9 Month Check-Up

Off to the doctor again! This time for Brody's 9 month check-up.


Brody weighed in at 19lbs 1oz - still a little peanut in the 25th percentile. He grew another inch, now at 29 1/4 inches tall (75th percentile) and his head is still in the 25th percentile but grew 1.5cm since last time. At least he's consistently long & skinny with a small noggin!

The main topic of conversaion was around Brody's eating habits. Transitioning to more table foods is the next step and of course we discussed Brody eating dairy. His doctor is recommending waiting until closer to 12 months before starting dairy products (yogurt, cheese etc.) and we'll transition to whole milk at 12 months as well. He recommended easing him into it as much as possible, starting off very slowly with the whole milk. At the very least he validated my approach of holding off on dairy until he's a little older. In the meantime we'll be working on expanding all of Brody's non-dairy table foods and drinking from a sippy cup.

The other big topic of conversation was baby-proofing, especially when I told him Brody could crawl. He's clearly seen too many injuries that could have been prevented, because when I told him that we've already done a lot of baby-proofing (we have pillows in front of the brick fireplace!) -- he brushed it off and kept warning me that there are always more things he can get into. Like I didn't know that!? We do have "Dennis the Menace" on our hands!

Then we wrapped it up with a good 'ol flu shot and vaccination. Brody screamed, I held him, he screamed some more, then he eventually calmed down. Keep your fingers crossed that we really don't end up back at the doctor until his 12 month check-up!

Toddler

Yes, I'm scared of the word toddler. That means Brody will no longer be a baby and I might have to accept that he's growing up way too fast. I know there are lots of moms out there rolling there eyes and thinking, "get used to it, this is only the beginning!"


Honestly, I am not great with change in my personal life. Up until now, I've been able to plan ahead for big changes. We planned when we wanted to start a family in advance, we've planned our house purchases in advance, I had 9ish months to plan our wedding. Can you tell I'm also a control freak?

So of course I approached motherhood the same way. I read a lot about baby milestones and "what to expect." For those of you that are laughing right now, yes I realize it was naive to think I could plan the ups and downs of having a baby. But there was one thing I thought I could count on...I had 12 months until he was no longer a "baby."

Then about a month ago, I received an email from our daycare saying that Brody would move to a Toddler Room on November 15th. After re-reading it 5 times, I realized they must have just made a mistake. Clearly they mixed him up with someone else. He won't be a toddler until January!! So I sent an email back explaining their error.

Then came her very understanding response,

"I know what you are saying, I thought the same thing. It's hard to think of these little guys so close to being a Toddler!"

But, no, he is really is moving up in November.

Our wonderfully awesome daycare is actually expanding by adding a couple new rooms and Brody will be one of the lucky ones to move into the new room. Which means, moving early.

While my logical side of my brain says, yes, this makes sense and yes the teachers are doing a great job managing the early tranisiton. And yes, I know he's going to love his new room with older friends. But the mommy-side of my brain says, "he's just too little!!"

So I thought I had 12 months before I had to accept sleeping on a cot, one nap a day and eating table food...I guess I really only had 10 months. Slowly but surely I'll start to accept that I cannot control everything about my little guy. But it won't stop me from trying!

Brody is 9 months old

Brody is officially 9 months old today. Which is less exciting as Brody's friend and future wife, Aubrie turning one year old! Time sure does fly!

Brody is continuing to show us his crazy side by speed-crawling and getting into everything. He giggles furiously when we try to stop him from doing something he's not supposed to do. His favorite toys right now are his walker, shopping cart, balls and activity table that plays some great dancing music!

He's getting better at standing up without holding onto anything but doesn't stand up on his own yet. He walks great while holding onto walking toys, or really anything he can push around the floor. He'll be transferring to an older room at daycare in the next month, so he's been playing with the toddlers outside a lot and loves it. He's also eating finger foods for snacks at a toddler table & chair. He's practicing drinking from a sippy cup but hasn't quite mastered it yet.

He's had some trouble sleeping this month and has had a couple colds again. He also has pink-eye this week caused by his cold virus. His doctor gave him eye drops just in case and once he wasn't contagious, he headed back to daycare. He isn't loving the eye drops and it's a two-person job to put them in. Hopefully his immunities are getting stronger with each cold and we'll have a healthier year next year!

Letter to Brody

Dear Brody,

Please drink your afternoon bottle. I promise it will fill you up! And then you won't need to scream for the entire 15 minute ride home because you're starving.

Thank you!
Love,
Your overworked, overtired mommy

P.S. If you could figure out that sleeping through the night thing again, that would be good too.

I blinked

I blinked and we went from here:

To Here:

Yes, that's a sippy cup, finger food and eating at a toddler table! He's doing so well at growing up. I'm not going to lie, I don't think I like it.

Choo Choo!

This weekend we headed off on another Autumn themed adventure. We celebrated my Mom's birthday by heading to a local apple orchard. We had never been there before so we weren't sure what to expect.

It was a little weird heading to pick apples and pumpkins in almost 80 degree weather, but we went anyway. I figured that despite the great weather, if we went during the football game, maybe it wouldn't be so busy.

I was wrong.

Our main goal was to go on a hayride, yet we quickly discovered that the line was a 30-40 minutes long. There was no way any of us were going to wait in line in the hot sun for that long. So we looked for plan B. Luckily there was a train that passed through the farm that looked interesting, so we went for it.

The train took us through the some of the country areas that we were nearby and the conductor talked about some of the history of the railroad. He also told some pretty corny jokes, on the way there and back.

Brody didn't take in the train as much as he would/will when he's older, but he seemed to have a good time. Most importantly, he didn't freak out when they blew the whistle right next us. Instead he gave the driver a look like "what the heck is that noise!"

And possibly the best part? The day ended with a decadent carmel apple and an apple pie to bring home to Daddy.

Pumpkins with my pumpkin

With Fall officially upon us we thought it would be fun to take Brody to pick out his first pumpkin. Along with our good friends and their daughter, we headed to a local farm to see the animals and pick out a pumpkin.

It was a little chilly out but we bundled up and brought along extra layers. Brody got a chance to see some farm animals, go on a hay ride and pick out his very own pumpkin (sort of).

We also let Brody play on the swings and slide for the first time. He didn't seem too interested in the swing but loved the slide. He giggled the whole time and it was cute. Here are a few glimpses of his experience.

All of us had fun time and it's always great to get Brody & Aubrie together! Happy Fall!

Little Dancer

I love to dance with Brody and we've been dancing since the day he was born. Which really means, I dance, he's just looks at me like I'm crazy. But apparently I'm starting to rub off on him...