9 month photos and more

I took Hunter back to Picture People to get his 9 month pictures yesterday. As usual he was a ham for the camera and we got a handful of good pictures. Again, scan quality isn't that great but here are a few:

I went back through this 3 and 6 month pictures when I was filing these and can't believe how much he's changed! His hair is getting thicker and longer, although we're still working on growing some in the back. :) I guess I don't notice it as much, seeing him on a daily basis, but WOW...he is looking more and more like a little boy. Where did my baby go?!?

He is getting faster at crawling every day. I like to sit back, follow him, and watch him and let him explore to see where he goes. It is amazing what little things he notices that he can goes straight for. He is starting to follow me, which is fun, because this helps with him crying when I leave the room. He pulls up on everything he can find and doesn't quite know how to get down from standing yet so he will either fall over or cry until you come get him. He is just now starting to cruise around the furniture just a little bit. He's still pretty wobbly but will move from the ottoman to me if I hold my hands out and he cruises along all four sides of his crib.

He still just has two teeth on the bottom - no top teeth yet. He has moved from puffs (although he still loves them) to Cheerios and Chex. He loves the Cheerios and tries to shove as many of them in to his mouth as he can. He also tried some orzo tonight which went okay. They were a little hard for him to pick up but most of it got in his mouth. His favorite food right now is yogurt.

He is getting really good at vocalizing what he wants, even though he can't speak yet. We've been doing sign language for "eat", "more", and "all done" for several months and I think he knows what they mean although he doesn't reproduce the motions yet. He has a distinct squeal, grunt, or scream when he likes/wants/doesn't like/doesn't want something and he babbles throughout most of the day.

He's been doing pretty well from a sleeping perspective until the past couple of nights when he has decided that 7:30 is not his bedtime and he wants to stay up longer. I don't know if he is starting a new trend or is just interested in what is going on outside of his bedroom and wants to be a part of it so we'll see where that takes us.

On a "me" note -I got a new car today! We traded in my car for a SUV. My car was only a year and a half old and I loved it but I really wanted more room. With the stroller taking up the entire trunk and the passenger seat moved up to accommodate the car seat in the back I really wasn't left with much room. I was a sad to get rid of my car but really like my new SUV. I call it my soccer mom car. :)

9 months!

Hunter had his 9 month well baby check-up today. He weighed in at 17 lbs, 11.5 oz (10th %) and 26.5 inches long (4th %). He's a little guy! The boy definitely has his daddy's big head though, as his head was in the 25th percentile. :) He did have to get one shot and a toe prick. Around this time is when a baby's iron supply that builds up in utero is depleted so they checked to make sure his iron levels were okay and they were perfect! He is also officially pulling up to standing and is getting better at crawling every day. We are starting to see some separation anxiety when I leave the room but Dr. Terwelp said it is normal and will pass. On the food front, he tried turkey for the first time yesterday. I just bought some organic turkey slices, chopped it up in the food processor and mixed it with his lunch and our good little eater gobbled it right up!

And we're mobile!!

Happy 2010! It has been a busy past few weeks, as you can see by the lack of updates. The biggest news is that Hunter is now officially crawling as of yesterday! He's certainly not a pro just yet, but he has figured out how to move forward. I took some video:

He still will mostly roll or crawl backwards but he is crawling forward to get to something that he wants (but shouldn't have) which right now includes my cell phone, Maggie's toys, or shoes.

He also pulled up to his knees one time on Wednesday. This is the only time he's done it so far. It has been looking like he might for a couple of weeks so I went ahead and lowered his mattress before Christmas. Sad! He is also sitting up well while totally unassisted now. He is just getting so big!

For Christmas this year we decided to drive to Indiana. We've just had such bad luck flying over the past two Christmases that we decided we wanted to be on our own timetable. It actually went pretty well, considering we have an 8 month old who is not a fan of either naps or being in his car seat. :) It took us about 3 hours longer total than it did the last time we drove it but our stops were much longer than they used to be. Instead of hitting the drive-thru we would get out and sit down to eat so Hunter could sit in his high chair and play around a bit and I'd nurse him when we'd stop for gas, etc. We had a great time and I think Hunter enjoyed his first Christmas. :) (Ok, you're right, he had no clue what was going on, but I loved it!)

Here are a couple of pics from his first Christmas:

He turns 9 months old next week. Unbelievable. So, it's back to Dr. Terwelp's office for his 9 month check-up. I'm anxious to see how long he is. I feel like he's gone through a growth spurt lately because his jammies are starting to get a little small. I'll update more then!