Nine Is Fine

Brody Man turned nine months! Yes, that's now three months away from a year. Not possible, and yet somehow it's true.  Month eight had some great moments, but also had a few stinky weeks.  Baby Bear got sick and then just as he was getting better got sick again and on top of the second sickness had a hard time with some teeth coming in.  It was a doozie of a few weeks.  In spite of this, Brody continued to learn and do "big boy" things. 
 

Chew, chew, chew..

 

I love to chew.

We spent a lot of time this month in jammies and
comfy clothes. 

Daddy came up with the new game of playing under
the bed.  Brody loves playing with the bed skirt.

Chillin' under the bed...don't mind my snotty nose.

We also discovered how fun it is to pull all the books
off of the shelf.  This is the first book Brody grabbed by himself.

 

Throughout the month, Brody made "baby steps" toward crawling. 
He is still not there yet, but we continue to see some signs that it might not be
too far away.

 

I could just eat this little face!

Brody got so sick of me wiping his nose, sometimes
he just decided to do it himself.

Hard to tell from the pic, but Brody can feed himself
a cracker.  It.Is.Adorable.

Brody now sits up in his little bath tub inside the big bath tub.  Tried the big bath
and it was an epic fail.  Brody hated it which is very sad because he's always liked his bath.
Decided to stick with what works for now.

Got his rubber ducky and everything is right in the world.

Feeling better!

A total rolly polly!

Me and my Little Man.  I can't help myself...love him in hats!

Brody loves to put these up to his face and when I look
at him through the little hole, he thinks it's hilarious.

Showing off the teeth!  Brody had four teeth by the end of the month.
The two bottom.  The top front right and the one to the right of that.

Getting enough hair to have some bed head going on
some mornings.

Showing off his clapping skills.

We had some chilly weather in April and we had to bundle up
a couple times to go for a walk.  Brody Bear looks too cute in his little hat.

Getting so big, he can hold the bottle himself.

This was after Brody had been kicked out of the nursery (due to fever)...start of the
second sickness and teething.  He was the happiest watching the Masters. 
This of course made Poppy proud. : )

Big boy in the shopping cart for the first time.

Some very sweet friends of ours recently adopted twins and
have no need for their single jogging stroller and are letting us borrow it.
Brody wasn't quite sure what to think of his new ride at first.  He
didn't know what to do with all that room!

Soooo big!

A few other things from the month...

Schedule: Brody's schedule changed slightly. He is able to stay awake a little longer, so his naps are from 9:00ish to 10:30ish and from 1:00ish to 2:30ish. Now that he's older, I try not to worry about naps as much, but it is always better when he can sleep a little later in the afternoon. Otherwise, we hit a very hard wall by bedtime. Sometimes he surprises me and sleep for 2+ hours and sometimes he sleeps for 30 minutes.  It's not an exact science.  Brody still goes to sleep around 7:00...depending on when he woke up from his nap, he's usually very ready for it. This month was the first time since Brody started sleeping through the night that he woke up. Considering he did this only once in spite of the sickness and teeth is impressive. And he woke up before Greg and I even went to bed around 10:00. I actually think he might of had a bad dream which is what woke him up (if that's possible). I held him for a few minutes, laid him back down and he feel asleep within a few minutes. #angelbaby

Food: Brody can now feed himself a cracker and it's so cute! This month, he also tried pears, zucchini, and carrots. Didn't try as many new foods as we probably could have, but due to the sickness and teeth sometimes it was hard to even get him to eat the foods he does like, so I didn't push it.  He liked the pears, carrots were ok and the zucchini I had to hide in his sweet potatoes.  We had a bit of breast feeding drama and I've cut back to feeding him twice a day and giving him two bottles.  We had enough frozen milk to give him through the month.  I know breast milk is free and good for him, but it's becoming taxing in many ways and the bottle is my friend.  Feeding him twice is much more manageable and enjoyable.  We'll see how it goes.  In addition to the four bottles, Brody now eats real food three times a day. 

Other things to note:
Brody really likes music.  We've started to listen to a kiddie CD in the car and he seems to really like it.  Some of his favorites are The Wheels On the Bus, Oh, Mr. Sun, and Old McDonald.  Brody has a broad range of music because he also really likes Justin Bieber and Will I Am's new song That Power.  Brody likes to drop a beat and rap...seriously gets the biggest smile on his face when Will starts to rap...it's hilarious.  "I once had a piggy bank, now I've got a bigger bank."  See, they're lyrics for babies.  : ) 

Nine Month Appointment:
Brody had a good nine month appointment with Dr. B.  She said we should schedule an appointment with a Pediatric Opthamologist to see what they say about his continued clogged tear duct issues.  And that we should start feeding Brody meat to up his iron.  Otherwise, he's a healthy little baby.  The next time we see her Brody will be ONE YEAR OLD!

Weight:  19 lbs. 15 oz. (40th%)
Height:  29 1/2 in. (84th%)
Head:  17 1/4 in. (11th%)