9 Months Old!

I think we can all remember when I was so excited to hit that 9 month mark in pregnancy, but the same can’t be said now. STOP GROWING! Nine months has been really fun!

-Just a few days after Nixon turned 9 months we were lucky enough to have my parents come to town! We had so much fun while they were here! We did everything you can imagine! We went to Schnephf farms (again), got predicures, shopped like crazy, fixed many things around the house, went to the park,  and got some Christmas shopping taken care of. Nixon loved all the attention and we were both in a depression after the left.

-Nixon got to meet one of his cousins for the first time! Kali was in town for a few days so we got together for a delicious breakfast and caught up. It was so fun to get these babies together!

-It was a big month as far as food goes. We moved to stage 3 foods because he would easily eat 2 size 2! It was time to upgrade. We also started him on finger foods, and he LOVES them! Puffs are our lifesaver! I was shocked at how fast he was able to pick them up and get them to his mouth. Such a smarty pants!

-We had our first Halloween with a baby and it was so fun! Mid September I started putting Nixon’s skeleton jammies on him and pretty much never took them off. I mean have you seen anything cuter? Then when Halloween came we made sure he had a late nap, woke up around 6:15 and he was ready to party all night as the cutest baby elephant. Our neighborhood is apparently a HUGE hot spot for trick or treating. We thought we were prepared with our 8 bags of candy… we didn’t stand a chance! We were cleaned out of candy in 45 minutes! It was insane! But we were happy to pack up and head over to our friends house to party with them!

-Nixon was pretty ambitious in the teeth department this last month. On Oct. 27ish he got his top right tooth, and a week later, about the 3rd, the top left popped through! He now has 4 teeth! YIKES!

-Someone decided that a nice three week cold would be a great way to celebrate our new teeth! It’s been really fun *not* but we are on the up and up and I am still alive.

-Chief and Nixon have taken their relationship to the next level. Nixon loves watching and giggling at Chief, and loves when he licks and sniffs his belly/legs/feet. Chief loves Nixon, Nixon loves Chief, and we are a happy family.

-And if all of that weren’t enough, we have a crawler/scooter. It’s entertaining to watch because he hasn’t figured out how to use his limbs in unison. He kind of army crawls, but uses his frog legs when those toes are lucky enough to catch on the ground. Does this make sense? Just know that it’s cute. (and I write all this for me to remember, lets be honest)

-The least favorite trick that he’s picked up, grinding his teeth. I mean what the hell. 

And because you haven’t seen enough baby videos by now, here is Nixon’s personal favorite to watch

8 Months Old!

Every month we find ourselves here, and every month I think all the same cliché things, and every month I go over how cliché it all is. Blah blah blah, moving forward.

-We had a rough week in month 8. There was excessive crying, there was ridiculous amounts of whining, there was nasty congestion, there was the mysterious red rash, all leading up to one very fed up mother. We took a trip to the doctor only to find out that there was no ear infection, no inflamed throat, no foggy lungs, only one very healthy baby. Bittersweet. So it’s true, I was that mom that took her baby to the doctor for teething. There are no teeth to show for it in month 8. *inset eye roll*

-Buuuuuuut one thing came from the doctors office, we were able to address an issue that Nixon has been dealing with for awhile. I’ve been woken up in the night by his random screaming, or he’s been found red faced and jaw clenched, trying so so hard to push the poops out, with little to no luck. But because of our teething appointment we were able to get things out of the way (pun intended). Prunes don’t cut it with this kid, so we’ve had to up our game to prunes, and 2 oz. of pear juice a day. I hate that I’m giving my BABY juice, so full of sugar at such a young age! It’s for the greater good, and I water it down but I still just hate it. Some days are better than others, and some days he’s still found struggling and in tears, and it’s so so sad.

-The scrunchy face has made its way into our life. I have no idea where it came from, but it sure it the cutest! When his smile starts to fade, it usually goes to the scrunchy face. Or sometimes he skips the smile and goes straight for the scrunch, and the heavy breathing that come along with. It’s just funny. He’s just funny.

-We were really enjoying our days at the pool, but sadly those have come to an end. He loves the bath/shower/pool and so we would spend a solid hour+ poolside a few days a week. He was always so happy there! All good things must come to an end, until next year, pool, MUAH! I thank you for those happy baby hours!

-We went to Schnepf Farms with some friends and tried out the baby bjourn for the first time. We aren’t really sure if he loved it or hated it. It was close to bed time and he’s usually pretty grumpy after 6 when it’s getting close to bed time. We stayed for a few hours and then he let us know that we were crazy if we thought we would extend his bed time! That, and he HATES sudden loud noises ie: crowds erupting in cheers, football touchdowns, you get the jist.

-Selfies, selfies, selfies. Need I say more?

-Nixon’s schedule hasn’t changed much. He’s started to wake up earlier, it use to be 8:30, then slowly went to 7:45, and now, that sweet little demon, has decided that between 6:15-6:30 is a great time to start crying. None of the adults in our house really like it, but how do you change it? Ugh. Moving on.

Lucky Number 7

That sweet boy turned 7 months on Sunday. For whatever reason this one was really emotional for me. After I put my 7 month old baby to sleep at 8 I checked on him twice before I went to bed. The second time I even picked him up and swayed with him, and I may have shed a tear or two. I just want my baby to be protected and stay innocent forever. I don’t want him to grow up, I want him to be a baby, MY baby, forever. But enough from the emotional blubbering mother, lets get to the update.
This month I have seen the most growth from this kid, probably what made me so emotional.

-We officially have a grocery cart sitter. Mixed emotions here (shocker). He LOVES it! He is all smiles the whole time, and everyone stops to get a smile out of him. I hate that it takes more time to get him in and out of the car, and that his car seat gets hot (this kid is a sweater anyway) but what I hate the absolute most is his need to suck on the cart. It’s so gross! I wipe it with disinfectant wipes before because there is no stopping him.
-On Sept. 12 or 13 we retired the snaggle tooth jokes because he now has a nice pair on the bottom. He’s a pretty good teeth, when the tooth is actually cutting through, but the two weeks leading up to it just avoid him. It’s in your best interest.

One morning I woke up to a very whiney baby and when I finally looked at him the blanket was stuck on his head. Then he was just a cute little sleeper, and third, sad baby when we first moved in was really sick and needed a humidifier.

-When we moved into our new house Nixon spent one night in our room, and then he was officially kicked out, and ever since has been sleeping through the night. Right before we moved he went from waking up once a night to twice and it was awful. Now I put him down at 8 and he sleeps until 7-8. Again with the mixed feelings because I still wake up and check on him once or twice a night and now he’s waking up an hour and a half earlier than I’m used to. Needless to say, I’m very very very unpleasant in the mornings/when Jim leaves for work. Sooooooooooooorry, Girl needs her sleep.

His FAVORITE toy is the boogie getter. Why? I have no idea, but he loves it.

-Nixon has become a professional sitter-upper, and he sure loves to sit in front of the mirror. He knows he’s cute, and I honestly think that he believes he’s talking to a friend. He will sit for a good 45 minutes and play with toys and squeal. Cutest. Thing. Ever. And it makes putting on make up or doing my hair a lot more fun.

-We also switched him the front facing stroller, and shocker, he. loves. it. We take Chief on a walk every night and Nixon will be beside himself upset, screaming me to crazy, and as soon as I put him in the stroller he is happy. He loves going on walks and being outside.

-It’s only taken 7 months, but chief and Nixon are buddies now. Chief isn’t so skiddish (unless Nixon starts growing while around Chief, also a new trick) and has figured out that Nixon will be his best friend. If I’m holding Nixon on my lap, Chief will walk up and lick his foot, and that gets Nixon excited so he starts kicking and then Chief will back up into me so Nixon is kicking the sweet spot above his tail, and Nixon just laughs and smiles. Best friends I tell you.

-While we were moving he was a CHAMPION! Seriously I couldn’t have asked him to have a better temper. As soon as he would wake up from a nap I would put him in the car and we would run errands for 2 hours until it was time for the next nap, and then repeat. We put about 700 miles on my car that week, and he was fussy for maybe 20 of them?

-We moved up a size in clothes. I don’t know why I’ve been holding off, I would just look at the 6-12 month stuff and it looked so big! I put it on him and was shocked that it fit perfect! I feel so bad that I’ve been squeezing him into clothes that are too small and not even realizing it, but those tiny baby tanks melt my heart.

-He still eats every 3 hours, I can’t believe it. He loves baby food, and we also went to the next size up on those. He would probably eat 4 of the little cups at a time if I’d let him. That is, if it’s not peas or green beans, or real bananas mashed. I don’t blame him for the green beans or peas, I hate those too, but he loves the gerber bananas! Why not the real thing?

-Jim is still Nixon’s favorite person and probably always will be. It’s been a sad few weeks around here with Jim being in busy season. There were multiple days that Jim didn’t even see Nixon, but when he did that kid was all smiles and deep belly laugh’s.

Everything goes straight to his mouth, belt, bottle, toys. Side note: he will only drink a bottle with water, and not milk. But mostly he just loves to chew on it.

-He’s become really good at putting himself to sleep. This has been so hard for me! I hate that he doesn’t need me so much, but I hate even more that I am having a problem with it! If I can’t nurse him to sleep I will just lay him in his crib, hand him his blanket, he will grab it and rub his face, whine maybe 2ish minutes and then play and roll around until he falls asleep (run on sentence much?) Total time? About 15 minutes. I should be jumping for joy, and don’t get me wrong, I am so so so so so happy I don’t have to listen to him scream, but he was ready way before I was and that has been hard. I mean sometimes he doesn’t even cry! Someone slap some sense into me, This momma is EMOTIONAL and mercy it’s annoying.
Like I said, this was the biggest month so far. And Sheeesh, when did I become the baby?

And because this is our favorite video ever…..