9 Months: Crawling, pulling up, feeding Tally, and lots of firsts

This past month has been full of milestones and has been tons of fun. Our sweet little happy-to-hang-in-one-spot boy has become BUSY! He has figured out that crawling will take him around the whole house, get him to the Roomba (he may love the Roomba more than I do), and let him find new things to pull up on and explore. He loves to stand and has gotten pretty brave about moving his hands from one spot to another while standing (which has also led to more falls- poor buddy!). He's also started to notice ceilings, fans, lights and anything UP. Watching him crawl around the house and then return to a sit position and study what's above him is one of my favorite things. He is so curious right now and it's so fun to see.

His bedtime has moved to 8 (he used to go to bed around 7). It took us three nights of thinking something was going on and that our easy-to-bed boy was turning a page before we realized he just wasn't tired. So on night 4, we moved the bath, books, and bed routine to an hour later and he was right back to his happy-to-go-to-bed self.

His favorite things in life are people, food, books, and bath. He is also fascinated by the noise made when two things tap together and likes doing the "tap test" on anything he can reach.


Goodness I love a nakey baby hiney... and yes, even bath time looks a little different these days!

Milestones from 8-9 Months:

3/30- Started supporting himself on his feet and picking up his feet to walk when we held his fingers.

3/31- placed the ball in the hole of the shape sorter on his car

4/1- pulled up from sit to full stand at open gym

4/1- took a three hour nap after open gym!

4/2- pulled up in his crib

4/5 (Easter Sunday)- switched to big car seat

 

4/8- took off crawling all around the house

4/9- watched on monitor as he learned to go from crawl position to sit position in his crib

Learned to "give 5"

Learned to give kisses

Started sleeping through the night!

Started helping to take his clothes off (pulling his shirt up) before bath

4/20- Discovered his tongue and stuck it out on cue

4/20- Said first word- "HI!" to Nonna when she walked in the door

4/22- Faced out in the Baby Bjorn on our hike

4/24- waved hi on purpose ;)

Sleeping through the night:

Halfway through this month, Ryan realized what we've been thinking for some time- he no longer needs a meal in the middle of the night. Sweet Jesus! Going to bed and not getting up until morning has been quite a glorious thing. I kind of forgot how amazing it felt to sleep for that many hours straight. I'm sure we'll have some nights when more teeth come in or when he's not feeling 100% where I'll still get some middle-of-the-night snuggles in, but for now, I'm quite happy to see his sweet face between 7-8 when he wakes up. :)

New Foods:

This buddy still loves to eat and tomatoes are sill his all time favorite food. Although he was introduced to banana yogurt from Trader Joe's this month and he would bounce in his chair any time I took a container out of the fridge for him.  Other new foods he tried this month include: whole prunes, pineapple, clementine, Trader Joe's fig bars, smoked salmon, grilled salmon, shrimp, swiss and dill cheese, banana pudding, lamb, kale, black olives, deviled egg, corn, pasta, egg salad, raisin toast, grilled cheese with tomato and oregano, mushroom and fava bean soup, minestrone soup (he loves soups!), brie, fresh mozzarella, cole slaw, crackers, Ella's Kitchen pouches, Little Yums and Happy Baby organic teething wafers.

Other Moments from the Past Month:

Because climbing on top of things is way more fun than crawling around them

Checking out his new music table that he borrowed from Jackson and Aunt Karen (the Mickey Mouse pjs and also from them!)

First pair of sunglasses... if only he'd keep them on!

Making an obstacle course out of the nap nanny (I promise he didn't fall even though it looks like he's about to!)

Hanging with his buddy Finn!

Swinging with Papa:

Our cousin Rebecca came to visit and we all piled in Jackson's bed before his nap :)

Hangin with Mimi and Jackson

Playing with his cousin Jackson :)

Helping Papa anchor our picture table to the wall

He loves his Papa :)

kissing his reflection :)

Walk-a-thon at Noah and Maddox's school

Noah showing off Ryan to his friends :)

Open gym!

Laughing in his own funny way when Matt was blowing kisses on his belly:

Checking out the fishies at the pet store

Easter Sunday

Rooftop lunch on a pretty day!

Zoo!

Rocket's Mighty Words is one of his most requested books these days :)

Ryan with his cousin Riley!

Ryan and Papa

Playing piano at our next door neighbor's house :)

Masters party with Reynolds!

Cooking in the kitchen in their matching outfits. These two don't even know yet how good of buddies they're going to be. ;)

Admiring T's work on the fridge... or thinking about how he can get those letters in his mouth, one.

Hey!

Sweet buddy laying on my lap watching Baby Einstein when he wasn't feeling well

He loves using the laundry basket as a walker:

First trip to the library

First trip to Menchie's and first taste of frozen yogurt

Ryan and Tally Pics:

Ryan loves crawling to visit Tally on the rare occasion that Tally's not right by his side.

One of my favorite things he does is clap his feet together in the stroller when we walk:

Crawling toward Tally:

PhotoShoot:

Our photo shoots are a little less "still" these days ;)

This one might be my favorite- ha!

Also don't forget about the great giveaway and awesome opportunity to support a good cause that is going on this week! You can check it out here. The winner of the giveaway will be announced Friday morning!