9 Month Update!

I'm writing a 9 month update post, which means my little guy's first birthday is less than three months from now...how is that even possible??!!  We just continue to fall in love with him more and more every day.  This age is so fun (I do realize I say this every month)!  


Stats:
Weight- 20 lbs 6 ounces (50th percentile)...Height (75th percentile)
Size 3 diapers (but last box in that size--already buying size 4 when I find them on sale--see post below)
12 mo clothes--Loving summer boy clothes.  Mainly dressing Henry in polo shirts and shorts or john johns


Milestones:


Mobile!- Henry is completely mobile now as he can crawl very fast from room to room.  It is so fun to watch him explore the house and to follow after us like a little puppy dog.  His new mobility does make my job a little harder at times because I have to be watching him very closely but at the same time, he is soooo much happier now that he can get where he wants to go.  His crawl is really cute because he doesn't let his knees touch the ground.  I think the carpet was bothering him so he decided just to lift both knees.


Pulling up- This is just a recent development, and he still doesn't seem to know that he can do it because he isn't pulling up on everything yet, but we've seen him do it many times.  He also will side step (slightly cruising) when he is standing and playing.


Baby Signs- I know everyone has their different opinions about baby signs, but I'm so glad that we introduced signs to Henry.  This month he has mastered fish (smacking his lips together--too cute), and he makes the sign every time he sees a fish especially with his toy fish in his bath tub.  He started sniffing and winking too (which is the sign for flower...although I don't know for sure if he has put that one together yet).  Still shaking his head "no," but he won't do it when we ask him to anymore because he would rather do his new tricks lol.  He is also clapping and waving bye bye.  Signs we are working on now:  drink, milk, more, bath, ball, flower, hat, water.


Words-  Oh how Shaun and I are loving hearing our names.  He for sure is associating us with our names and not just babbling anymore.  Henry goes nuts when he sees his dada and says his name over and over.  Tonight, Shaun came home while Henry was getting a bath, and he looked up at him and said clearly "hey dada."  Shaun and I just looked at each other like...."what did he just say that??."  It was very cute.  Henry says mama more often when he wants me to feed him or if he needs something because he knows his mama takes care of him :).  But for the record for Henry...his first word was dada, second was duck and third was mama.  Really looking forward to hearing more in the coming months.


Word recognition- So fun to continue to see that Henry is starting to understand more and more of what we are saying.  One of my fav moments of the day is to ask Henry when he is in his high chair if he wants to look outside.  He gets soooo excited and looks at the window, and I open the blinds.


Favorite toys:  Anything that isn't a toy lol.  wires, toilet paper, trash cans, drawers, doors, hinges...etc.


Favorite books:  A new book that mimi gave Henry that has pictures of babies in it...he loves it.


Eating/Nursing:
Breastfeeding- still going strong.  I did notice a temporary decrease in my supply when I started my first cycle this past month, but I think we are back to normal now.  He just got his top two teeth (got his two bottoms at 6 mo), and he has really started biting me hard recently.  Obviously going to have to figure out how to get that to stop or we might be weaning sooner than I would like (goal/desire is to make it at least a year).


Finger foods- This month has been an interesting transition to finger foods.  Henry loves to eat just about anything that he can feed himself, and he is starting to refuse baby food (and mama feeding him).  I'm still trying to give him a jar or so at every meal with the finger foods, but he would much rather feed himself at this point.  Some of his favs...LOVES cheerios, strawberries, turkey/chicken/beef, carrots, peas, olives, bananas.  It is definitely messier, but so fun to watch him feed himself (and gives me some extra time in the kitchen for chores too).


Nighttime sleep/naps:
Oh we had some major issues with sleep this month (are you surprised lol?).  I think it was a combo of a sinus infection, the top two teeth coming in, and the main problem was that he learned a new skill at the beginning of the month (going from tummy to sitting)--he didn't know how to get himself back to laying down.  The good news is that for the most part, Henry is now going down easily for his naps and for night sleep.  I guess it pays to stay consistent even during the rough times :).  One thing that I think definitely helped is that I extended the time that I rocked him before putting him down.  With all of the changes this month and mobility, I thought he might need some extra wind down time, and mama was right :).  I still lay him down awake, but he is pretty drowsy by the time I put him in his bed.  


Nighttime sleep- he is still waking around 4AM and sometimes around midnight.  I'm tired.  I'm ready for a full night's rest.  And yes I'm going to have to do something, but it can't involve too much crying because I can't let him cry for long.


Now for a few pics:

First Mother's Day...so sweet (my hubby is the best!).  I was emotional all weekend.

Mother's Day...going into church.

Enjoying his baby pool...loving this warm weather!

Perfect example of "toys"...and this was so cute because he knew to smile for the camera.

Not a good pic of it, but he starting blinking/winking and closing his eyes with a cheesy camera smile.

    You can somewhat see his top teeth if you look closely too :)

Oh how I love my little boy.  I'm so blessed.