9 Months!

Well, Little Man, you have been growing outside of me for almost as long as you were growing inside of me!  That's crazy to think about!

This month, you have been BUSY!  You are cruising around as long as there is something to hold onto, even if it's just the wall.  You are beginning to stand on your own for a few seconds at a time.  We have discovered over this past month that you are quite the daredevil!  You love to try to jump off of things, climb up on everything, and crawl over all kinds of furniture.  You are still very good about not getting upset if you fall or bump your head.  The only time you really fuss about that is if you are really tired.  I can only imagine how much crazier you will be when you start to walk and run around!  You love to "help" me with laundry!  I love it, even though it takes me quite a bit longer to get it done! You now have 4 teeth.  Your top two teeth finally came in.  Those suckers took about a month and half to get through, but they finally made their arrival a few weeks ago.

You are making all kinds of funny sounds.  You are still making the clicking sound with your mouth, as well as saying a very exaggerated "oooooooh" whenever you find something or we hand him something. It's hilarious!  Over the past few days, you've started whistling!  You keep your mouth in the "ooooooh" position and breath out and in slowly, causing you to whistle.  It's so cute.  You also love to go around saying "Doi doi doi" as you are doing things.  When you are working hard on something (usually pulling all the magazines or dvds down) you make a growling noise.  If you hear anyone clear their throat or cough, you cough.  It's so neat to see you learning how to mimic what others are doing, but some people tend to look at us a little weird when you are "coughing" so much!  You are saying "mama", "dada", "baby", "wow", "yay", and "ah".  We think you are finally connecting the word "mama" to me, which is fun!  You will say it and look at me or reach for me.

You still thrive on attention from others.  You are becoming more and more aware of the people and children around you.  You will crane your neck around if you see a baby or child pass.  If you hear someone talking or a baby crying, you have to find from where the sound is coming.  You love to hear applause.  If there is a game show or something on tv, you always turn around real quickly to see what all the clapping is about!

You are eating all stage 3 foods along with mum-mums, puffs, yogurt melts, and cheerios, along with 3-4 6-8oz bottles.  At your 9 month appointment on Wednesday, the nurse practitioner told us to start feeding you table foods.  I'm so nervous about starting that, but I know you'll do great.  You haven't had any issues with the thicker, chunkier foods.  You weighed 19 pounds 13 ounces and were 27.5 inches long (but the nurse didn't measure you straight, so I think you are longer than that).  You are right on target or ahead of all the milestones for your age.  In the past, it seems like you were a bit behind, reaching the milestone a few days after the appointment.  You're wearing mainly 12 month clothes, mainly because I didn't want to waste money on 9 month shirts when you would only be in them for a month then need something bigger.  So I just roll up the sleeves or roll up your pant legs and works just fine!  Some shirts I'm not even needing to roll up right now.

I'm giving you more and more freedom in your playing lately.  I am letting you play by yourself in your  room without me in there.  I'll let you explore all of the buckets that are on the shelf of your changing table.  I check on you from the doorway about every 2-5 minutes.  I think you like the alone time that doesn't confine you to your crib or your pack n play.  You, of course, love to make messes.  Some of the things you get into and do just cause me to shake my head!  You like to try to figure out how things work or are put together.  When you are working on something, I can just see the wheels turning in your head!

We just found out that you are going to have a little brother!  We can't wait to see how much fun the two of you are going to have, not to mention the trouble you both will get into!  I only have a little over 4 months of calling you "the cutest boy in the world" and telling you that you're my favorite little boy.  We love you so very much and are amazed at how much you are learning each and every day.  One of my favorite times of the day is right before bed time when I listen to your daddy read your bedtime story to you and then I go in so we can pray with you.  I love that quiet time just the three of us.

We love you more and more every single day!  You are so precious and we look forward to each and every day with you!

Mommy and Daddy