mandy's mark: Merry Christmas and Happy Eight Month Birthdayyy (sung to NSync's Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays) Ha!

Keegan Michael: You turned EIGHT months old on your first Christmas! I cannot believe it. You are growing right up, and we keep meeting milestone after milestone- and it never loses it's excitement! I am just as excited for you doing something new as I was when you were a brand new baby.

What a joy you are. You bring so much laughter and sunshine to Daddy and my lives- and ALL of your grandparents, aunts and uncles and extended family as well.

You wear mostly 9 to 12 month clothes right now. If I had to guess, I'd guess you're about 19 pounds. You don't have another doctor's appointment until next month, so I think my estimate will have to do! :) You also are finally in size 3 diapers. Big kid!

You sleep SO well. On the days we're home, you're very consistent with taking at least an hour nap mid morning, and at LEAST an hour and a half nap in the afternoon. Normally more like 2 to 2.5 hours. Mommy loves it because she can play with you when you're up, and know that she can get whatever she needs to get done finished while you nap.

At night you know it's about bed time around 6:45-7:00. Most of the time we stick with your "routine" but you do really well when we need to modify it to accomodate our plans. You typically sleep anywhere from 10-12 hours straight a night. Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy LOVE it and FINALLY feel rested after the hard time we had between 2-6 months when your ears hurt before you got tubes.

OH and BIG news in the past month...

YOU HAVE YOUR TWO BOTTOM TEETH! It was incredible because you were a little fussier- but it really didn't affect your sleep too much. You woke up for a couple of nights- but only at 10:00 or so while we were still up. Go, Big Boy!

I'm sure your top teeth are coming in soon- because you're still sticking EVERYTHING you get into your mouth as soon as you get your little hands on it.

You're still not crawling. We really think that you'll just skip crawling all together. You love to walk while we hold your hands, and you're starting to pull yourself up on everything. You just act like you think it's silly to crawl around on your hands and knees when you have two perfectly good feet! I will say I think you're a ways away from walking on your own. You just get too excited and wobbly! :)

You eat three meals a day, and in between have bottles every couple of hours. You are a big eater, but you must have your daddy's metabolism because it just doesn't seem to do anything! You love ALL baby foods. You eat the "meals" like Mac and Cheese (which is your favorite!) and Chicken and Turkey and Beef. You eat veggies like a champ and of course fruits. It's awesome that you're learning not to be picky. Your Dad and I made a concious effort to give you EVERYTHING and to make you eat all types of food because the last thing I would want would be to have to accomodate a picky eater! Ha!

We've just started giving you some table food cut up very small. You love kiwi, and you LOVE cheese. We like to give you some shredded cheese and you just can't get enough of it! It's so fun to see you growing into such a little boy rather than staying a baby. It used to make me a little sad, but instead, now it's just thrilling!

Santa Claus knew that you were a good boy this year. He brought you a new toy box for all of your toys that you got from him, and from ALL your Grandparents and Great Aunt's and Uncles! He also brought you a puppy armchair that you can sit in like a big boy, a dino push walker, an hour and a half long Yo Gabba Gabba DVD (which I'm sure Mommy and Daddy will be VERY thankful come our roadtrip in February!), and even brought you a fireman dress up outfit!

You absolutely LOVED unwrapping presents and having everyone watch you when you did that... You LOVE attention! What can I say, you come by it naturally :)

Mommy loves books for you, so she loved a few of the books that came home with us this year from all our Christmas celebrations: Your Auntie M is a preschool teacher and her FAVORITE children's book is Llama Llama Red Pajama- so she and Unkie gave you that, with a huge stuffed llama and red pajamas for YOU that your Unkie spend hours and hours looking for! What a great gift! You LOVE the rythm to it!

Also, your Grandma B gave a book to Daddy that I have read to you twice already. It's called I Know You Can. It's very similar to Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Suess. But, it's just a sweet little story about staying on your track and that it's okay if you have to find a new track to ride on, and that you should always be happy being a train and never wish that you were an airplane or a car. What a great analogy!

Keegan Michael... I say this every month, but what a JOY to be your mother. What a GIFT! Our God is SO good and has so richly blessed us with SUCH a sweet boy. We can already see His Hand working more and more in our lives, and already in yours. I pray that you follow His will for your life and that you will not have to be the type of person that has to learn your own lessons, but that you can learn from the mistakes of others. We love you, big kid.