. . . Liam lately (9 months)

I didn't think it was possible for one little boy to grow so much in one month! I don't just mean physically, even though he is growing in those areas too. His 9 month stats are:

weight: 21 lbs. 6 oz. (9.7 kg)
length: 29.13 in. (74 cm)
head circumference: 18 in. (45.8 cm)

(side note: when does it go from "length" to height"? Because now that he's standing, I'm tempted to say "height." Or are they always interchangeable no matter what the age? ANYways . . . ) In my last post, I said that my brother had weighed him at the airport and he was 22 pounds, but it's hard to know how accurate that was. It was, after all, on a scale at the airport, with Liam fully dressed, and my brother did the whole "stand on the scale with and without the baby" trick and subtract the difference. So who knows? Regardless, he's grown from his last official weigh-in at the doctor and is in the 65-75 percentiles for his growth.

I forgot to get his Sleep Giraffe, so I had to start over after taking several pictures!

Right now Liam is definitely in 12 month clothing, and even some 18 month t-shirts (to go over that big belly and long torso!). Check out how short the arms are in his 6 month onesie in these pictures! In European sizes he still wears some 74 size pants and shorts, but has moved into size 80 for most of clothes. I'm really glad we bought so many summer outfits last time we were in Georgia because Liam is using them all now -- especially the short sleeved pajamas! It is very warm here these days and since we don't have air conditioning in the house all those shorts are coming in handy! Liam is still in size 4 diapers, but they fit him pretty snug around the waist, so I'm not sure how long he'll last in them!

There, that's better!

As far as Liam's eating goes, he still breastfeeds four times a day -- around 9 am, 1 pm, 5 pm, and 9 pm, give or take 30 minutes here and there. His last feeding is always breast milk in a bottle that I pump every morning. He eats three meals a day, and sometimes the occasional snack if he's hungry. The list of foods Liam has tried has gotten extensively long so I won't list them all here! After our last trip to Georgia Liam had a hard time adjusting back to homemade food, so I have been mixing a homemade veggie with a store-bought veggie for most meals, and still giving him fruit and yogurt for his side. He is getting better at eating whole foods as well, so I normally feed him his pureed/mashed food first, then let him practice with whole foods after. Just last week he tried bites of cucumber and grapes at a playdate -- he liked them both! He also loves eating puffs and is getting more coordinated with getting them into his mouth -- he still hasn't quite mastered the pincer grasp, haha! :)

At 8 months Liam had gotten his first tooth, but he's now gotten three more since then! As of right now he has his top two and bottom two teeth in, and while I thought Liam had teethed when his bottom teeth came in, I was WRONG. I didn't know what teething was until his top two came in! Ohmyword. He had all the classic signs of teething -- fever, loose diapers, nonstop drooling, gumming EVERYTHING, no appetite, crying that can't be consoled, not sleeping well -- for four straight days! We figured out that what we thought was one top tooth coming in actually turned out to be two, one right after the other. We were giving him Tylenol and Motrin on and off, and you could tell the minute they started to wear off, poor thing. He was miserable and I just felt SO BAD for him. :( Unfortunately I think his top two incisors are coming in right now, so I hope we aren't destined for another painful week.

Liam is still sleeping great, going down after his bottle, usually between 9:00 and 9:30 pm, and sleeping until 8 or 9 in the morning. He stirs a few times in the night but just goes back to sleep. He normally takes two naps, about an hour each. I figure he will sleep as much as he needs, so some days that's more and some days that's less. But as long as he's happy, I'm happy!

I kept him in his chair as long as I could, but he just HAD to stand up!

Last month Liam had mastered crawling and was pulling up and couch-surfing . . . but now he is doing all of those things much quicker! He has also gotten much better at getting down when he's standing, which is much better than falling down when he's ready to get down. Everyone says he should be walking soon, but I think he's a little scared. Occasionally he will stand without holding onto anything, but he gets scared when he starts rocking -- his eyes get all big and he looks terrified!

Haha!

Liam still "talks" a lot and although he definitely says "Dada," "Dad," and "Dat" a lot, he is starting to say "Mama" more! Of course he is not using these when actually referring to us, but it's a start! However, if I ask him where certain things are he knows what they are! Right now he knows Murphy (the first word he recognized for sure!), Dada, bunny, doggie, and paci. If I ask him where one of those is, he will scan the room until he sees it and then smile big and look at me, like, "There it is! I found it!"

Every time I tried to put the giraffe in the chair, he wanted to pull it right back out!

Liam has also learned to wave this month which is SO FUN! He loves to wave at Murphy when he sees him, and waves at Keith or I when we walk into a room. He also waves at his Grandma on Skype, which absolutely thrills her! As of right now he pretty much only waves to people he knows -- he's a little more cautious around strangers, although he has been known to wave at pretty little girls if he sees one while we're out. :)

I can't get over how much he is growing -- as hard as it is to believe I'm already starting to think about his FIRST BIRTHDAY, which feels like will be all too soon. I am loving my curious, sweet, adventurous little boy! This month I celebrated my first Mothers Day as a Mom, and it couldn't have been better. I was definitely spoiled by my hubby and got to spend the BEST day with my 9 month old boy. Lucky, lucky me. I love you, buddy!

~Mom