Nine Months Old: 3/4 of The Way There

When Emerson was born, I thought about his first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, but I never really looked past those events because that seemed so far into the future. And he was doing all kinds of new stuff each month that I just haven't thought much about what would happen beyond eight months. Now here we are, he is nine months old and I am in all new territory with no clue what to expect, but whatever is in store, I know it will be great!

He continues to be extremely active and happy. He has the best smiles and laugh. He is just like me in the fact that he is easy to please and yet he can flip a switch and be cranky, haha. He doesn't tolerate anything when he is hungry or tired, again, just like his momma. So naps at our house don't get skipped or we are in serious trouble.

We always have to have a warm up picture.

Here is a breakdown of all his activities this month:

Sleeping: The doctor gave us the OK to eliminate his one middle of the night feeding as he is well established on table foods and should be getting enough food/calories during the day to sustain him 12 hours at night. I am nervous because I know it won't be pretty, but I think it is time we all got a full nights rest. Not sure when we will start the elimination process, but I know Jesse is going to have to play a heavy hand in being the comforter at 2 a.m. because as soon as Emerson sees me, he is going to want to eat, haha.

We are down to two naps! This was a huge accomplishment this month. Who would have thought dropping a nap would be so difficult, but we finally succeeded. He now naps around 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. and then bed around 7 p.m.

Eating: Emerson is a really good eater, which I am thankful for. There are very few foods he doesn't like and he has had no allergic reactions to any food so far. He now has a preference for feeding himself, so I have introduced more finger foods. He loves to feed himself small pieces of toast and grapes. Also new this month, we tried broccoli, yogurt, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, kiwi, blueberries, white potato, strawberries, ground beef and ground chicken.
  
Activity: A "real" crawl is starting to emerge each and every day. He has crawled several strides on all fours before on carpet, but since our house doesn't have much, he doesn't seem to have any interest. Emerson is getting very good at going from a lying down position to sitting up to crawling and back down again. In other words, that boy can move! He is also starting to pull himself up on things around the house, so far he has pulled up in the bathtub and in his crib. For a while at night he would cry out because he would stand up, but not know how to get down. It took a few days, but he can now sit down on his own.

Sometimes we take the simplest things for granted. Who would have thought that standing up and sitting down would have to be learned. And to a nine month old, those are some serious challenges.

Super cheese ball.

Doctor visit stats:

• Weight: 18.4 oz (28th percentile)
• Height:  28.4 inches (58th percentile)
• Other: No shots at this visit, yay! Our little guy is starting to lose some of his baby rolls and starting to lengthen out. We go back again to the doctor at 12 months.

Likes, dislikes and other milestones:


 

• Favorite toys (right now): Any ball, he has started to understand the game of toss. I roll the ball to him and he tries to throw/roll it back.
• Loves to feed himself
• Getting better at using a sippy cup, but still struggles with the idea that you have to tip it up to get water out of it.
• Has his second tooth in
• Celebrated his first Christmas and New Years
• Likes to be read to before naps and is a really good listener
• Really into any touch-and-feel books
• Started throwing hissy fits! He has a little tantrum when he doesn't get fed fast enough or is tired. He throws his head backward and throws his arms around. It is very dramatic
• Working on waving hi/bye and clapping
• No more baby bath tub, he now takes a bath in the regular tub and he's not too sure about all that open space yet

Things to look forward to:

• Going on a mini vacation, not sure where exactly yet
• First Valentines Day
• Celebrating daddy's birthday

Saved the best for last. He is such a character.

 

 

 

 

Emerson's First Christmas: Part 2

We spent Christmas in Oklahoma this year with my family. It was a winter wonderland! Thankfully the roads were not icy and our drive up was a safe one.

Play time with cousin Lillian.

Emerson and cousin Jack were "sharing" toys.

Playing a rousing game of Headbanz...its harder than it looks :)

All the grand kids with Granddad and Grammy.

We played Dirty Santa the night before our Christmas this year with board games and it was so much fun.

There were some pretty funny moments.

Our family Christmas morning.

Opening stockings.

With my beautiful mom and sister.

Playing with his Christmas gift from Grammy and Granddad.

Frying up our Christmas lunch. Brrr...

 Emerson and his real smile, and Lucas with his "smile for the camera" smile.

With cousins Nathan and Wade. Won't be long before their little brother arrives!

With Granddad Connie.

I just love that doggie hat and double chin.

Beside all the time I got to spend with family, I also got spend some time with my best friend and her fiancé. Their wedding is in April so I got to run a few wedding errands with them and they got to meet Emerson for the first time.

He wasn't too sure about Rob's beard, but he sure was happy to be in this photo :)

And on a totally random note, I got to shoot Jesse's gun while we were at my parents house. Watch out world, I know how to load and shoot it now!

 

 

 My target: the pond. I look so ridiculous and unnatural shooting the thing, but at least I know how to handle it now.

 

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Bring on 2014...

Emerson's First Christmas: Part 1

As always, I took a TON of photos and had a hard time narrowing down which ones to post, so I am just going to do this in a series.

Jesse, Emerson and I celebrated our family Christmas on Dec. 21 before we headed to Oklahoma.

Emerson didn't really care much about the tree this year (thank goodness), but we also never really play in our dinning room, so he was never around it.

The lights were mesmerizing.

Time to open presents!

Emerson's loot pile.

He was great at opening presents and being interested in the whole process. He, of course, especially loved playing with the wrapping paper.

He loved the activity cube we got him.

 

I loved getting to celebrate Christmas traditions this year with a child. Even if he is too little to remember, it makes it so much more special!

Eight Months Old: "Mamadadababa"

Oh my, Emerson has changed so much in this one month.

We now have our first strand of consonant sounds "mamadadababa." He was saying "mama," but then he learned "dada" and forgot all about me : ( I guess "dada" is just more fun to say. He will also sometimes say "baba." Of course he has no idea what these words are associated to.

Emerson is also crawling! Well, he does an army crawl and on occasion he will get up on all fours and rock back and forth. Jesse claims he has crawled on all fours, but I didn't see it, so it doesn't count.

Due to his new found mobility, we have had to introduce the word "no" more often. He loves to tug on the curtains and chew on shoes (yuck) so those are the two things that get told "no" the most often to. He now will look at me before he goes to touch the curtain, as if he is just waiting to hear me say it.

Also big this month was Emerson got his first tooth! One on the bottom came in and the one next to it is not far behind.

See what I mean by a busy month!?!

 

Here is a breakdown of this months activities:

Sleeping: We are back to only waking up once in the middle of the night for a snack and then he goes right back to sleep. One time this month he slept ALL NIGHT! Oh how I needed that and I pray I can have more of those soon. His naps are finally starting to regulate more. He usually naps at 9 a.m., 12 p.m. and 3 p.m., give or take 30 minutes. Lately each have been a good 1-1.5 hours long. Because his naps have lengthened a bit, we have officially dropped the fourth nap.


Eating: We can add new things to the "Emerson does not like" list, green beans and peas. I hope its not all green veggies. I think it is a texture thing. He loved apples, and most all fruits for that matter. He also tried his first table foods: a pickle and lime (not at the same time). He loved them!
 
Activity: He can move pretty fast with his army crawl and he definitely knows how to get to something he wants even if it is across the room. He is also sitting up all by himself really well without any support. Even when he does tip over, he can catch himself.

Love those cheesy smiles because that's when you see his cute dimples : )

Doctor visit stats:

• Weight: ?
• Height: ?
• Other: Obviously we didn't go to any doctor this month, which between the pediatrician and surgeons office I think this will be the first time we haven't seen a doctor within a month. Not complaining one bit!

Caught him mid laugh.

Likes, dislikes and other milestones:

• Favorite toys (right now): Still has some of his favorite toys. I know he is getting a few new ones at Christmas, so curious to see how he takes to those.
• Loves to play with hangers and plastic cups.
• Now that he is mobile, he is starting to get bored with his Jumparoo.
• We discovered a new book that Emerson loves, a Pat-A-Cake book with a Curious George puppet attached. He thinks the puppet is so funny.
• Likes to spit. I am not a fan of this trick.
• Has learned how to fake a cough.
• Loves to touch/scratch different textures, he especially loves to touch pillows.
• Sits upright in the bath tub now and loves to splash.
• Loves to sleep on his belly, bottom in the air.
• Does not like getting dressed or having to use the nasal suction bulb on his nose. He used to not mind either of those.

Things to look forward to:

• First Christmas and New Year!
• Visiting lots of family.

Ending this post with his classic confused look.

Thanksgiving 2013

I have very exciting news to share! But I am not going to tell you until the end of this post, so keep reading. (Or if you are lazy, then just skip to the end, but you will miss out on some good stuff : )

Anyway...

Emerson got to spend his first Thanksgiving in Tennessee. There were clear skies, cold temperatures, lots of family and of course great food! Emerson couldn't really take part in the food, but oh well, something for him to look forward to next year.

We drove, yes DROVE 13 hours to Nashville to visit Jesse's family to spend Thanksgiving week with them. The drive up was not too bad. It seemed to take forever, but all-in-all I think Emerson did great. Anytime I caught myself complaining, I just remembered how much money we were saving by not flying : )

Get ready for family picture overload!

Emerson and Pops.

 

 

Emerson does not like what this fox has to say. Don't worry, it's a fake one.

 

Turkey bottoms are too cute.

Family photo!

 



Turkey bib that Aunt Molly gave Emerson. Is it weird that I think Emerson and the face of the turkey on the bib look alike?

On our walk to the old red barn. It was a beautiful day.

Emerson could barely move his little arms in his puffy coat.

 

 Opryland Hotel Christmas lights.

OK, ready for my news? Emerson is going to get a new cousin! Two actually (not twins). My SIL, Molly announced over Thanksgiving that they are pregnant (due in July) and my brother and his wife are expecting another sweet boy in March. Two separate sides of the family are adding to their numbers and I am so excited for my SILs and for Emerson to gain cousins that are going to be close in age. The holidays will be even more fun next year! Congratulations to Molly and Jonathan Martin and Trace and Sarah Kirkpatrick!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now I guess I better get crackin' on that Christmas shopping...