Tired Baby Alert

So, Julius has not been sleeping well and this is not a new development, either. For the last few weeks--or has it been months? I'm so tired and dis-oriented that I can hardly tell... For the most part his sleep patterns can be blamed on teething. He now has 4 teeth on the top with 2 more following close behind.

I feel terrible because at 3:00 am I tend to forget that he is the one experiencing the awful pain that's causing him to be awake.
It's even worse when he's happy, which he almost always is. Last night we played peek-a-boo for about half an hour before he started showing signs that he was ready to nurse again.
Hearing his sweet little laughter cut through the late night air makes the long and sleep-deprived days all the more worthwhile.

Picture Update

A dream, realized:






Baby steps, baby:

Sleep Fighter II

Julius has become a pro at fighting off sleep. At night, when the whole family is in bed, it's easy for him to become distracted. During naptime, however, he's gotta work for it.
His new technique is simple. He has discovered that when mommy traces the outline of his ear while he's nursing, it causes him to become very sleepy. In an effort to combat this he has now taken to wrapping his arm around his head, thus covering his exposed ear. He also does this because enjoys pulling on the strand of hair growing out of the back of his head.
Unfortunately he doesn't know his own strength and from time to time he pulls on his hair a little too hard. Of course he doesn't realize he has done this to himself and instead he gazes up at mommy with a look of betrayl in his eyes--similar to the one he gives me when he falls asleep at the breast, unlatches and then wakes up because he has unlatched himself.

coming home

Julius gets very upset if I don't pick him up as soon as I come in the door. He looks up at me and starts making an insistent, pleased kind of gurgling baby sound, like, "eeeh! mmmm! eehhh! mmm!" It's so sweet! He also gets upset if I walk by while Heather's holding him without stopping to play with him. It's nice to have a baby who appreciates me. :)

New Trick

Julius has a new trick!
He's been perfecting it for a few weeks now and he is become quite the Master of Standing.
As always, he is insanely happy about standing. Among standing his newest activities include: Peek-A-Boo, saying 'cat' and, much to mommy's dismay, pinching.

standing up

I love the look Julius has on his face after he stands up. He looks all around with a huge grin, seeing, I suppose, if everyone notices. Then, when we look excited, he gets even happier, and then we laugh, and then he gets crazily excited, and then he loses his grip and falls down! But he's resilient. :)

big man

not only is julius scooting around the house at a record pace, now he has started pulling up! this afternoon i caught him standing on top of a game box in front of big sister's toy bin. apparently he was trying to get to some of her toys!
he also loves to scale mommy or daddy when we lay on the floor next to him.
i honestly think he might bypass crawling just so he can chase sylvia around more effeciently.

julius will be 8 months old on valentine's day and it blows my mind! where has all the time gone?
real quickly let me add a few things:
-his favorite food right now is avocado but he's also quite fond of sweet potatoes and *cring* french fries
-he can say 'ba ba,' 'da da' and 'ma ma'
-when i hold him his new favorite thing to do is push off of me with his arms and rock back and forth and then slam his mouth on me and blow a raspberry. whenever he does this he just laughs and laughs afterwards.