8 Months!

Well, Miles is 8 months and still not crawling, which makes half of me very happy and the other half a little concerned. However, he has been practicing being on his hands and knees and rocking, and does pretty well getting to where he wants to be most of the time by either rolling, scooting, or pulling. He is especially good at going backwards, and sometimes gets frustrated when he wants to get to something in front of him and ends up scooting further away. But I think he's generally happy that he can get himself around to some extent.

Miles graduated from the baby bath to the big bath! Jett really likes bathing with his little brother and always asks if Miles can take a bath with him in the evenings.

Miles got his tongue clipped a couple weeks ago since we noticed he was just as tongue tied as Cruise was. So much so that he couldn't even get his tongue past his lips. He finally figured out after a week that he can make awesome sounds by sticking his tongue out of his mouth. So he's a professional raspberry blower now! I keep trying to get it on video but he never will do it when I'm recording.

Miles still loves to eat and really enjoys eating anything we're eating. However, he still doesn't have any teeth, so we have to limit what we allow him from our plate. But he really enjoys mashed potatoes, crackers, watermelon and bananas. He is quite the little chunk and I just love love love it! He is getting pretty heavy for me and isn't very good at sitting on my hip, so holding him gets a little tiring after awhile. When we went in to get his tongue clipped, he weighed 19 pounds, so he's getting pretty chunky that one!

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Miles says "ma ma" most often and it's kinda fun having a baby that will say Mama a lot. Cruise & Jett mostly said "Dada" at this age, so it's kind of fun to hear Mama from such a cute little baby.

Miles loves to be read to and really enjoys the touch and feel books. He also still loves to listen to music, especially when there are musical numbers at church. Miles enjoys walks around the neighborhood, and Jett loves to help with that! He will push him the entire time and I just walk ahead and make faces at Miles as we go. Miles sure loves Jett and gets a great big smile every time he sees his big brother. Jett loves to play with him and tries to get him to laugh. He is actually a really good kid to have around when I need to shower and Miles won't nap. He is a very good helper and loves to do it.

Just like with Jett, we are keeping a close eye on Miles' development. Because they have a brother with autism, they have a 7.5 greater chance of having it as well. Miles has been displaying a few sensory and repetitive behaviors that we will watch as he nears his first birthday. Studies show that that if these behaviors increase between now and his first birthday, there is a significant chance of him eventually receiving an autism diagnosis. Some may think I am paranoid, which may be the case, but I have come to learn that it is better to check it out than to ignore it. I remember Jett having a few sensory things as well (still has major sensitivities to smell), and I got him looked at a few times just to be sure. The hard thing is that we aren't in the clear until about 18-24 months. So Mama will probably have a higher level of anxiety until then.

Overall, Miles is doing extremely well and we are so blessed to have such a healthy, happy and content little boy! He truly is such a snuggly little guy and is so much fun to play with! I just wish time would slow down just a bit so I can take it all in!