9 Months Old

Sam is 9 months old!  

Does that sound old to anyone else?  When anyone ever tells me that their baby is 9 months old, 10 months, 11 months....I automatically think, oh almost a year, which means they're probably on their way to walking, which definitely isn't a baby thing to do...I feel like he is growing out of his baby-ness, which is so sad.

But then again --- this time is such a blast!  Zach just said the other day "I think this is my favorite stage so far."  It is just so much fun to interact with him now that neither one of us are beside ourself that he is growing up so quickly.

Here is our 9 month old little guy.

DEVELOPMENT

Teeth: 4 teeth now!!  Has had the two front bottom, and the two middle top pushed through this month.  Those really make him look like a little boy.

Weight:  19 pounds 7 ounces (31%)

Length:  29.5 inches (78%)

Length to Weight: In the length to weight comparison he is in the 20th percentile....the printout they gave me says that 95th percentile is overweight and 5th percentile is underweight.  Our doc says he is obviously more on the slender side, but that is because he is so long....which is still so bizarre to me.  One of us must have a dormant "tall gene" that came out of hiding.  At 9 months, he is already almost half my height!

Sleeping:  Has become very inconsistent with naps.  Sometimes he seems desperate for a morning and afternoon....sometimes he refuses the morning one and takes a long afternoon nap....sometimes he just denies both and sits in his crib crying for a bit until I decide he probably isn't going to ever fall asleep.  Has become better with nighttime sleep --- wakes up maybe once --- he is usually sitting up biting his hands when I walk in, so we're guessing it is still a little teeth discomfort.  We tried everything that was suggested to us for teething relief, and the thing that we were skeptical of, but seemed to be successful with was the raw baltic amber necklace.  Sounded a little bit too much like an herbal hippie remedy....but we were sleeping full nights when he wore it around his ankle....so....we went with it.

Movement: Started using his knees to do a real crawl!!  Hooray!!  He did that stomach scoot thing for a long time (featured in pictures below) and it seriously looked so painful....we're thinking our hardwood floors hurt his knees, because he'll still do it occasionally when he is off of the carpet....but he is a pro at using knees on carpet.  He also transitions from crawling to sitting and sitting to crawling very easily, and does really well pulling up and getting back down (very cautious little guy!  He takes it slow until his butt hits the ground).

Stomach scoots

OTHER UPDATES

Is wearing 9-12 month onesies...the 6-12 month ones are way too short, which is odd.  I bought a 12-18 month outfit today at Old Navy that fits him great in the length, but is quite roomy in the arms, legs, and stomach.  String bean!!  He is in size 3 shoes, size 3 disposable diapers and still doing well in the cloth diapers.

Tried ice water and wasn't a huge fan.  I think it was too cold....although, regular cold water wasn't a big hit either.  Started with the little cereal puffs to work on fine motor skills and learning to feed himself.  LOVES them!  Still has oatmeal for breakfast with 8 oz. bottle, fruits/veggies for lunch with 8 oz. bottle, bottle around 4:00 for snack, and fruits/veggies for dinner.  We got the go-ahead from the doctor to start meat, yogurt, and cheese.  Should be a fun month ahead.

Ice water reaction.  Pamma came to visit while
dad was out of town for the week.

Something Extra

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Found this picture on our camera from Halloween and wanted to share before November and the last bit of the fall season disappears.

On to the Christmas season!

8 Months

 8 Months on November 9th

Fun Month!

October 6:  We visited Berry Acres Pumpkin Farm!  It was such a neat little place just outside of town. It would be great for kids that we were walking because they had corn mazes, hayrides, slides, and the whole bit....but we had fun looking for the best pumpkins for our family.  We carved them later in the month, closer to Halloween.

October 13-21:  Flew to Kansas to celebrate my friend's wedding.  We were at my parents' place for most of the week, but drove over to Zach's parent's place for a night so Sam could experience STL.  We also took Sam to Lawrence --- we did an afternoon on Mass. Street to give him a taste of his college years. The wedding was fabulous and we had smooth travels.

At Jefferson's, a small restaurant I frequented while living in Lawrence.

Massachusetts Street in Lawrence under the sign of
Zach's favorite store in the whole town.

Sadly....we're thinking Sam caught a little something on the plane ride home because he threw up for the first time four days after we got back.  I was home by myself so it was a pretty scary experience...his temp was 102 and it took about 4 days to go down.  Our pediatrician gave us a nebulizer to use on him for a few weeks, and he seemed to pass it completely by the time we had to return it.

Halloween:  He still wasn't feeling the greatest on Halloween, but we did a little trick or treating up at the base just for the experience.  He was our little monkey!

Sam's hands & feet, my KU pride, and Zach's Chicago Blackhawk

On base trick or treating

Other events:  We tried out storytime at Barnes and Noble...epic fail.  It is really great for kids that can sit and listen, but for an 8 month old that needs to touch and taste everything, it just didn't work out.  We hosted a playgroup at our house, which seemed to be a better fit for the stage he is in right now, so I think I'm going to continue on with that.  The last big event in Sam's 8th month was his first presidential election.  He visited the polls with me...he screamed most of our time there...so I think for numerous reasons, he was glad to have the election done with.  :)

My aunt has taken a picture of her kids after every presidential
election with the announcement newspaper.  Thought it was
a neat idea, so I am copying.

Growth:
We won't have a well-baby appointment until 9 months, but at his "sick baby" appointment on October 29th, he was 18 pounds 8 ounces.


New Happenings:

* Officially has 3 teeth and is working on tooth #4 (has front bottom two and top right).

* He is scooting around a LOT on the floor, but he isn't using his legs.  It isn't classic 'crawling,' but he is definitely moving!  He pulls himself around with his hands, which gets him where he wants to go, but it looks like way too much work.   Most of the places he wants to be are wherever Mia's dirty dog toys are.  Lovely.

* Pulling up on furniture and on us, and once he gets there he wants to jump up and down a lot.  We recently got an ottoman to replace our metal coffee table.  Perfect timing.

* Becoming much more verbal, trying out the sounds that his new teeth allow him to make.

* Starting to have pretty instant separation issues.  He gets upset if I set him down in the living room and walk to the kitchen to put a glass in the dishwasher.

*First time seeing and touching snow.  He pretty much had no reaction either way.

Eating:

Takes 8 ounces of formula four times per day with oatmeal for breakfast, fruit or veggie of the day for lunch, bottle snack mid afternoon, and veggies and fruits for dinner.   We are still working through the fruits and veggies one at a time to rule out allergies.  We are kind of taking our sweet time, but we're not feeling too rushed to push through them.  He keeps taking most of the 8 ounce bottles, so he isn't lacking for nutrients.

Loves: sweet potatoes, peas, pears, mango, peaches
Okay With: apples, bananas, winter squash, carrots
Not a Fan: green beans, spaghetti squash


Clothing:

Still doing the cloth diapers when we're around the house, but he is in a size 3 disposables.  Fits best in 9-12 month clothing...and is pretty comfy in a size 3 shoe!  We are shopping in the toddler shoe section, folks!

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!  He'll be 9 months in about two weeks, so maybe I'll be more timely with that post.  :)

Nursery Reveal.....

Yep.  8 months late.  Sam turned 8 months old yesterday, but since we haven't taken his picture yet, I thought I would at least post something.

We had so much fun putting the pieces of Sam's nursery together before he was born, and although it is very simply done, we still love it.

This is how it looks on any given day.  Maybe I should have taken the humidifier out for the pictures, and we probably should have taken them during the daytime...but you get the idea.

Never too early to brainwash.

View from the hallway

The hockey net under the window was the only thing in this room for months.
We went to a athletic equipment store here the weekend after we found out we
were having a boy... so we had no plans of where he would sleep for quite awhile,
but the boy would surely play hockey!

We had fun picking out the designs for the artwork above his bed.  It was made
through a website called avintageposter.com.   They were sent to us and then
we had to get them framed.
We also got to design his bedding at carouseldesigns.com.

We LOVE our glider.  It is from The Land of Nod.  I highly recommend it to
any new parents.  We have logged a lot of hours in it and it is still silent.

It is a cozy room, and we've made a lot of happy memories in here already.  

It will be tough to leave it behind when we are stationed at a new base.   

7 Months

7 Months Old!!

Things have really changed around here....some things for the better and some things for the not-so-much-better!

Let's start with the Not-So-Much items (luckily, there are only three of them)..........

* This kid will NOT take a pacifier anymore.  It is like he gets insulted when you offer it to him.

* Cannot seem to get comfortable when it is time to sleep, so we have to hold him and bounce or walk around his room to get him to calm down enough to consider sleeping. 

* Does not like his glider or story time in the glider anymore, which makes me REALLY sad.  I loved being able to go back in the nursery, pick a few books, snuggle up with a blanket in the chair and read to him until he fell asleep.  I suppose sweet times like that can't last forever.

Mia is on vacation at my parents' house, so we had to find a fake to sit in
on our monthly "Kids" picture.

Now for the exciting better things........

Stats:  We have no idea.  It wouldn't surprise me if he was 20 pounds --- but we don't have our next check up until 9 months.

Clothing: Some 6 month items still fit, but 9 month things are more comfortable....and sleepers with feet have to be 9 months for the length.  He has on a 9 month onesie in his 7 month pictures, which looks big when he is sitting, but when he is stretched out, it is a perfect fit in length.  

Also, Zach is excited because the infant size baseball caps almost fit his head now....and they fit the best when worn backwards.  Hmmm.

Sleeping: Naps are unpredictable now....we still try for the 10:30 nap in the morning and another by 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon, but it is a struggle every time.  Car rides to get him to fall asleep are almost a necessity.  8:00 is the bedtime we shoot for each night.  

Eating:  
* Started "solid" food!!  So far he has had rice cereal (until the news until arsenic levels came out), oatmeal, sweet potato (loved), peas (loved), yellow squash (eh....), spaghetti squash (not a fan), and green beans (eh...).  I have been making the food for him which has been such a blast.   We are making our way through the veggies --- testing out each to make sure he isn't allergic ---- then we'll do the same with fruit.  I am looking forward to fruit because I feel like that is what I normally snack on most during the day..... so it will be fun to be eating the same thing!

The open-mouth, lunge towards the spoon is the approach he likes best.  He is a good eater!

* Usual daily schedule right now is:  Oatmeal for breakfast with an 8 oz. bottle, veggie of the day at noon with an 8 oz. bottle, 4:00 snack is an 8 oz. bottle, and 7:15ish he gets a little bit more veggie with an 8 oz bottle before his 8:00 bed time.  He doesn't finish every bottle, but we like to offer the full 8 ounces just to keep him hydrated.

Favorite Things:


* He loves any game where he can anticipate what is coming.  

* He is super giggly most of the time.  Pretty much anything is funny unless he is tired or hungry.

* He loves climbing on the couch.  We only let him do it when we're sitting on it with him, but he looks pretty pleased with himself trying to get to the top of it.

* Still loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but I don't let him watch it very often. 

* He sits completely on his own now.  He sat in the carts at the grocery store and Target!!  Wahoo --- shopping just became fun again.

Other Stuff This Month (Sept. 9 - Oct. 9):

* His first two teeth are here!!  The first one was the front bottom right that showed up on September 29th, and the bottom left was here by October 5th.  I know this explains the sleeping troubles....and we're thinking it might be why the pacifier isn't his favorite anymore.  We'd love to have a picture to show proof, but anytime we try, he hides his teeth with his tongue or his bottom lip.

* I thought his hair was starting to lay down more because it is getting longer and thicker....but looking at it today, I see that I am wrong.  His hair is quite a hit anywhere we go....strangers even comment on it.

* It is probably because he has been biting on his lips to soothe his swollen, teething gums, but he has figured out how to get the M sound going and to say "Mamamamamamama."   It is usually during a time of distress, which is unfortunate.  Zach told me a few weekends ago that as we woke up one Saturday morning to him saying that in his crib, Zach almost jokingly said "He's calling your name...." like he was seriously calling for me over Zach, so I needed to get up.

* We went to the Norsk Hostfest here, which is an annual Scandinavian festival.  He slept through most of it.

* Pamma and Papa came to celebrate Pamma's 60th birthday!

He is getting more and more fun every day!!