Eli is now 9 months old!

Eli a day after he turned 9 months old. His cute bib (it is a yellow frog but you can't see the body here) was his gift from his Auntie Jessica's trip to Tokyo, Japan this summer- October 7, 2009

Eli turned 9 months old on October 6, 2009. And I know I’ve said this a million times already, but I still really can’t believe how quickly he is growing! We weighed him at home by weighing me first on my own and then weighing me again while holding him. He is approximately 24.5 lbs.! No wonder my back hurts so much! It is getting harder to carry him around with me everywhere when I’m home, but I still do it since I like having him be able to see what I’m doing and explain it to him. I think he likes it better too. He always protests when I put him down in his play area, high chair or crib to take care of house work. I can no longer “wear” him in the BabyBjorn since he now exceeds the maximum weight. I’ve put him in there to test it out and I think it could still work, although it might be kind of tight for him and it definitely hurts my back more than holding him without it since all the pressure is on my shoulders. I’d like to get another baby carrier, but this time a backpack style one that can hold up to 40 lbs. so it will last us much longer.

He tried to feed himself again. He likes getting messy!- October 7, 2009

I just bought some new finger foods to Eli to try yesterday and he seemed very excited about them. He has now tried organic oat O’s (Cherrios, but not the General Mills kind) and organic barley flour teething biscuits (I’m weary of starting him on wheat (and other foods for that matter) too soon and having him develop an allergy to it). Unfortunately, though, Eli discovered it is much more entertaining and enjoyable to give his newfound independent feeding foods to Doc instead of eat them himself. I can kind of understand why since the teething biscuit does look very similar to Doc’s dog bones (which Eli has also attempted to eat before). I also am now feeding him Earth’s Best Organic pureed foods that contain meat. Yes, the idea of pureed meat is kind of disgusting, but with only 4 teeth, he’s not yet ready to chew up little chunks of it. He also was not too into the mesh feeder thing I bought him (you put chunks of fresh fruit, meat, etc. in it and he can safely eat them by mashing it up with his gums in a mesh bag and sucking it out). Eli goes in to see his pediatrician next week on the 21^st so I will discuss his feedings with her. I kind of feel as though he’s been a bit stunted with eating solids since giving him a bottle is much easier on the go (and a lot less messy).

In his baseball jammies and playing with his bat- cute!- October 10, 2009

With the onset of autumn and how it stays dark so much later in the morning, I’ve been kind of confused as to why Eli has been waking up earlier in the mornings. He was waking up sometime between 6:30-7:00 am, but now he’s waking up from 6:00-6:30 am. He also usually wakes up during the middle of the night at least once and cries out to me. When I check on him, he will be standing up in the crib. I think he “sleep-crawls” and “sleep-stands” and then can’t get back to laying down on his own since he’s still “asleep.” Sometimes when I pick him up he will go right back to sleep in my arms, and then as soon as I even move as though I’m about to lay him down in the crib he can feel it and wakes up. Then he starts crying and crawling around again until I pick him up again and it’s the same thing. I’ve been so tired and frustrated by this that I’ve resorted to bring him back into the bed with us. He will stay asleep for much longer if I do that too. I think he just likes the warmth and security of being close to me. Jason has been afraid that he will roll over on top of him, whack him with his arm, or that Eli will crawl over one of us and fall out of the bed. I really don’t think that will happen since I keep an arm around or over him at all times and I don’t sleep as soundly with him there. Any little movement by him and I’m awake. Overall, I don’t feel like this is a problem (and I obviously really like snuggling with him while he’s asleep), but I am concerned about it being detrimental to Eli being able to sleep on his own. I guess that will be a whole new road for us to go down once we move and Eli has his own bedroom.

Getting into Daddy's wallet already- LOL! And standing like a big boy!- October 10, 2009

It seems to me that there is a baby boom going on right now. I’ve heard that during or after times of war, more babies are born to (consciously or unconsciously?) compensate for the population loss. It might just be that we’ve reached the age that all of our peers are settling down and having babies too. Well, whatever the reason for it, I like it! I know that more babies will mean a harder impact on the environment and our resources, but I can’t help but be happy to hear about more babies coming into this crazy world. I’d like to say congratulations to my cousin Dayna and her husband Brandon who are expecting their first child (it’s a boy!!) in the early spring (I think her due date is in March). I’d also like to say congratulations to my friend Amelia (who was watching Eli once a week for us during her pregnancy) and her husband Brandon on their second son, Asher, who was born a few weeks ago. I haven’t gotten to meet him yet, but I can’t wait to hold him and remember that tiny-newborn-baby-in-my-arms feeling! More congratulations go out to my friend Erin T. and her husband Dave on the birth of their first child just a week and a half ago, a beautiful baby girl named Reagan. I have many more friends from high school and college who have had babies this year and I’d love to have a little get-together to share stories, pictures and have our babies meet. I am also no longer going to have the youngest baby in my office as a coworker recently announced that she’s pregnant and due in April. It’s such an amazing, beautiful, intense and life changing experience that I’m very excited to see everyone else go through it too.

Eli posed for this picture with rice pancakes on his head while at dinner at Chang's Mongolian Grill. He is such a ham!- October 10, 2009

He's such a cutie pie here with his Auntie Tasie- October 10, 2009

Auntie Tasie loves Eli! Even if he fusses- October 10, 2009

Jason and I are still house hunting. We’ve started to look at older homes too, either that have been completely remodeled inside or that are on very large lots. We looked at a house last night that was built in 1909, but we mainly were interested in the size of the lot (a half acre!). We ultimately decided that our plan would not work with that house since it needed too much work to be livable when we would just end up tearing it down. Now I’ve opened myself up to moving even further away from Portland to areas like Troutdale, Estacada, Tualatin, Camas, and Ridgefield (those last two are in Washington). So, I guess we’ll keep looking and hope we find a slam dunk soon! Please contact me if you have any good leads on a newer or remodeled 3-4 bedroom, 2.1 bath detached single family house with a fenced backyard.

Looking like such a big boy standing up in his crib!- October 14, 2009

He was jumping up and down here- time to lower the crib mattress again!- October 14, 2009

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