Singing in the rain

Our princess with her favorite new dress from Grandma Jones and a new cupcake umbrella.

Parker 9 Months

Parker - you are a big growing boy.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Stats: 

weight: 20lbs 6oz; length: 29" long

Milestones: 

Gross motor:
Crawling around the house like a pro now on all fours all the time. He likes to explore all over the house - and you can't really take your eye off of him. He likes to push open doors- so we need to keep bathrooms, closets shut; and the stairs blocked off.

Standing holding on with minimal arm support playing with toys, turning - reaching for other objects, squatting up and down, easily lowering himself to the floor. 

Standing without holding on for 10-20 sec at a time - sometimes you don't even realize you're doing it. :)

Momma's boy - my cuddle bug:

Eating:

More new solid foods this month: yogurt is a big hit, chicken and turkey, strawberries, mango, cantaloupe, spinach, combo foods now - still stage 2 - but moving to stage 3 foods soon. You are self feeding more and more - including cut up pieces of banana too. You are a good eater, like your sister, we are very lucky.

 Big sister has also been a BIG HELPER in the feeding department for "Mr. Buddy", as she calls him - helping mommy and daddy to have time to finish prepping other meals while he eats. - It's a win-win for everyone.

Drinking a little water in my sippy cup - all by myself.

Nursing: 

Going strong 4x a day - 530am, 10am, 230pm, 7pm. Pumping at work now only 2x a day has made my working mom life a lot easier - not having to eat lunch and pump - less multi-tasking which is nice.

Supply is starting to drop a little - as well as the freezer stash - so we have started to supplement with 1/4 of the bottles with formula now made for breastfeed babies by similac. He didn't even flinch with the transition. 

Playing:

Parker's loving playing with EVERYTHING now. Especially whatever his big sissy is playing with. He likes to play with her dolls and dinosaurs, blocks, books - loves to turn the pages now - and look at peek-a-boo books, and of course likes to taste and chew on everything he plays with as well. Favorite toys: push toys, balls, music table, water and sand tables, little people.

Loving spending time with Grandma and Grandpa:

9 Month Chair Pictures: getting more and more challenging...tried on 2 different nights...with a teething, tired baby and 3y.o...did the best we could:

Don't you love the tongue-he's feeling those teeth coming in. Either tongue out or pacifier in these pics :)

Firsts this month:
Going to the pool - loves the water like his sister.

1st pair of shoes for big boy. size 4.5 XW

First night away from Mommy - with Daddy and Addison while mommy went for a girls weekend.


 Sleeping:

Better this month for sure. More often than not sleeping through the night - 730/8-43/5 - then eats and goes back to sleep for an hour. We need to start making him hold out a little longer in the mornings before we go in to get him - but we have been spoiled to know he goes back to sleep most of the time after he eats. 

Napping: down to 2 naps a day. - after breakfast 83/9-10 and 200-330. He's been variable on his naps - sometimes he does really well and takes an hour in the a.m and 2hrs in the p.m; other days they are 45min. Overall getting into more of a routine now - and trying to time Addy and Parkers afternoon naps together to give us some "down time".

Language: 

lots of baby babbles still - but no real "words" yet.

Social: 

Parkers definitely more interactive socially this month and is responding more appropriately to things - to realize there's really someone in that little head hearing us talk to him and others all day long. First big response was to "so big" lifting his arms in the air. - he thinks this is really funny.

He's also waving Hi and bye now too.

Teaching him: clap hands; blow kisses; pointing at objects when asked

Teething: 1st teeth: bottom 2, broke through on 8/7/13: -over 9 months!!