June 9, 2012- 9 Months

Sweet Baby Henry,

9 Months!  You have now been outside my tummy as long as you were inside!!!!  In the past month, you have become the most precocious little guy I know!  You are so inquisitive and every single day you amaze us with another new trick.  This month was a big one for you....you not only learned to crawl and pull up, you've even started to stand up all by yourself and hover for a few seconds before TIMBER, down you go!  I wish I could freeze in time the look on your face for those few seconds when you stand all alone.  It's the perfect combination of amazement, accomplishment, and a tiny bit of fear!  I hope I never forget that face.

Now that you are mobile, our whole world has changed.  We've made more than one trek to Home Depot for every baby proofing gadget imaginable.  Each day we think we've outsmarted you and you uncover yet another baby hazard in our new house.  You seem to gravitate toward whatever is most dangerous or dirty within your radius!  Speaking of baby proofing, you passed your Lead Poisoning test at the doctor this month.  Mommy was a little nervous about that one, with all of the furniture eating you have been doing!

I was so proud of you in music class this week.  When we first began the class, you were just 4 months old and you couldn't even sit up by yourself.  Now, as soon as we sit down in the circle, off you go crawling around the room, greeting all of the other babies, scooting under Mrs. Ana's piano to push the foot pedals, crawling over to the window and standing up to explore what music class sounds like from a distance, and even climbing up on top of the big drum to sit with a better vantage point!  At first your Mommy was a little worried that all of you new music class antics were a disruption to the other babies.  But sweet Ana made me feel so good by saying that your new found independence is a wonderful sign of all of the love we have given you and you are secure in this new world you are discovering!  That makes your Mommy so happy.

Mommy and Daddy love you so much boo bear!

Love,
Mommy

Your world at 9 months:
Eat:  Still breastfed (3 more months until Mommy reaches that 12 month goal!!!).  You usually nurse 4-5 times per day and are eating 2 solid meals per day with around 1 snack.  Mommy has fallen a little bit off of the all homemade baby food bandwagon and you are eating a lot of Earth's Best Organic jars.
Sleep:  You take 2 solid 1 hour long each (or more!) naps per day and are as of VERY recently FINALLY back to sleeping through the night.  The move into our new home threw off your schedule for a bit, but you seem to be pretty back on track with an 8pm - 7am nighttime sleep schedule.  It's not uncommon for you to wake up around 1am for a quick nurse and then back to sleep in the crib you go!
Play:  Now you love all of your stand up toys...which still includes your piano!  You also are LOVING playing with all of your balls.  You've even started to toss/roll the ball back and forth between you and Daddy.  Or you'll throw your ball, fetch it yourself, and then throw it again!

Stats:
Weight:  19 lbs, 4oz (30% percentile)
Height:  28.25 inches (53% percentile)

Henry (little buddy!)
I can't believe it's already been nine months since you came out of your mommy!! You grew up a lot this month. Lots of crawling and standing! You love to stand up and play with the handles on the furniture, which is hard to prevent you from doing. We love your toothy smiles and laughs when you stand up and turn to look at us to make sure we're watching. You started throwing your balls with daddy this month, which is very encouraging to see as a father that grew up playing a lot of sports. You went swimming three times this month and loved to play in the pool. Your mommy dunked you three times, which you handled pretty well! You love to be tossed up in the air by your daddy and I can't wait until you're old enough so I throw you around in the pool. Your daddy went on long fishing trip this month and I missed you a lot while I was gone. Mommy did a great job taking care of you while I was away and was happy to see your smiling face when I got home. George just came through his doggy door and daddy wonders when for the first time we turn around to find you and you're sitting in the backyard. You will probably be walking soon and change things around here forever, again. Your mommy is busy baby proofing everything she can and know that you'll find something we missed. I love you so much and can't wait for the months and years to come!

love,
 Daddy

Not too down with the photo shoot this month, but at least we got a good snapshot of the teeth!  6 and counting!