Beck 9 months

I heart sushi... mmmmmm good!

Hibachi show at Zuki. He will LOVE sushi!!!

My first snow!!!

Pullin' up onto his knees!

He LOVES to listen to us read to him!!!

His favorite toy this month!!

Takin' his sweet time on the pot!

Helping Momma wrap Christmas presents

Love the socks on the pot!

He loves this toy!!!

New big boy highchair!

On Christmas Eve, Beck turned 9 months!

In month 8 he got his first busted lip (picture below). While Momma was cleaning, he pulled himself up onto the coffee table, pulled the tray onto himself and I assume it hit his lip. It didn't seem bad at first, a little blood, but after a few minutes I looked back at him and it was huge. He didn't seem to mind and it healed in a couple days.

His personality is definitely coming alive and he is starting to interact with others more and more. In the past month or so we've noticed that he shakes his head back and forth, as if saying "no". So one day I started saying "no, no, no, no, no" while he was shaking his head. He thought it was hilarious and would do it again, so I repeated the words again. Now if you say the words, he'll shake his head. Smart fella.

He also makes lots of new sounds. One of our favorites is his monster growl. Watch the clip below to hear for yourself!

He still has not learned or even attempted to crawl. If he gets up on his knees, he will fall back down to his belly, and he doesn't like to be on his belly for long. He definitely prefers sitting, and he will lunge forward, making you think he is going for a crawl, but nope, he just plops onto his belly. He loves to pull up onto his knees though. He pulls up onto the couch, his toys, his bookshelf, the cabinets, anything he can. At the end of month 8, he finally started to army crawl. He has to really want something, usually a cell phone, to do it though, and it usually isn't more than a few times in a row.

He has discovered his hands, which is so cute to watch. He holds them out in front of him and turns them over again and again, just starring at them.

This month his favorite toys were definitely his farm and Noah's ark (thanks Mamaw!!!). He LOVES to open/close and put things in/out, which both of those toys allow him to do.

Beck got to experience his first snow this month too! The first time was at Mimi's. We had spent the night instead of driving home late, and woke up to snow the next morning. We took some pics outside in our pjs. Then we got a bit more snow about a week later, so we had a mini photo session in the front yard. Grandpa Scott has a really cool wooden sled that we borrowed for some fun pics!

He now has two teefers! Both on the bottom. And thankfully Momma hasn't been bit yet, but it definitely has me on the edge of my seat!!

He has officially graduated from the Bumbo. Thank you Mr. Bumbo, you were a lifesaver!! But now we've moved on to a big boy highchair.

Sometimes he likes to hang out on the potty. Socks n' all! I think Daddy has been teachin' him a thing or two about potty time!!

We introduced him to the greatest food on the planet this month... SUSHI!!! No I didn't feed him sushi, but he did enjoy the hibachi show! Fire and all!

9 month stats vs 6 month stats

18 lb 2 oz 18 lb 3 oz

27 1/2 in 26 3/4 in

45 cm 44.5 cm

He lost one ounce, grew 3/4 inch, and head grew 1/2 cm in three months. On a chart his growth was at a steady incline until the 6-9 month range, wherein it pretty much plateaued in all three areas; therefore, the doctor wants to see him back at 10 months instead of waiting until 12 months. Beck acts fine, sleeps great, and continues to develop his motor skills, and his cognitive skills, but I went ahead and added one more feeding to see if it makes a difference. So he had been breastfeeding 4 times a day (every 4 hours) throughout the day and one table food supplementing his noon feeding. He continues to sleep 12 hours at night and take a morning and afternoon nap, usually 1-3 hours long.

He is eating table food well. He usually eats either an egg (yolk only) or 1/3 of an avocado. He has come a loooong way! Sometimes he'll eat butternut squash, green beans, or banana, but I prefer the egg and avocado because of their high fat content. This month I've tried introducing mango. The first few tries he really puckered up, so I tried pureeing it with a banana. He still puckered up, but I've continued to give it to him about once a week and he is getting used to it.

Also Beck has had a clogged tear duct since birth on his right eye. We've tried massaging it (I would massage it at every diaper changing for about 2 weeks straight) but didn't see any improvement. It hasn't improved at all, so we're scheduled to see an ophthalmologist at the end of the month and have the option to have it "probed". Sounds awful, but it's supposed to be very quick and painless (under anesthesia). We'll let ya know how it all turns out!

Christmas PJs!!!

Injury #1 of many to come... busted lip

He LOVES to get in the tupperware cabinet!

We had to lower his crib since he started pulling up on it!

Actual first snow when we woke up at Mimi's.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2010

It was a great Thanksgiving! Jamie's sister and family came into town (and not for a funeral! which has been the case in the past). Cristina, Brian, Eric, Devlan, Calvin, and Paris came in from New Orleans (Hailey didn't get to come, she lives in Cali). This was their first time to meet Beck. We were so excited for them to all meet! We were amazed how much Beck loved the boys, and how much the boys loved him. There was never a boring or whiney moment for Beck; he loved all the attention, and so did Momma! Jamie acquired a smoker just days before Thanksgiving, so he smoked the turkey, getting up every couple hours throughout the night to tend to it... come to think of it, I don't think he was up that much with his newborn son!!! But it was worth it! We all agreed, it was the best turkey we'd ever tasted! I got schooled in the kitchen. His sisters, just like Jamie and his parents, are amazing cooks! They taught me family recipes, like chicken n' dumplings. Yum!! His sisters whipped up some amazing food! Let's just say I don't go without when his family is in town, that's for sure! And our favorite thing to do was watch Aunt Cristy bounce Beck's chin. It was hilarious!! Check out the video below. We can't wait til they come in town again!

Halloween 2010

It seemed like a no-brainer what Beck should be for Halloween this year. We used his best asset, his hair, and worked around that. After all, nearly every person over the age of 40 refers to his faux-hawk as Elvis hair. So instead of letting it annoy me, I rolled with it! Elvis it is! Then I decided I had to make the costume. I liked knowing my mom made our Halloween costumes growing up, and it just didn't make sense to go buy one that anyone else could buy. It seemed more fun to be unique. After putting it off for weeks, because I wasn't sure I could pull it off, I finally dove into it the week before Halloween. I bought a white shirt and pants from Once Upon a Child, and gold fabric, glitter glue, and velcro from Hobby Lobby. I flared the sleeves and pants by adding a triangle of gold fabric, decorated the shirt and pants with glitter glue dots, and added a strip of gold fabric to the bottom of the shirt to create a belt. I sewed a gold cape and velcroed it onto the collar. Then I added detail with glitter glue to the belt, spelling out ROCK and drew a guitar, and I added detail to the cape drawing the famous Elvis eagle and spelling out THE KING. When it was all done I couldn't believe I had actually made it. I was proud.

After many urgings from the fam, I decided to enter him into a contest. In downtown Evansville they have trick or treating on Main Street and the local radio station runs a costume contest. Jamie had to work that day, so Mom and Jeff joined us for the contest. He entered the 0-2 yr old category of about 40 contestants. He was 2nd to last, and prior to him getting on stage, the crowd hadn't made much noise for any other contestant; however, when he took the stage they were quite taken by him. A few minutes later, after the judges conversed, they announced Beck as winner for the "most creative" costume. He took the stage again to receive his medal and to bow for the audience one more time. We were filmed by a local TV station as well and made the evening news. It was quite worth it!

On our way home, we stopped by Sprint to trick or treat and surprise Daddy with our winnings! After a nap, Daddy came home and we made our first trick or treat stop at Grandma Janet and Grandpa Scott's house. They were waiting for us! And it was the best stop ever! Grandma Janet had prepared chili and gooey chocolate cake! YU-UM! Next we met the Shockleys at Trunk or Treat so Beck could trick or treat with his bestie, Mason, who was the cutest Charlie Brown ever! Quite the opposite of Beck, Mason's mom drew a hair onto his head, and Beck kept trying to grab the hair (which was draw on with eyeliner). Haha, so cute! Finally we stopped by the Seymore's crib to trick or treat... but the kiddos were already in their pjs, so no pics with them. Sad.

Beck had a great 1st Halloween! And now Mommy has a lot to live up to next year!

Dad/Kid Backpacking Trip

While Beck and I went to Indy for Laine's 4th birthday party, Jamie and Brooklyn went on an overnight backpacking trip for dads and their kids. They went with Jeff and Avin Seymore, Kyle and Amiah Hanson, and John, Jacob and Joel Alvey. Brooklyn, 14, was the oldest by about 6 years and the youngest was 5 years old. They hiked at Two Lakes in Hoosier National Forest for about 3.5 miles and it took them about 3 hours, stopping many times along the way. They learned this was a bit much for 5 year olds! During the hike Jamie tried to keep things lively by singing Father Abraham. Kyle took consecutive shots of this to give us an idea of what that looked like. Silly Jamie. I didn't get too many details, it was a bunch of guys after all, but I do know they had a lot of fun and intend to make it an annual trip. Jamie already talks about taking Beck!