A & E's Adventures: 9 Months!

Weight - Our little boy seems to have slowed down! He's at 21 lbs 6 oz, up 10 oz from 6 months. Apparently I should do math when I'm exhausted, as I got super confused and thought he'd lost weight (thinking he was already over 21 lbs at 6 months). He didn't gain much, but that's normal for breastfed babies at this age.

Height - Unclear. Doctors measured him as the same a last time, but his clothes are definitely shorter and when he sat on a rider toy at my parents, his feet went down further at Christmas than at Thanksgiving. Evan also hates to lay flat right now, so he's super hard to measure. Reminds me of when he was born :).

Head circumference - 18 inches

Still in 12 month clothes! However, we did go ahead and wash 18 month clothes and he's wearing 18 months for most of his pjs. Can't believe that he grew through a size a month when he was little. My how times have changed!

Likes:

There are so many things Evan now loves. Kitchen utensils

(especially the metal ladle), boxes of all kinds, blowing raspberries....but his favorite of all time? The door stop. He loves more than anything pulling it so that it makes that "thwang" sound. It is the cutest to hear him laugh as he takes off for it every time he's in his room or the upstairs bathroom.

Licking his reflection...

He's still pulling up a ton, and is also cruising pretty consistently on the couches. He loves standing at things that are about chest height and banging on them, or grabbing anything he can reach from there (especially remotes, laptops, and cameras). Our coffee table is a favorite, since he can look out the window from there, as is the fireplace hearth, and the sliding glass door. He's also been into licking things - hoping that's normal?

Climbing is another favorite. With supervision, he's made it all the way up our long and steep staircase! He climbs over boxes, other babies, and especially mom and dad. Laundry baskets are also a favorite, both for climbing and for "helping" with the laundry

and the vacuuming.

Bath time is also a lot more fun. He has new bath toys and has really gotten into splashing!

At the library music class that is given every other week

It's fun how excited gets now at certain things, like getting out of the car in our garage. Every time without fail, as soon as I pick him up, out of the car, he starts making his happy sounds and staring around in wonder. He has also been loving music lately, too. We've been able to attend some free music classes, which have been really fun. Too bad they are usually so expensive!

It's amazing how much of a happy baby he is now. We actually get compliments about how happy he is when we're out in public, which is so nice!

Out to dinner over the holidays! We haven't let him actually eat at a restaurant yet, but that milestone will be coming soon.

Foodwise, there aren't really foods that he turns down anymore. He does seem especially excited about quinoa (usually with mushrooms and/or zucchini), banana, grated zucchini and zucchini noodles, sweet potato, and pumpkin/egg "pancakes". He now even likes straight applesauce, which used to be something he wouldn't tolerate!

Dislikes

Wait....you want me to sleep at night too?

Anyone else tired of me mentioning sleep? Ugh. We made progress this month - 5 glorious days when he only woke once or twice. And then he was back to every 2 hours. I'm not sure we'll ever sleep again....

He's transformed into a newborn in other ways, too. Mostly, he has continued to feel diaper changes are pure torture and will scream bloody murder while arching his back in an attempt to buck himself off the changing table almost every time.

Food wise, I don't think there's really anything he doesn't like. He does get a bit frustrated when he is done eating, so we have been working on a bit of sign language that hopefully will help him stop being upset when he finishes eating.

You want me to talk? I'd much rather just make random sounds.

The only other thing, which sort of fits in this category, is that Evan still isn't "talking" yet. No babababa or dadadada. It sounds like we don't really need to worry until we hit a year, so we're hoping he'll start this soon.

Important Events:

Evan's first Christmas! Celebrating the whole holiday season with family was just wonderful. We started in Cambria with Ed's side of the family and then traveled down to Orange County to finish the holiday season with my side.

Also, my newest nephew was born! Oliver arrived in this world on New Year's Eve, and couldn't be more precious :).

Another very fun "first" was when we got snow on New Years Eve in Orange County! It hadn't snowed this much since 1967, and even got down into some of the neighborhoods. We joined much of the rest of the county in a nearby neighborhood that had some accessible snow. It wasn't much, but it was pretty darn fun!

Successes:

I think the biggest thing is that Evan has suddenly "discovered" solid food! While he's been "eating" for months now, up until about a week ago, it was mostly just him playing with it and maybe getting a bite or two (and chewing on the spoon). Now, he is so much more purposeful with it. We're still trying to figure out how to make sure he's getting enough food opportunities, and what to give him. At least for now, I don't feel great about him having processed foods, so we've been avoiding things like waffles, cereals, puffs, etc.

Mommy Successes:

I have been more active this month than I probably have since I trained for my last marathon! I'm running 3 days a week, hiking 1 day a week, and doing stroller strides twice a week. I'm feeling healthy and happy and am super excited about my 10k in a bit over a week. I'm also toying with the idea of running a half marathon in the late summer to celebrate our move. My new goal is to be down to my wedding weight by our 5th anniversary, which I think is pretty achievable if I keep working hard. I figure that once I start working, it'll be so much harder to be active, so if I can be at my maintainable weight by then, that would be fantastic. For now, I'm enjoying having access to a lot more of my wardrobe again.

Daddy Successes:

I think I will speak for Ed this month and say that his biggest success this month has been to give me some free time! As I've been getting more serious about my running, he's been fantastic about having some daddy/baby time. Also, he's been doing a great job balancing dad duties with starting back up teaching for the semester. He's got a full plate, but is handling everything wonderfully.