Dadadadadada, Mamamamama, and Bubububububa.   Dadda, Mama, and Baby Bubba     You’ve also had your first cold    I’m proud of the fact that we kept you healthy for the first 7.5 months of you life.   Your little girlfriend Rylie had a cold first, and you must have been kissing on her too much haha!    Even though it’s nothing serious, it’s still been pretty terrible.  The drainage down your throat has made you gag and throw up, and then sometimes you can’t breathe to eat so we have to suck the snot out of your nose (did you know they make specialized snot-suckers?)  Also because of all the drainage you have developed an ear infection, and it was resistant to the first antibiotic, so after a week it had actually gotten worse.  Now you’re on a new antibiotic that you HATE.  And I mean every time we give it to you, you gag and throw up.   Fun times in the Atkinson household!     My poor baby.     You are 18.5 inches long, and now weigh 18 lbs, 12 oz.    Our arms are really getting a workout!   You’re wearing 12 month clothes, and all of your pajamas are 12-18 months.    You also switched up to your big boy carseat, that you seem to like better.

This month you have been clapping (so cute!), you’ve also started to roll around to get to things you want, and you’ve even started a tiny bit of the modified army crawl to scoot to get something.   I’m sure in the next month you’re going to get much better at it!  You also waved for the first time a couple weeks ago.  You would rather watch people wave at you, but occasionally you may wave back.   You will also sometimes do high fives, but again, would rather watch people entertain you.  Hehehehe!  You are realllllllllly into songs right now.  You love when people sing to you, especially if the song has hand movements that go along with it.  Your two favorites are The Green Grass Grows All Around, and Skiddamarink.    You get mad when they’re over.   Speaking of you getting mad, you definitely have a strong opinion on things and let us know how you feel about it!   In fact, I even wrote down the date of your first temper tantrum (3/4/13).  You were so appalled that I took my cell phone away from you.  You’ve definitely learned how to fuss to get your way.  You’re absolutely obsessed with electronics that you’re not suppose to have.  You love love love our cell phones, the remote control, and smashing your hands on the keyboard of the laptop.   I can’t have the computer around you anymore because you will dive all over me to get to it!  You sure do love to bang on your piano though!  Any time we get out your piano you will sit in front of it for a good 20 minutes banging on the keys.