Daniel: Nine Months Old

Well, it happened. Daniel turned nine months old and I didn't have a heart attack.

Does this really mean in three short months that he will be a YEAR OLD?! 

NO! Not my BABY!!!

Yea, it really does mean that. And while part of me wants to somehow make him stay small forever, another part of me is really excited to throw his one-year-old birthday party!  Move over My Super Sweet Sixteen, Daniel's first birthday is coming to town.

Possible themes: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Camping/Outdoors, or maybe we will just freestyle it and take all of the brilliant ideas off of Pinterest and combine them into one party. Thoughts?

So, our little man is growing up. He now weighs approximately 24 pounds and is 28 inches long. We have a doctor's appointment in May and I will have official stats for his ten-month-old post, then. He is still wearing 12-18 month clothes and I'm contemplating the switch to just 18 month stuff. His pants are getting a bit small, but have plenty of length to them--the typical cloth diaper conundrum. I may try to squeeze out a bit more time in the 12 month stuff.

We celebrated Daniel's first Easter this past month and, if you missed it,  you can read more about that here. We also have spent more time outside, enjoying a bit of warmer weather. Daniel loves going for walks in his stroller and absolutely adores the swing at the playground--hopefully we are able to get our swing up soon! I can't wait until the ground is dry and the sun is out more consistently. I'm looking forward to spreading a blanket under our maple tree and letting him play outside in the sun!

Daniel still hasn't figured out how to crawl forward yet, but he is doing a modified version. He will roll at an angle back and forth on his arms, which allows him to move forward a bit. I love to watch him process how to get to something--which currently just involves a lot of rolling. He still loves to stand at the couch or chair and play. He is figuring out that he can lift his feet and move if he wants to. If we are holding his hands, he may take a few steps forward, but after that, he prefers to just stand and look around. I'm really glad that he seems to be in no hurry to crawl/walk--it gives me more time to figure out how to baby-proof our house!

Hmm...what else. He still is eating two meals a day with bottles filling up his tummy in between. For my future reference, we are currently feeding him six ounce bottles and have been doing so for about a month. He still loves fruit and Greek yogurt for breakfast and we usually puree whatever we are having for dinner, for his dinner. He has mastered the art of picking up puffs and we give them to him occasionally so he can work on his fine motor skills. He also has been testing out his new front top teeth that have come in. With four teeth in total, he is learning the art of chewing.

His favorite things to do still consist of playing with his baskets of toys, jumping in his bouncer, or hanging out with Daddy. We are still at two naps a day--which vary in length and sometimes are whittled down to one long, late morning nap. He goes to bed anywhere between six and eight, depending on his naps, and wakes up between six and seven in the morning.

I feel like we really have established a good rhythm at home, and though things seem to change daily, I no longer feel anxious about taking care of Daniel. I am feeling more and more like myself and I think that Jonathan and I both are pretty adjusted to being parents. Everything may be new and unexpected still, but it doesn't seem to bring as much stress anymore. We love our boy and are so thankful for him. What did we do before we had him? I can't even remember. :)