9-Month Update!

St.Patrick's Day coincides with Izaak's 9 month birthday, how convenient!
And he is a little bit Irish too, btw :)

Izaak’s 9-month appt was last week and I’m happy to report that it went very well. While still on the large side for his age, he's finally out of the 90% range. He weighed in at 22lbs, 10oz, and he was nearly 28in tall. The doctor answered our laundry list of questions and it turns out that we were already doing most everything right (surprisingly!). We did find out that he had recently outgrown his infant carrier carseat that we were still trying to cram him in (you mean his legs aren’t supposed to hang over the edge like that??) so we switched the big kid seat from Joe’s car (we had used it maybe two times in Joe’s car??) into my car as soon as we got home from the appointment. The problem with it is that it’s gigantic and I can’t reach to pop the binky back in his crying little mouth while I’m driving or hold his hand to soothe him when it’s just Izaak and I in the car anymore. Maybe those things aren’t 100% safe while driving anyhow but it’s better than having a wailing baby the entire way home from the grocery store. I’ve seriously had to pull over and get out of the car and into the backseat to get the binky back in, then he spits it out as soon as I get back on the road. Not. Cool. This isn’t always the case, he’s usually a pretty happy-go-lucky little dude, but it seems to happen when he’s really tired and/or hungry - when a little hand-holding would usually calm him down until he could fall asleep or would suffice until we got home for a bottle.

New carseat.

Yay. More stuff to put on Craigslist: Stroller/carseat combo, matching Pack ‘N Play, Rainforest bouncer seat, baby Bjorn carrier. It’s crazy how much money we spend on all this stuff, especially considering how short of a time frame it’s actually able to be used!! Izaak has slowed his growing pace at least a little so maybe we’ll be able to use the clothes he’s in now for a little while longer. 

We’ve also come to the conclusion that Izaak may be trying to get his top front teeth in, he’s been a drooling maniac and kinda moody, along with fierce chomping on anything he can get his little paws on. I can’t feel any hard spots on his gums yet but I don’t leave my fingers in his mouth for very long either, those bottom two teeth are sharp!! He’s trying to stand on his own now too which is hilarious. He gets his feet on the ground and straightens his legs while pushing up with his hands--also on the ground--leaving a cute little tush in the air. Shortly thereafter he folds or tips over, of course, but it’s funny that it looks like he’s trying to do a yoga pose or something… downward facing dog perhaps?? His crawling has improved in tandem with his “walking” efforts. There’s more equal leg movement and he even does the traditional up-on-all-fours style here and there! I think that we’re still a ways away from actual, honest-to-goodness steps though. The doctor assured us that his progress is normal and that some kids never crawl and go straight to walking. Izaak is right on target with his developmental milestones and we were informed that we shouldn’t be concerned that he doesn’t want to hold his own bottle (why would he when someone else does it for him?!), uses his sippy cup primarily as a percussion instrument, and it’s ok that he doesn’t wave goodbye yet.

We've really got to get our butts in gear and baby-proof the house better. We’ve put in the plastic outlet covers and tried to move as many cords up and away that we are able. We don’t have the sort of kid that you can tell not to do something and they listen. “No-no Izaak, don’t pull on that cord”… “No-NO! Do not touch that cord!!”.. “IZAAK! No cords!!”... I already feel like a broken record. He knows he’s not supposed to play with cords, pull the cat’s tail, or take DVDs/Blurays off their shelves. I know that he knows this because as he goes to do all of these super-fun activities, he turns his head and smiles at me in a way that says, “Haha, Mommy, I’m doing a NO-NO!!”. Is it possible to FEEL your hair turning gray??!

"Check me out! Standing on my own!!"