Liam: Ten Months

Likes: Tickles, people he knows, bathtime, food

Dislikes: Getting things taken away from him, carseat

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Eating on his own

Biggest Challenge of the Month: Sleep

Sleep: So this month has been weird, at the beginning we were fighting him on sleep, he wasn't sleeping through the night anymore and kept ending up in our bed because neither of us could get him down. And then one evening I go to the gym and when I come home, he was already asleep. No boob or mom needed. Since then (which was only last week) he will let dad put him to bed now (which hasn't happened for a couple months now) and he is back to sleeping through the night. OK that is sort of a lie, he does wake up a couple times but he puts himself back to sleep so we don't have to go in there so I count it.

Temperment/Personality: He is so happy. Everyone that meets him comments on what a happy baby he is and he seems to be warming up to people he doesn't know quicker now so that is nice. He loves getting paid attention to and making us laugh. I love when he is tired because he will just sit on your lap quietly and cuddle, it is awesome. He is still getting into everything and putting it all in his mouth but we have gotten better at making sure things that he shouldn't eat, he doesn't.

He never wants to be on his back (which makes changing diapers fun) and always likes to be exploring everything. I am working on when I take things away from him, I ask him if I can please have it and when he gives it to me (or I take it because he shouldn't have it) I tell him thank you. In my head if I start early he might get it ingrained in his brain. And he seems to get less upset when I make it seem like he has a choice to give things to me, maybe it is just a coincidence but it seems like that.

A funny thing he started doing this month. When he is done eating he likes to just play, well since I don't enjoy that I normally would just pull my shirt back down and he can't play anymore but this month he started doing something new. When I pull my shirt down he looks at me, pulls it back up and contiues playing, it is amazing to see that he now gets that connection. Also, I can ask him to bring me something he is already holding and he is doing that. And if we are moving rooms or something I tell him to like for example, pick up his ball and sometimes he does it, (sometime he needs more encouragement) and then hangs onto it. SO many new things he is getting now. He also reaches for people now, we hold out our arms to him and he will reach out for certain people.

Eating: He is still my big eater. Still on the boob, but sometimes he doesn't eat long because he gets distracted easily. I have been wearing a nursing necklace lately though and it seems to be helping to keep his attention. But sometimes he has long sessions and I think some of it is a comfort thing but he gets so excited when he sees me pulling out the boppy that it is sweet.

He is still on purees because I can't gaurentee enough is getting in his mouth to keep him satisfied with feeding himself. But he doesn't seem to mind and in addition to feeding him fruits and veggies we are also doing the phase 3 foods which are like actual meals.

We let him feed himself pretty much whenever we go out to eat. We order a side that he can eat (like fries or eggs) and just let him grab it and feed it to himself and judging from the mess on the floor, he seems to be doing a lot better. We are trying to let him try lots of new foods and when we cook, I try to just give him some of his own so that he can eat with us too. He doesn't like watching us eat if he isn't getting any.

We are working on getting him to drink out of a sippy cup but so far he doesn't love it that much. He would prefer we hold onto it for him.

The Superficial: He is so so pretty. And he is getting lots more hair although because it is blonde, unless we stick it up, you really can't see it. I am pretty darn sure his eyes are going to stay blue and I hope so because he gets lots of compliments on them. At his last docotor's appointment he was 18 and a half pounds and is 17 in tall. He did drop for his percentage but the doctor said that is normal and she didn't seem worried about it. He is still in 9-12 month clothes.

Milestones & Firsts: He is pulling himself up on everything and will move along the furniture or whatever he is holding onto. But he seems kind of cautious about letting go of anything although he is confident enough he will hold on with only one hand but when we try (and he feels like cooperating) he can stand up on his own and has done it for about half a minute. He is babbling lots now and I am pretty sure, to him, mama means food.

Quite a few firsts this month. He had his first professional photo shoot (we didn't do newborns). Although we do weekly pictures, that is just me and my mom, we actually paid someone to do a nice family shoot and it went really well and the pictures came out amazing.

He showered for the first time with me. I was sitting at home with him on my day off and needed to shower and thought, couldn't I just bring him in there with me? I looked around online and grabbed the stuff to bathe him, put him on the floor in the corner (I have a stand up shower), did my normal shower routine while he sat and played with a shampoo bottle and when I was done, I just held him and bathed him, so much easier and I am not constantly looking outside the shower to make sure he is OK.

He went to his first bonfire. We had our monthly bookclub outside this month and had a nice fire, he didn't seem to interested in it. He also went to his first baby shower (his first one outside of me that is). One of my good friends is due in October and had a coed baby shower to which we brought him to and he provided some entertainment for us.

Liam: Nine Months

Likes: Getting tickled, eating, swimming, standing, crawling, getting into everything

Dislikes: Going to sleep, getting things taken away from him

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Starting finger foods

Sleep: So there were a couple really bad days at the beginning of the month that were on the tail end of his teething (which produced no teeth, just awesome) but once he seemed OK again, he went back to his own bed. He is starting to get more aware of everything going on around him and I am now having to go into his room, turn off the thlight and rock him to get him to sleep, which really isn't that bad but he will only let me do it, which does kind of suck. But he is back to sleeping through the night again so all in all he is doing well

Temperment/Personality: So much more personality now. He gets so delighted when he sees people that he knows or people play with him. You can creep up on him (in plain sight so he can see you) saying I'm going to get you and even before you get to him, he is giggling and squirming, knowing that his is going to get tickled and it is hilarious. There is another, I call it a trick that he will do sometimes for me, I look at him all serious and say "Boobies" and he start smiling at me.

He is very cuddly when he is tired, which is awesome but when he is awake, he just wants to be moving and everywhere. He is still very happy in general though. He is definately recognizing people now, and nothing is better when I get off of work and he sees me and just lights up.

Eating: He loves to eat. We are still breastfeeding, on days I am home, around 4 to 5 times a day. He is a big fan of the boobie but I am not sure how much of it is just comfort feeding but I don't mind. He is also still having purees but a lot more of them and we have these squeeze things that have purees in them and he can feed himself with them.(we have used them on car trips and things)

We are working with finger foods, and feeding him more kinds of food. He really likes scrambled eggs and certain fruits but we aren't confident enough that he is eating enough

The Superficial: He is getting more hair now, which I love, someday I might let my mom try to style it for the weekly pictures like she keeps asking me to do but for now I like it laying down but you can definately see bed head and things like that now which is awesome. He is still in 9- 12 month clothes and because they are mixed in, sometimes he gets a 6-9 month one that is a bit tight on him.

I still get lots of compliments on him but I get it from people that I wouldn't expect, like kids and guys. I find it really odd (as a kid I would have never said your baby is cute to someone but maybe that is just me). But I also get told that he seems really small for his age (?!), and someone has even gone so far to ask if he was a preemie. He doesn't seem that small to me but maybe I am just crazy.

Milestones & Firsts: So he is definately babbling. He says mama, dada, lala, hi, and yeah (I realize that I say that to him a lot so it makes sense) but we are now working on attaching meaning to what he is saying. He is standing up lots and almost has stood on his own and can crawl really fast when he wants to. He grabs everything and of course puts it all in his mouth.

So for firsts, first time trying to eat a penny. It really wasn't that bad, it was just blocking the front of his throat in his mouth, not actually his ability to breath but because I didn't want to push it farther so I just took him upsidedown and gave him one shake and out it came.

He managed to get his hand in dad's enchilada sauce and we weren't fast enough to get it off because he promptly rubbed his eyes and then screamed because obviously it stung, and we were out in public, it was embarrissing but we managed to grab a wipe pretty fast and got it out. He had his first sitter that wasn't a close friend of family and he was fine. First night in a hotel which we found out that having other people in the room with us was not a good idea because he slept like crap :(