8 Months Old! & RAK Roundup

Look who is 8 months old today!

Stats
Height (unofficial): 29.5ish inches
Weight (official): 24 pounds

What I've learned in the past month...

~ Going from army crawl to traditional crawl happened in about 2.5 seconds. Child proofing the house happened overnight.
~ The monkey is now standing, with assistance from couches, tables, etc. It seems walking is in the very near future. Yikes!
~ Keeping the little man to sit still (especially for the photos you see above) is a near impossibility. If my big guy is awake he is non-stop movement.
~ Little man seems to have a picky palate. Lunch and dinner are often the most stressful times of day for Mommy. The only thing Marcus eats consistently are bananas, cantaloupe, and honey dew.
~ Besides the aforementioned fruits, the Chunky Monkey seems to have a sweet tooth. He will eat whipped cream like it is going out of style.
~ The dog and cat are often some of the most entertaining items in the house.
~ A walk outside can still cure any bad mood.
~ Some days Mommy wonders what the point of toys are... Mommy's phone and the TV remote are often favored items by the big guy.
~ Teething isn't something Marcus does well. The five teeth that have poked through have been less than fun to deal with.
~ Babbling, screeching, giggling and "talking" happen all the time. Often, Marcus' ramblings happen at the most inappropriate moments, like when it's dead silent in church.
~ It's hilarious to hear Marcus when he thinks something is funny, his little giggle/screech kind of resembles that of an actual monkey. :)
~ This mommy is still trying to wrap her head around the fact that her baby is already 8 months old. Every day brings new smiles, surprises and joy... More than I had ever dreamed possible.

Someone is not impressed with Drake's photo bomb. 

*****

Be Kind. Be Generous. Be Thankful.
Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Roundup

Friday, November 16
While loading my car after a grocery shopping trip I noticed several rogue shopping carts in the parking lot. Many of the carts were taking up perfectly good parking stalls. I rounded up all the stray carts I saw and brought them to the cart return. Yay for more open parking stalls!

Saturday, November 17
While we lived in LA we spent many a Saturdays volunteering at a food kitchen. Now that we're out of the city and have the little monkey it isn't as easy as it used to be to volunteer. Our food kitchen hosted their annual Thanksgiving dinner and we contributed mashed potatoes, enough to feed at least 25 people.

Sunday, November 18
Our neighborhood is full of dogs. Sometimes pet owners don't always pick up after their dogs. I went around our neighborhood and picked up after those that had left little "land mines." There is nothing worse than getting home after walking the dog to find out you've stepped in something worse than a mud puddle.

Monday, November 19
Those red kettles are out in front of grocery stores, and volunteers are ringing the bells to encourage donations. I dug a bit deeper into my pockets than I usually do and dropped in my donation.

Tuesday, November 20
Our church distributes Thanksgiving meals to families in our community who might otherwise not be able to have a dinner. We assembled just over 100 meals, complete with whole turkeys, fresh fruits and veggies, and all the fixin's to make Thanksgiving complete.






Wednesday, November 21
I needed my coffee fix, and a Starbucks was calling my name. We don't have drive through coffee joints like back home, so instead of paying for a car behind me in a drive through line I purchased a gift card for the amount that would cover a drink, turned around and gave it to the woman behind me. With her two little girls watching I wished her and her family a Happy Thanksgiving. As I left I could hear the little girls asking, "Why did she do that mommy?" And the woman replied, "She was being nice." Made my heart smile.

Thursday, November 22
We were supposed to run a Turkey Day 5k. The little monkey passed his terrible cold to me, so I stayed in bed while Scott ran. It was still good to know that my entry fee went to help a woman in our community who is recovering from cancer, the proceeds from the run will help to pay her medical bills.
We also hosted a Thanksgiving meal for our friends who weren't able to spend the holiday with their families. In all, there were 17 people feasting in my kitchen. What a sight! We are so blessed.


Just had to share a photo of this little guy. He was the recipient of a RAK last week. How cute is he?!