Everett Matthew is eight months old - 06.10.2018

Everett Matthew is eight months old!

Everett has been up on all fours for a while, but he would lunge forward with one arm, landing on his belly. We though he might be trying to swim before learning to crawl! But last Saturday (6/2), he finally moved his hands and his knees together in a traditional crawling motion. He's on the move now!

When he stops crawling, he leans on his hip with one arm out. While he doesn't seem to stay put in the sitting position for very long, he's more likely to "sit" in this sort of lounging position.

Everett has been eating anything we give him, which is such a wonderful change from the difficult beginning to eating solids. He can finish a whole yogurt container! He like crackers and cheerios, just like his sister, and can feed them to himself (and his lap). In May, we got him a high chair and he enjoys this new vantage point.

Everett says several clear repetitive sounds like mama, gaga, yaya, baba, and vava. I still haven't heard a clear "dada" more than once or twice.

Everett's first tooth is near the surface, but it's hard to tell if it's broken through yet. It's not level with the gum line, but its shape is there. It's the bottom, front left tooth. There may be others coming up, but he's reluctant to let me look!

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Everett got to take a long car ride to visit Blake's family in Gillette, Wy (about 4 hours away). It wasn't exactly his best time of day (5pm) so he fussed/cried nearly the whole way there. The ride back was better. While in Gillette, Everett met Jaxsyn the golden doodle for the first time, and he didn't seem to be afraid at all. He army crawled right up to her and as soon as he got close enough to tug her fur or grab her collar, she was smart enough to get up and walk away. She's a super gentle, patient dog - and she knew when to leave the room. Everett had lots of fun with his grandparents and got to sit on a tractor with his uncle Brandon. Everett really loved playing with Brandon and lit up when they were together. 

Yesterday Everett had two firsts: his first trip to the WY mountains and his first trip to the ER. They were completely unrelated, though. We enjoyed a great time walking on trails and through the woods, looking at the beautiful scenery, including mountains, tall evergreen trees, lakes, and even snow! Lots of deep snow! I say "we" saw it, but Everett fell asleep through most of our walk. Later in the evening, his eyelid, which had been red and puffy for a couple of days, looked a little worse and he felt like he might have started a fever. So we took him to urgent care, where they decided it was best for him to head over to the ER to get checked out. It was tough on our little guy to get an IV placed, but he was a champ in the CT scan machine! They determined it was a skin infection and it hadn't gone behind his eye - thankfully! He's already looking better today - however, it looks like he has a bit of a shiner in our 8 month pictures!