who knew!

we apparently have an indoor pool at our house!  

it's so hard to say goodbye

today we had to say goodbye to cousin kaeli and kamrin and aunt star. the dude had so much fun playing with them, taking baths together, and having dinner with them.  we are sad to see them leave, but are excited that we will get to see them again soon in september when we fly down to florida.

can't wait!

<3

buds

the dude is pretty darn lucky to have a bestie like criostoir!!

this makes me so happy!!!

everyone loves these blocks

if you don't already have a set of these blocks (melissa and doug nesting and stacking alphabet blocks) you need to invest in the $10!!  colleen and cormac had them for criostoir and bella and i bought a set for kaeli and kamrin i loved them so much.  and then luckily, the dude got a set for his shower.  he LOVES them, and every kid who comes over inevitably ends up playing with them.

nine month stats

OMG!!! the little dude is turning into a BIG dude!!

weight: 22 lbs. 7 oz.  (77%)

height: 27.25" (15%)

head circumference: 19.25" (100%!!!!)

doctor said he looked great though.  he was impressed with his 'moving' (ie, crawling, sitting, standing up, walking, etc), and thought it was great that he had no anxiety towards him whatsoever.  he did have a little snarfle in his nose and chest though, so we're doing the neb for the next several days to try and take care of that, and we're also giving him benadryl in the morning and evening to see if that will help him clear up in the nose department.

the dude's been congested pretty much ever since birth, so the doctor isn't sure if maybe it's just allergies.  so we're going to give the benadryl a try for awhile and if we think it's making a difference, we might need to see an allergist later on.  uncle tim...sound familiar!!  :)

2nd tooth!

and now we have two!

the little dude's right central incisor has broken through!!

first REAL word!!!!

so for awhile now the dude has been blurting out "ba ba," but to me that's just a sound that's easy to say (although we do call his bottle a baba),  it's not a real word.  BUUUUT, this morning, when i was getting my coffee ready for work, the dude was in the sunroom and decided he would start to crawl towards me.  i've been working on this for awhile now, and it paid off, because as he was crawling towards me he looked up and said "MAMA!"  

grady was witness to it as well and his comment was "well, i guess that's his first word!"

hehe...i was so happy.

everyone in the tub

how could we not have a photo-op of all the kids taking a bath together.  these are the pictures we'll probably pull out when they get older and they'll say "mom!  i can't believe you took pictures of that!!!"  :)  no worries...they'll do it to their kids too!!

and thankfully we have a large bathtub in our bathroom!  seeing as the dude likes to stand up during his baths now too, we've decided to move his bathtime to our tub.  he has a blast, and mom can relax a little and not worry that he's going to tip over the side!  

and um.....look at those tushies!!!

grammie

grammie brought star and the girls over today, so we also got to snap some photos if grammie with all of her grandkids!  special moment for everyone!

cousins!!!

today the little dude got to meet his florida cousins for the first time!  he LOVED them!  and might i say, i think they loved him too!!

kaeli and kamrin had a great time playing with graham, giving him his bottle and giving him lots of lovin!  we're excited that the dude will have some playmates the rest of the week.

ummmm, pancakes

disclaimer...he did not eat all 6 pancakes.  the dude did however, down 2 of them!  pancakes are yummy!!

standing and scooting

for awhile now, the dude has been pulling himself up to a standing position from sitting down.  he also has kept trying to stand up on his own by pulling up on his music table thingy.  he took the table down a few times with him, but stubborn as he is (wonder where he gets that from), he tries and tries again!  guess practice makes perfect!  voila!  look mom!!!  i did it!!

and if you notice the rocking horse contraption in the background....that is the latest and greatest toy!  i have no idea what it's called since it was one of the bargains i picked up from dani's duds (a HUGE children's consignment show if you're not familiar with it), but it makes music when you hit the buttons on top.  the dudes legs are a little short still to fully reach....but as i mentioned before...his stubbornness (really have no idea where he gets it from) doesn't stop him!  no sirree!

nine months

slow down!  you're getting too close to 12 months!!  

and we've gotten to the point where it seems everyday is something new.  

here is what you've been up to:

 - we don't have our 9 month well visit until the 29th, so no measurements at the moment 

- still wearing size 4 diapers during the day and size 5 at night

 - wearing 9-12 month clothes

 - sleeping about 11 hours at night

 - on average you take two, 1.5 hour naps

 - went to the pool for the first time and LOVED it.  you are definitely a water baby!  even hearing the water filling up the bath tub gets you all excited.

 - learned how to sit up in your crib.  

 - slept through your first fourth of july fireworks!

- STARTED CRAWLING!

- loves to walk while holding onto our fingers.

 - got your FIRST TOOTH!

- eating less pureed foods and more solid, cut-up food.  some of your favorites so far are turkey, chicken, green beans, carrots, graham crackers, waffles, pancakes, cheddar cheese, and yobaby yogurt!
 - started saying BA BA!

gathering of the pregs

SO MUCH FUN TODAY!!!

we had our first annual gathering of the pregs!!  remember all those birth announcements i was cranking out last june....yup, it's those moms and a couple others of us who had our babies before or after then.  it was so nice to get everyone together and let all the kids play together.  amazingly enough, no breakdowns, meltdowns, tantrums or injury's!!!  how on earth we escaped free of those i have NO idea, but i know we were all happy it ended up that way.

the dude had an awesome time playing with the big kids, austin and brody.

while kiera...

then it was off to the pool!  and might i add, this pool was driven up from nc!  i couldn't believe that it actually folds up into a small little package and then just unfolds and fill'er up when you're ready!

the dude LOVES the water.  he took a couple spills backwards and laid there until i could get to him and he was totally cool.  no crying, no freaking out.  he just shook it off and started playing again.  i think we have a fish on our hands!

what is it about pet food bowls!!!

we're crawling now!!!

breakthrough!

lower central incisor!!

had been trying to breakthrough the last week or so...finally made it's debut!

wonder which one will be next!!!

pure joy

i count myself lucky everyday that i have such a happy dude!  

there are not many days where he's not full of smiles and giggles.  

this video totally makes my day.

especially for the grands!

so this video is long, but it was made especially for the grands in mind!

enjoy the tush!

bonk!

disclaimer....no one was hurt in the making of this video (sounds worse than it really was)!

high steppin'

up in the air

the dude's latest thing is not crawling....but rather sticking his butt up in the air!  it's too cute and too funny to watch.  and let me tell you, he has no interest in crawling, instead it seems he wants to WALK!

to be continued!!

ps...happy fourth of july!!!

urgent care

so i guess it's lucky we have today off.  looks like the dude has a small case of pink eye!  no fun!  hmmmm, and putting the ointment in his eye is MUCH harder now that he knows how to move his head and arms!  

looks like i'll be staying home from work tomorrow since the dude isn't allowed at school for 24 hours.  we don't want to give this to anyone else!  

hopefully this will go away soon!!

celebration

since the 4th of july was on a school night (for us adults at least), we decided to have friends over on sunday! the murray's came over with colleen's parents and ze german (ralf) was able to come by with mojo's friends lieca and pluto.  we all had a great time, especially graham.  he loves playing with his besties!!

new resident

i've always wanted our privacy screen covered with foliage and flowers, and i finally found what i wanted.  jasmine!  not only does it grow fast, but it smells good too.  we love stef (our neighbor), but we're hoping she enjoys the flowers as well!

however....i went to go water it today and all of a sudden this dark thing bounces out of the planter. i thought i had splashed some dirt out or something and went to go brush it off the back of the chair, when i realized it wasn't dirt.  it was a teeny little frog!  :)  not sure if he'll make his home in my planter, but he sure was a cute little bugger.