9 Months Old

Aaron is a big 9 months old today. This is a big milestone, he's been in this world as long as he was in my tummy. He's getting very big (and very heavy!). He's been sleeping about the same, waking 1-2x a night. I really wish he'd start sleeping longer more consistently, if I could choose, I'd love it if he'd sleep from bedtime until around 5am, then again until 7am, that'd be a dream come true. He's still not eating a whole ton. He just doesn't seem to really love food. I try to feed him 3 meals a day, but he usually doesn't actually EAT a whole lot of what I feed him. Sometimes he'll eat a whole banana for breakfast, along with a few cheerio-s. I try to give him protein, because I know protein keeps one full a lot longer than carbs, it's really too bad that carbs are they ones that are easy to come by (and often nice and PROCESSED), it's hard to find many proteins that a baby this age can eat-especially ones that are easy to take with you when you're out and about.

Aaron crawls everywhere, has started climbing the stairs and can pull up on everything. He's good at getting back down to his bottom after standing up, but he does still crawl on his tummy and pulls himself along with his arms. It seems like a very laborious way of crawling. A couple of times he's gotten up on his knees and started to crawl like a "real" baby, but then he falls back down onto his tummy and goes on his way.

I've mentioned before, he's a big talker. He loves to babble and it's just SO cute. He's SUPER snuggly and gives the best hugs and kisses. He naps 2x a day, usually 10am-noon and then 3-4pm. He goes to bed usually when the other children do--about 8pm. He takes his bottle and falls asleep while being fed his bottle. Usually about 3/4 of the way through his bottle, he pulls off and we snuggle him on our chest, burp him and put him into his crib. It's such a wonderful, snuggly time to put him to bed. Yes, I wish he would go to sleep independently--especially without any crying--but that's not the way it is right now...and I'm trying to enjoy every moment of these baby snuggles, knowing that he is growing SO fast, and soon I won't have as much time to enjoy these precious moments.

Aaron is a generally happy baby. He likes that he can now get around and "visit" with everyone...he's a very social little guy. Luke is the one who can get him to laugh the most. Aaron ADORES Luke, and of course, Luke could take him or leave him. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that. Luke loves him and will, every once in a while, say in his sweetest voice, "Hi Aaron!" and he'll talk to him and Aaron giggles and smiles and gets all excited...but then Luke loses interest and goes about his day. It's usually just as Aaron is really getting excited and giggly that Luke stops, I try to get him to keep it up because it's SO cute to see how much Aaron loves the interaction from his big "brubba" (he actually SAID that the other day)...but I don't expect much out of an almost 4 year old boy! :) It'll be very cute to see how and when they start playing together. I hope they click more quickly than the girls and Luke did...I know that a 3 year gap is a big one, especially as you're starting to be a "big" kid and the "baby" is always trying to get into your stuff. At least when Aaron is running around, he can play with Luke outside.

Well, that's it for the update on Aaron. He's big, he's sweet, he's wonderful. What more can I say?