Jonah- month 9

Hard to believe that Jonah is 9 months old now! We just had his nine month check up yesterday and he weighs 24 pounds 2 ounces (80th percentile) and he's 28 inches long (50th percentile). I am happy to say that Jonah has been very very healthy this past month. Not a single ear infection since getting ear tubes last month. It's a miracle surgery and in our case very necessary. Other than being chunky and healthy, lots has changed since last month.....

First and foremost, Jonah is now mobile. Yes, one day he went from rocking on all fours to taking off across the room. He's into EVERYTHING and if you don't keep a close eye on him you will find him sitting in the middle of the kitchen at the dishwasher trying to mess with the dirty dishes or at the dog bowl trying to eat Buckeye's dog food. Needless to say, the entire first floor of our house has been Jonah-proofed (aka baby-proofed). We've covered every outlet, tied up any hid any cords, locked lower cabinets, gated off the top of the stairs.....once he's vertically mobile we will have to address all of the doors, locks, toilets and strapping down some of the bigger items.

Jonah is growing fast and eating non-stop. In fact, if he's not playing, sleeping or on a discovery mission (i.e. getting into everything) Jonah is eating. He is still on Gerber Gentle Plus formula but we are now on stage 2 foods, cereal and snacks. Jonah's favorite foods include: sweet potatoes and chicken (pre-mixed), squash, tutti-fruiti (tropical fruit mixture), mango's, strawberry bananas, some granola cinnamon and raisin concoction made by Gerber. He also loves the veggie puffs. They look like cheesy puffs minus the processed cheese.

Jonah is so big that he is outgrown his pumpkin seat and is now in his rear facing big boy car seat. He loves it. The only down fall is if he falls asleep in the car and we go somewhere he wakes up once we take him out of the seat.

Because Jonah is crawling he is finding new and exciting place to play. When we took his new big boy car seat out of the box, he and Stella played in the box for several hours. He loves "discovering" and finding new things on his own. It's amazing how something so simple as a box can keep him busy for hours on end.

 Jonah also likes to play with the laundry basket. Each week he gets more curious and adventurous with the laundry basket, so much so that this week he pulled out EVERY piece of folded clothes that was in the basket so he could climb in (notice the clothing piled on the floor in the background). He sat in the basket for about an hour and simply loved it as you can see from the expression on his face! I mean, who needs fancy toys when a large empty box and a laundry basket will keep him busy for hours on end.

After playing with the laundry basket for sometime, Jonah figured out how to tip it over so he could crawl out.....and he's off!

Jonah also recently discovered how to pull himself up! Yes everything from the ottoman, the side of the couch or even the side of his toy bin, he's pulling himself up and each day his balance is getting better. I walked into his room this morning and he was standing at his crib chewing on the railing (I'm thankful that Todd lowered his mattress when he began sitting up several months ago). I'm sure before his 10 month blog he will be walking.

On this day it was 92 degrees out and so I stripped Jonah down to his diaper and he played all evening in his bouncer naked! Check out my chuncky monkey!

 

On nice days (that is days when its NOT raining or  that aren't nearly 90+ degrees out) we try to get outside and play as much as possible. On this day we played outside on our swing set and even enjoyed popsicle's. This was Jonah's first popsicle. He loved it although I only let him have a few licks because I didn't want him to get an upset stomach. Needless to say, Jonah LOVED the popsicle!

Seven years ago, for Stella's first birthday, Teta and Gido bought Stella a Rainbow swing set/play system. It's pretty awesome, I must admit and 7 years later Stella still loves it and now Jonah enjoys it too! Jonah loves sitting in the bucket swing and being pushed. In fact when the swing slows down he fusses until you push him a bit higher. Stella certainly loves being a big sister and loves playing with Jonah especially on the swing.

Jonah has learned so much this month that we wanted to document it and capture it on video....ENJOY!

I'm learning to use the camera we bought before Jonah was born. I am not an artist by any means but I am beginning to experiment and use other functions and setting on the camera other than auto.  Here are a few shots that I took.

Jonah was drooling quite a bit this month! I am happy to report that in early June he cut his top 2 teeth (at the same time). It was pretty predictable really. One morning he woke up congested and snotty and a tad fussy and later that evening when he was laying on his back and I was changing him, there were these 2 beautiful little white teeth looking at me! Auntie Sissy is dying to feed him a steak and my moms famous grape leaves!

Its so hard to believe that my little man is already 9 months old. His first birthday will be here before you know it (which reminds me, I must get my party planning hat on and start making arrangements and preparing). It's amazing to see Jonah's personality begin to develop. He's learning and discovering something new everyday whether its clapping his hands, waving goodbye, calling Buckeye our dog "da" or signing "more" when he wants more food. I cant tell you how blessed I am to be the mother of 2 pretty spectacular kids and being able to live and share each of these moments with them!