Ash - 9 months

Distracted by SuperBear!

Mom gave me this toy to keep me from diving off the chair...

It's the first time I've played with it, and I love it.

Can you believe I've lived 75% of my first year already?  I've been out of the womb for as long as I lived inside it.  And let me tell you, I'm loving my ability to grow and learn!  According to momma's measurements, I'm 28.5" long and 16.5 lbs.  This puts me in the 58th% for height and 3rd% for weight.  I'll get measured "officially" on Friday at my appointment, and I'll be a little longer and a little lighter, b/c that's how momma's measurements always compare to the dr's office.  I'm wearing 9-12 mo clothes and outgrowing my 9 mo pj's pretty quickly.

Learning how to sit myself up and thinking about crawling

So at my last appointment shortly after I turned 6 months old, I heard Dr Dawson say that I needed to be making forward movement by my next appointment (9 mos).  I realized last week that we were getting close, so I got busy teaching myself to crawl.  I spent one whole day learning how to sit up on my own, then a few days later I spent the whole day figuring out how to crawl.  One day of practice, and I've got it down!

The new DVD shelves, so now I can't reach the movies

Momma & daddy put up some new DVD shelves so I couldn't reach the movies and bought ottomans to hold their stuff since I was pulling on the tray tables.  They have to be careful to make sure everything is closed and picked up now, otherwise I'll get into it.  I love when Daddy leaves his cup on the floor or the remotes where I can reach them!  Momma went downstairs to the basement one day and by the time she came back up I was IN the pantry!  Loads of stuff to explore in there!

Momma stood me up so I could play with Rylee

I love playing with the dogs too

I'm such a happy boy that my parents know when something is wrong with me, and so they were worried when I wasn't myself last week.  Momma thought it might have been something she ate, so they were shocked to find a tooth popping through my gums.  Let me tell you, that sucker HURT!  But now I love experimenting with different things in my mouth.  I especially like putting hard toys in my mouth, and get a kick out of biting down on the spoon when momma feeds me.

The day I got my tooth I fell and busted my lip on it :(

Pumpkin pancakes!

Speaking of eating, I LOVE food!  My fine motor skills are so good, momma has started giving me all sorts of yummy finger foods to try.  Even though I just have a nub of a tooth, I love to eat chicken and veggies.  And here's where I take after momma - I LOVE french toast and pumpkin spice pancakes.  I can also finish 4-5 oz of baby food and STILL find room for a WHOLE pear. (Don't ask me why I'm not gaining much weight...)  Yum, yum!

My first Ritz cracker - yum!

Food has also got me started talking.  When I'm eating something I love, I tell momma "mahr, mahr" ("more, more").  I also like to wave hello, especially when I first wake up.  I get very excited and giggle and wave at the super heroes and SuperBear on my shelf, or the dogs on the floor.  I also wave to my buddy Rylee when I see her after a nap.  Another skill I have learned is kisses.  Mostly I give them to stuffed animals or my blanket that has teddies on it, but I've been known to give them to momma and daddy, the dogs and Rylee-girl too.  For some reason, daddy doesn't like my wet, open-mouth kisses, but momma loves them.

Giving SuperBear some kisses

Speaking of kisses, I can't wait to hug and kiss my Lola!!  She's coming tomorrow night to visit for a few days.  Momma & daddy keep telling me how spoiled I'm gonna be and how much she's gonna LOVE hanging out with me.  Unfortunately she's only going to stay for a few days before she goes to visit Aunt Christen & Uncle Jonathan and the cousins.  But we'll get to see her in a couple months when we go home for Christmas, so I only have to save up my lovin' till then.

Well, I've got a world to explore, so I'm gonna wrap this up.  Just wanted to check in and let you know that everything is going well here and I can't wait to share again next month!  Bye-bye.

Ash - 6 mo photo book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Start your own Shutterfly Photo Book today.

We made a photo book on Shutterfly and sent a copy to Josh's grandparents who don't get on the computer and therefore have no access to all the pictures of Ash.  These may actually be the first pictures they've seen of him at all.  But since I was making it, I figured I'd share it with y'all too.  Enjoy these "old" pictures till next week when Ash turns NINE MONTHS! :)