9 Months Old- 9/30/12

Dear Hunter, 

Well here we are, another month down, and time still continues to be going by at warp speed. This past month you learned a bunch of new "tricks" and everyday you act more like a little boy than a baby. It's like you think you're a grown man or something. Daddy and I constantly say how cool and fun you are and how lucky we are to have you. And it's so very true. I couldn't be more blessed or proud to be your mommy. There aren't enough words to describe how much we love you little man.

Love
Mommy and Daddy

Weight/Length- Your 9 month checkup is tomorrow but I'm estimating that you are around 23.5 pounds and 28" long. I will update once we have your official stats.

Eating- You are still getting the same amount of milk/formula as last month. Nursing in the morning (and on weekends), three 6oz bottles of breastmilk during the day and an 8oz bottle of formula before bed. You are eating three solid meals a day as well. Fruit/Oatmeal for breakfast, Veggie combo for lunch and Meat/Veggie combo for dinner. You are still getting baby food but you much prefer to feed yourself and have gotten really good at it. We give you the baby food to keep you full but then I will always let you have some of whatever I'm eating (if it's safe for you) for practice. You have now had a lot of different table food including- scrambled eggs, waffles, pancakes, pasta, breads, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, french fries, lasagna, blueberry muffin, pieces of fruits and veggies, turkey burger, pieces of chicken, dove (yes your father fed you some dove meat. sigh.) and beans. You also love baby puffs and yogurt melts. You do so well with grasping the food and chewing what actually makes it in your mouth. We will probably be weaning you off the baby food soon. One funny quirk is that whenever you are eating you "talk" or rather make noises, grunts, yelps etc. It's like you are talking to your food and will be quite loud about it. Very strange but very cute.

Sleep- Mostly sleeping through the night though the past week or so you've been waking up again once or twice but we've only needed to let you cry it out one of those nights, the other times you fall back asleep pretty quickly. Still going to bed around 8pm and sleeping until 6am.

Clothes- You've moved into mainly 12 months and even some 18 months clothes and jammies. A few of your 9 month outfits still fit but barely. The 12 and 18 months pants fit you well in the waist and thighs but are very long so I'm having to roll all your pants.

Diapers- Still in size 3 diapers but I think once we run out we'll move you up to the size 4's.

Appearance- Your hair has not only gotten thicker but is now pretty wavy and even a little curly in the back. You definitely seem to have your grandpa's hair. Still a very light brown/blonde that looks a little red in certain lights (you get that from me!). Your eyes are still a very pretty blue/grey with hints of green. You also now have five teeth! Two on the top (that have only started to come in) and three on the bottom.

Personality- You are still such a happy, smiley baby, especially when we're around other people. You haven't developed that "stranger danger" sense (except around your doctor, go figure) and I credit that to being around a lot of people at daycare. You actually are the most fussy when you've been stuck at home with just us for too long. You like to have a change of scenery after a little while. You get more curious by the day, especially with things that you shouldn't play with (like wires, which you are obsessed with). You love to play and laugh and explore and are just a lot of fun to be around.

Likes-

-crawling around
-climbing the stairs
-standing up against the coffee table and couch
-remote controls and phones
-any toy that makes noise
-being in the big bathtub
-being outside
-eating table food
-banging on pots and pans with a wooden spoon

Dislikes-
-Having your clothes and diaper changed
-Being stuck in your pack n play
-Being in your high chair if you aren't eating
-Baby gates
-Being ignored

Milestones-

-You have finally started crawling up on all fours though you still prefer the belly crawl
-You got three new teeth (the top two and another bottom one)
-You learned how to clap
-You can give High Fives on command
-You are pulling up on everything!
-You can walk along the side of the coffee table and couch while holding onto the sides
-You can climb up ALL of the steps going upstairs to the third floor
-You've outgrown the infant tub and are now in the regular bathtub
-Moved up to the toddler room at daycare

A few pictures from the past month:

SWW

Linking up with Shannon again for another So What Wednesday!

So what if:

-My favorite part of fall is having all my favorite t.v. shows back with new episodes.

-I bought Hunter a Halloween costume just so we can have pictures of him in one, we may take him to one or two neighbors houses that we know but he won't be actually trick or treating.

-I dread Saturdays a little bit since Kristian is usually out hunting all day and watching Hunter by myself all day is exhausting. I don't know how you stay at home moms do it!

-I'm stressing about all the money we will be spending over the next few months for Christmas and Hunters 1st birthday.

-I was thrilled that Kristian got some nice and expensive hand me downs from his sisters boyfriend over the weekend. He has desperately needed some new clothes and his sisters bf just so happens to be the same exact size and needing to get rid of some stuff.

 

Like speed dating for moms

In an effort to meet some other moms that live close by I attended my first MOPS (mothers of pre-schoolers) meeting last Thursday night. There are a few MOPS groups in the area as well as a Moms Club that is setup through our homeowners association. I basically picked one of the groups that meets the closest to my house at a local Baptist church.

I did email a few times with the coordinator prior to the meeting to get some initial information. The main thing I wanted to know was if I needed to be a member of the church to join the group. Fortunately I don't. Nothing against the Baptist religion but I don't plan to start going to a Baptist church just to join a mom group.

I was a bit nervous before the meeting, thinking that everyone there would already know each other or that I would be the only heathen that doesn't attend that church. It almost felt like walking into some AA meeting.

They had us assigned to a specific table/discussion group so I didn't get to personally meet everyone there. There were also quite a few moms missing because it happened to also be back-to-school night. The girls at my table were all very nice. Two of them were also there for the first time and pretty shy/quiet. Thanks to my sorority rush days I actually did okay with starting and contributing to the conversation at my table. We watched a DVD and did a little craft while going over the discussion questions that were passed out.

Of all the girls I met I would say there was one that was at my table that I seemed to hit it off with the most and that I could see potentially hanging out with again. It also sounded like our spouses had stuff in common as well which is helpful.

I haven't decided 100% if I plan to keep going back all year but I do plan to go to at least one more meeting (the topic next month is budgeting/couponing, which I want to learn more about anyway). Hopefully I'll get a chance to talk to more of the women there and see if I hit it off with anyone else. I'm also debating if I should check out one of the other MOPS groups in my area and see if there is anyone there I click with. Is it wrong to be part of more than one MOPS group?

It's a little awkward just walking into a group of women and basically being like "here I am, be my friend" but I guess in a lot of ways that's what I did with the sorority and that turned out great and I still have good friends I made there. So as of now I wouldn't say that I'm totally on board with the whole MOPS thing but I'm willing to continue to keep an open mind about it.

Rub A Dub Dub

It looks like Hunter inherited his love of bathtime from his father.

Kristian at 10 months                 Hunter at 8 1/2 months

 

I think they look the same from the nose down. They even have matching bottom teeth poking out.

 

I need to find some of my baby pictures to put up for comparison but I'm pretty sure Hunter looks nothing like I did. At least according to my mother.

 

Kristian and I actually think Hunter looks the most like my father-in-law. 

Exploring the "backyard"

One of the main reasons we bought our house was because of the view and the location. One of Kristians stipulations when house hunting was that he wanted our house to back up to woods. He didn't want to look out our back windows and right into our neighbors bedroom.

Well not only did we find a house that backed up to woods but that also has a winter view (i.e. when the leaves are off the tree) of the river and not only does it have a view but the water is about a 50 foot walk through the woods. For a man that loves to fish this is basically a dream come true. The fact that we found a house on the water in our very small budget is basically a miracle.

He has mentioned many times how happy he is that Hunter will have these woods to grow up in and explore. He would have killed for a "backyard" like this as a little boy. So on Sunday we decided to break out the Bob stroller we bought for a great discount from a neighbor and take Hunter on a little stroll of his backyard.

Walking down the path towards the water

Kristian can't wait to teach Hunter to fish here.

I love how Moxie is posed like the prissy princess she is

Forget the beer belly, that's a milk belly.

Those gymnasts have nothing on Hunters balance beam skills

 

"Go Higher Dad"

"Weeeeee"

Kristian is going to teach him so many cool things about the outdoors

 

"What's this?"

"I think this is what the big people call dirt"

 

"Hey, this stuff is awesome!"

The two loves of my life.

 

Yep, we have a pretty cool backyard.

SWW

 

 

Another week of So What Wednesday!

 

Go Link up with Shannon.

So what if:

-I'm still sad over Hunter being moved to the toddler room. Why must he insist on growing up so fast?!

-I'm nervous to attend my first MOPS meeting tomorrow night. I really hope I like the other moms there and vice versa. I really need some local mom friends.

-Walking around Arlington VA Saturday night for my friends going away dinner in heels reminded me why I prefer the suburbs to the city. My poor little feet can't handle the blisters.

-Everytime I hear THIS song I break out into an ugly cry. Saddest song ever!

-I'm counting down the weeks until my coworker on maternity leave comes back, one week down, five more to go.

-I've already ordered both Moxie and Hunters Halloween costumes...and yes they do go together.

-I'm apparently the only person that doesn't decorate for Fall or any other season. I don't have the money, time or storage space for a bunch of decorations. We put out pumpkins for Halloween and decorate for Christmas and that's it.

Kung Fu lessons

Yesterday afternoon while working from home I got a call from Hunters daycare to tell me two things:

1. They had transitioned him into the toddler room

2. While in the toddler room some little devil boy child bit Hunter on the foot! He was fine. They cleaned it off and comforted him and 5 minutes later he was back to playing but they had to let me know.

Hello attack of the mommy guilt for needing to have my child at daycare in the first place.

Last week they mentioned they would be moving him to the toddler room soon. The way the daycare is laid out the infants and toddlers actually share one big room separated by a half wall. So the teachers in both classes are familiar with all the babies and often at the end of the day they'll merge the two rooms once they have less kids. So Hunter has spent time on the "big boy" side before and all those teachers know him and adore him (of course).

Normally babies don't graduate to the toddler room until they are walking or a year old whichever comes first. Hunter is neither, however he is now the oldest, biggest and most mobile baby in the infant room and they think he'll do better with the big kids (and probably learn to walk faster). But that means he's going from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond. He's back to being the youngest and least mobile in the toddler room (he's not the smallest b/c he's a gigantic baby).

I guess this other little devil boy child was jealous of the attention Hunter was getting or maybe Hunter was trying to take his toy, I don't know details, and went in for the attack. Or maybe this is their version of toddler hazing. I should also mention that right now it's ALL boys in the toddler room. They are like a little ankle biting gang.

This morning when I took him in his teacher in the infant room had me bring him back to her side, in large part because she just loves Hunter and isn't ready to give him up to the big kids quite yet. She said she was pissed that he got hurt and is debating keeping him on her side a little longer. I think they plan to have him switch back and forth throughout the day until both he and the other kids adjust.

In the meantime we plan to teach him some Kung Fu so he can defend himself against any other devil boys children. Oh and if anyone has a way to slow time the eff down please let me know because the fact that my 8 1/2 month old is hanging with toddlers makes me want to cry.

My first Vlog...aka yes I'm really awkward, please don't make fun of me

Thank you to everyone who sent me a question. They were all really good and made me have to think a bit which was fun. So I went ahead and did my first Vlog. Couple things to note:

-The fact that I was basically talking to myself apparently freaked my cat out, he keeps meowing and running around during the video.

-I'm not super comfortable on camera which equates to me playing with my hair a lot.

-I say "umm" and "uh" way too many times.

-I'm sitting at my dining room table and the light above me is making my roots look red and my face all bright.

-No making fun allowed!

You Got Questions? I Got Answers

Work has been busy lately. Really busy. Not only is this our busy season but my coworker decided that she wanted to have ANOTHER September baby (her oldest was born 9/9/10) and she gave birth yesterday to a beautiful baby girl. I'm thrilled for her, however this means my work load has just doubled because I am taking over some of her projects. And did I mention this is our busy season?

With that said my brain hasn't had much space leftover to come up with some new and exciting blog posts. So I'm going to take the easy way out and open up the floor to anyone that may have a question or two that they are just dying to know the answer to. I plan to have witty and insightful ...okay who am I kidding?...I plan to have answers for you Monday. And depending on what kind of hair day I'm having I may even Vlog the answers. Lord help me.

So starting asking some questions or my first (and maybe only) Vlog will be me just sitting there staring into the camera making goofy faces...which could be entertaining too.

Growing up too fast

I feel like in the past week or so Hunter has grown up so much and had a bunch of little firsts.

For instance in the past week he has:

-Climbed ALL of the stairs leading from the basement to the living room by himself. Took him a good 10 minutes with Kristian right behind him in case he fell but he did it.

-Started clapping. He now claps whenever I'm changing his diaper. Feels nice to get a round of applause for changing his poop pants.

-Gotten THREE new teeth. Two on top and another on the bottom.

-Learned how to High Five. I've been practicing this with him for a while and he finally got it this weekend. He now does it everytime we ask him to high five and hold up our hand. See the video below.



Genius. The kid is a genius I tell you.

I also found out that they plan to move him from the infant to the toddler room at daycare within the next month. They already have him spending time over there during the days now to get him and the other kids used to each other. He's now one of the older and most mobile kids in the infant room so it makes sense to move him to the "big boy" room. I definitely have mixed emotions about it. On one hand I'm super proud of him for being so advanced (most babies don't move up until closer to their first birthday) but also sad because I'm not ready for him to be a toddler, he's still a baby.

Anyways I couldn't resist doing a little bragging about my little dude. It's amazing how something little like learning to clap can make this mama just swell with proud.

Show & Tell- Baby Talk

Linking up with Becky today for Show and Tell Monday.

 

1. Tell us your favorite baby names? Aside from your own babies, if you have some :)
 

For Boys (other than Hunter of course)-

I actually have always really liked the name Christian but refused to use it (spelled with a K) because I didn't want to have two Kristian's in the house. Too confusing.

I also really liked- Weston, Carter, Brooks and Foster (we actually seriously considered Foster for a few days but decided Hunter was a better fit).

 

For Girls- We never really talked much about girl names since we knew we were having a boy. Though Kristian mentioned liking the name Harper. I like the names Hadley, Emilia and Everly (but Kristian doesn't like any of those).  I do know if we ever have a little girl I want her middle name to be Grey...and NO not after that stupid 50 Shades of Grey book...Grey was my grandmother's maiden name and I just love it as a middle name.

 

2. Show me your "dream" nursery {can be your baby's nursery or one that you love}

 

For a boy, I love the nursery that MODG did for her little boy.

 

For a girl I love this nursery I found on Pinterest.

 

Pictures of our actual nursery can be found Here and Here . 

 

3. How many children would you like to have? How far apart?
I always said I wanted at least two but no more than three. I think I'm leaning more towards just two. I really want Hunter to have a sibling and I would love to have a little girl if possible (though i would be thrilled with another little boy of course). I think three years is a good age difference. I really want to have a lot of time with just Hunter and I also want him to be a bit more independent (and hopefully potty trained) by the time I bring another baby into the house. A lot will depend on our financial situation and be able to afford two kids in daycare though. But then again who knows if I'll be able to get pregnant again so we'll see what happens.
 

4. Tell us what you think the importance of parenting is?
I think the importance of parenting is to try your best to raise happy, healthy, well adjusted members of society.
No one is a perfect parent and everyone will make mistakes but so long as you do everything you can to love your child and keep them healthy and happy that is the most important thing.
 

5. Show us your favorite newborn photo {can be your children or random}
Well obviously Hunters newborn photos are my favorites and there are 3 in particular that I absolutely LOVE.

 

Photos taken by my friend Laura
 

6.  Tell us some things you promise to never do as a parent {and if you are a parent, did you stick to it}
I've always tried to keep an open mind when it comes to parenting and not set any hard rules (i.e I will NOT give formula or I will NOT give puree baby food). I try to go with the flow and take Hunters lead on things. However one promise that I intend to always keep is to never, ever, ever abuse my child or make him feel like he is not loved.

 

SWW

Linking up again with Shannon for another So What Wednesday!

 

 

This week I'm saying So What if:

 

-Whenever the t.v. was on this weekend I was watching The Hills reruns on RetroMTV.

 

-I still think Spencer is a douche and Heidi is a moron.

 

-I did a little "back to school" shopping this weekend even though I am not going back to school. It was the first time I actually spent the money on myself rather than Hunter.

 

-I hate the fact that we FINALLY had to lower Hunter's crib mattress. Being so short it's really hard for me to lean over the railing and lay him down when he's asleep hence why I put it off for long but I found him standing in his crib the other night so down it went.

 

-I'm debating joining our community's "Mom Group", I want more mommy friends but I worry it's just a group of women trying to compare their kids accomplishments and one-up each other.

-I'm forcing my husband to take some family photos with us this fall. He HATES doing professional photo sessions but I think they are important to get at least once a year and Happy Wife = Happy Life amiright? (He did insist on wearing his Metallica t-shirt which I promptly vetoed).

-I did an internal happy dance yesterday when on a conference call one of my vendors told my boss how awesome I am and how much he likes working with me. *cough*Raise*cough*

 

 

 

 

One word to sum up the weekend- Teeth

On Friday morning Hunter woke up extra fussy, which is unusual for my typically happy morning baby. I had a feeling that the swollen gums I noticed the night before were the culprit and when I dropped him off at daycare I mentioned that he was fussy and I thought his top teeth were coming in.

Well two hours later I got a "courtesy" call from his teacher to let me know he was still being extra fussy, not wanting to eat much, not wanting to play or crawl around and just laying on the floor and as she said "That's just not my baby". She mentioned he felt warm but didn't seem to have a fever quite yet and just wanted me to know.

Right before noon she called again to say he was still acting pretty miserable and had a fever of 99 and even though I technically didn't have to come get him it would probably be a good idea to get him home and start the Tylenol (they can't give him any, even with my permission). So I went to pick him up and found the teacher rocking him while he just laid in her arms with a sad, pathetic look on his face. He definitely didn't feel good.

I got him home, gave him some Tylenol, nursed him and put him down for a nap. He woke up in a better mood and ate lunch but after his second nap later that afternoon (around the time the first does wore off) he was in a pissy mood again and had a fever of 100.3. I gave him more Tylenol and just held him.

Friday night he was up from 12:30-3:30am and nothing seemed to make him happy. I finally brought him into bed with us and that seemed to help a little. Saturday he was a bit better and I still had to give him some Tylenol but he was able to go longer periods in between each dose.

Sunday and Monday he was more or less back to his old self and sleeping through the night again. The top two teeth haven't totally cut through yet but we can see them right beneath the surface and I'm guessing the worst part of it is over. Once these come in he'll have four teeth and look like a little jack o' latern.  I'm hoping that he'll continue to get 2 or more teeth at a time so we don't have to go through this with each and every tooth separately.

Despite having a teething, unhappy baby for most of the weekend I was able to get out of the house a little bit on my own to do some needed shopping and get an even more needed massage.