9 Months

Jackson turned 9 Months old on December 26. How is that even possible? That is 3/4 of a year old! But then again, I often think that he is such a big boy already. It seems like he is so grown up already.

As this post is a little behind, I will work off my notes. Sometimes an iPhone is just so handy! I use my notes app so stinkin often. When I have something I plan to write about I jot a quick note about it on my phone and come back to it... eventually.

It truly seems like Jack is no longer a little baby. He is so strong and now that he loves to stand it seems like he's so much bigger than before. He is getting stronger every day and I am so excited for him to begin walking around... and also dreading it as it's already difficult to keep up with him crawling. He has really taken off. We had a close call in California where he crawled over to the fireplace and had his hand raised to touch it... and I just barely grabbed him! I was sitting right next to him but when he wants something he knows I don't want him to have he crawls with a vengeance! We had been keeping him away from the fire all week so naturally, that was where he wanted to go. 

Kind of a goofy picture, but he just loves crawling up the stairs now! Thanks, Daddy, for teaching him that! *wink* He shows no fear in attempting to go down the stairs... but he tries to go down head first. So we'll be working on that soon. But for now I will just block off the stairs. 

He continues to be the best little human-vacuum cleaner ever. If there is one itty-bitty fuzzy on the carpet, he will find it from across the room! When he gets real quiet I look over to see what he's doing. I generally see the below picture. 

Big boy standing against anything and everything. He is getting so good at balancing! He has begun letting go of the things he's balancing against and standing on his own for several seconds. He shakes as he balances and then slowly sits down. He just needs to gain some confidence and he'll be standing completely on his own. 

Silly face! He has such vibrant facial expressions. I love how expressive he is already. 

Growing up! 

He has his first bottom tooth and the first top tooth and second bottom tooth are working on pushing their way through! 

His new smile. He is an extremely happy baby and it is not unusual to see this big smile. 

Jack loves music and dancing. Sometimes Momma stands and dances with him on her hip. Sometimes we stand and hold hands and dance back and forth. Sometimes Momma plays horsey with Jack- kinda like a dance, right? He loves musical toys. I've been trying to get him more classical toys now that he's growing and learning. But... of course, we need some more modern and electronic toys too. I try to limit the annoying ones for his Daddy's sake though. I've learned that after awhile, you tune out the songs you hear over and over and over again. 

Jack has been eating many more solid foods. I try to keep a good variety in his diet and we still nurse very often. I love that time with my boy. His favorite foods seem to be cheese and apples. I don't blame him, really. 

The cold apples seem to really help his teething. When he's having a particularly fussy, teething day I give him a dose of motrin and a nice cold apple to chew on for awhile. After it's helps calm his gums, then I bite off little pieces for him to actually eat. 

Jack's hair is getting longer! It's filling out on the sides to catch up with the top. I think I want him to have a little shaggy hair for awhile now that he had a little baby mohawk. I refuse to let him have the typically Asian bowl cut. Thankfully, he doesn't really look all that Asian so maybe the bowl cut wouldn't be that bad on him anyways. But we'll still keep far away from it. 

While Jack is gaining independence, he is still my snuggly bear. I love that he will curl up on my chest and just sit with me. He loves being on my lap as much as possible. He also loves to sleep on or near me. If I lay him in bed next to me then he scootches himself over so he's at least touching my arm. He often will hug my arm while he sleeps, which is so ridiculously adorable! I do vow that in 2013 he will sleep in his own crib. He's getting too big to sleep in Momma's bed. Plus, it's proven difficult sleeping with three people in the bed while Daddy's home! Before we know it we'll be moving with Daddy (yay!) and then Jack will have to be in his own room. 

Jack continues to be my little sunbeam. I am so thankful for him every single day. I have been feeling more worn out recently, but I just need to make better use of my time. Now that Jack is old enough to begin doing some learning exercises I plan to develop a daily schedule for us. This will include meal times, nap times, music time, sensory time, reading (separate time for devotions), and media time (signing time etc.). Hopefully that schedule will help both he and I. I am so thankful I am able to stay home with him. I cannot imagine all I would be missing if I were still working. No desire to return to the workforce any time soon. While I would consider returning when all my kids are in full time school, I may wait until they are old enough to stay home on their own if they are sick. I want to be able to stay home with them whenever they need. So we'll see what comes, I have quite a few years yet to figure all that out. 

Happy 9 Months my sweet baby boog.