9 months old - has come and gone (like a month ago)

Here you were at 9 months a few days old.  I wasn't behind on the pictures, but about a month behind on the posts because you will be TEN months old in just a few days.  Literally time does fly and this past month has been proof of just that.  I decided to do the pictures and outtakes first...commentary last this time.

This month's pictures - well, it was incredibly hard to get you to sit still let alone get a smile out of you.   You are ALL over the place crawling.  It's insane how fast it happened.  Most of the pictures are of you sitting there while your dad is trying to make you stay still or like the on the right side with your hand in your mouth.  That's because we were bribing you with puffs.  Well, lesson learned - bribe with puffs for pictures means hands in mouth.  Luckily we learned this before your real 9 month pictures, right?

Others were like this - close ups of you after me and my camera.  You're pretty cute either way.

Then the photo shoot moved into our bedroom.  You crawled your sweet little bottom across the hall and made a bee line for the dog stairs.  However, they are not the best toy or object (for you or the dogs) because they slide.  Someone suggested velcro and that's actually a brilliant idea!!

And then we ended the night snuggling in bed with dad watching some videos before it was bath time and then time to hit the sack.  Seriously kid, I love you so much it is crazy.

Big things that happened this month?  Well - you found your voice and learned to crawl.  It was pretty crazy.  I feel like you changed a ton this month!!!  You are somehow turning into a little person.  A pretty cute little person.

Here are your stats from your doctor's appointment that mom and dad took you to:

Weight: 20lbs and 7oz (50% percentile)
Length: 29.5 in (75% percentile- 3 inches in 3 months!)
Head Circumference: 18.5 (80% percentile) 

Here's the list of what you are doing now...

• You still have 6 teeth.  4 on top and 2 on bottom.  People are in shock when I tell them that.  Especially when they ask if you are still nursing...haha.
• You babble and babble and babble.  It's hilarious to listen to the conversations you have with yourself.  I'm convinced you and your classmates have some sort of baby language.
• It's funny because I thought the army crawl last month was scary - well you actually crawl. And you are fast and are into everything.  Your favorite things to crawl fast to?  Well that would be the dog water bowl and food bowl.  Guess what else?  You feel down the stairs about halfway through April. It was pretty frightening to everyone.  Luckily you were ok and that night we installed a baby gate.  No more of that.
• The way you interact with your toys is so fun to watch.  You seem to pick them up and examine them and most of the time put them in your mouth.  But it's fun to watch you stack things and unstack them, etc.

• You are now one of the "big kids" in your class and it's so crazy.  I never thought you would get close to being one.  But I guess that's inevitable, right?  It's just insane to see you literally play and interact with your friends.  Your favorite?  That would be Stella.  You guys fight like brother and sister and it cracks everyone up.  Apparently Stella's older sister even talks about you at night!!  All your teachers still love you too - which is just the sweetest.
• So at your 9 month appointment, I told your doctor just how many bottles you were taking at school.  And she said the fourth one needed to be cut out.  (yes, you were getting 4 bottles still).  But since you would get home from school and not really be hungry (i.e. you throw all the food on the floor for the dogs), she said this would help.  I was fine with it...having the discussion with Ms Tamala (your fav teacher) was a little hard.  She doesn't want you to be thirsty and likes giving you a fourth bottle.  Ms Shirley told her she's crazy.   It was a pretty interesting conversation.  But we're working on 3 bottles.
• Constipation isn't really an issue anymore because we put 1/4 cup of Miralax in your bottle everyday. Seems to keep you regular and helps move it through your little body.  Don't like constipated baby!!
• You still love food.  This month's favorites?  Peas and carrots and prunes and apples. Yum.
• You are still nursing in the morning and at night and on the weekends.  And you are still happy with it and so am I.  I just love our time together.  It's nice that you learned not to bite too.  9 months going strong - so proud of us little man!!!!
• Knock on wood- you were pretty healthy during this month!  Just a well-check up with NO shots, so that made it even more fun.
• Your sleep has gotten better and naps are more on schedule at least on the weekends.  It's weird because you are sleeping less at school but seem to get tired earlier and sleep lots during weekend naps.  That's a good habit because on the weekends I have time to nap or do other things.  
• Mostly everything is 9 or 12 months.  It's crazy how fast something because obsolete in your wardrobe.  You are getting so tall.
• You officially mastered pulling yourself up on your crib.  Just please don't figure out how to climb out.  Apparently I did that as a baby at 10 months.  I would really prefer to stay in the crib.  
• Size 3 diapers still!!

The month of April was so fun and so crazy all at the same time.  With lots of time together and some time apart (we had a wedding and some fun weekend events for adults only), mom stayed busy with grad school and tried to push through.  Seriously, it was a blessing that you started sleeping well because I'm not sure if we could have made it through this month if you were waking up.  

It was a fun month because now that we can all go out to eat together (and we can give you some of our food to eat), we have started being a little more social.  As long as our friends want to go to dinner at like 5.  But it's still fun.  The crawling thing is a little difficult because you want to be crawling and exploring all the time, but some places and times, that's just not possible!!!

Oh what a joy you are Charlie Carter!!! Love you little man!!