September Weekend-end Recap

It was just me and Seth for most of this weekend because Jason went on a church men's retreat in Northern Minnesota. He was gone Friday night, so Seth and I toodled around town on Friday night.

Seth had a physical therapy appointment with Melissa on Friday. In his PT appointment, Seth pulled himself to a standing position for the first time. Melissa had placed a toy on top of the bench to see if Seth would pull himself to a kneeling position. He did that and then proceeded to pull himself up to a standing position. Seth got the toy, but then it fell to the other side of the bench. He wanted to get that toy and so badly wanted to crawl over the bench! He was trying to pull his legs up over that bench.

After PT and then a short nap, Seth had dinner and then we went to Babies R Us and bought Seth's Halloween costume and his first winter jacket. Seth isn't ready to share who he's dressing up in yet, but I can tell you that it has something to do with Winnie the Pooh.:)

Saturday was a very busy day - I felt like Seth and I were running around town and barely at home. Which was true! After breakfast, we hopped in the car and drove over to my parents' home to feed Molly while they were up at the cabin.

Then, we went to Seth's first ever music class at KinderMusik. The class' teacher was Miss Melanie and she is like Mary Poppins in person! She has a beautiful voice and enterjected jingles into her conversation. Seth was captivated by Miss Melanie. When she spoke, he whipped his face to her and just stared at her with big eyes.

There were just two other babies in the class and we all sat on the playmats. We'd sing songs and let the babies grab the egg shakers and bells. Seth would shake the shakers and bells, then stick them in his mouth. We'd help our babies clap their hands, wave their arms and shake their feet to the music. I could tell Seth enjoyed it because he wanted to stand up and bounce! Then, he'd squeal or make some loud grunting noise. Seth was highly amused by all the music and interaction.

At one point, Miss Melanie told the parents to lie down on the mat, close their eyes and listen to the music. She wanted the babies to see their parents listen to the music and let me explore. She'd keep an eye on the babies so they didn't get into any mischief. I put my head down on the floor next to Seth and kept one eye open. I could not stop shaking in laughter when I saw Seth crawl over to another mommy and start tapping her head and trying to pull her hair.

We are definitely going to go back to music class in November. Our schedule is too busy right now.

Seth had another nap after music class. We went to LifeWay Bookstores to pick up a book and we ran another errand to Marshall's. We made it home in time for me to put a tired baby down for his afternoon nap.

After Seth got up and we had dinner, we picked up dessert and went over to my grandparents' home to wish my Grandpa a happy birthday. Grandpa turned 94 years old! I love taking Seth over to see them because they love to play with Seth. It warmed my heart when I looked over to see my 94-year old grandpa make silly faces and noises at Seth, who was sitting contentedly on his lap. Seth wanted to play with his mustache and tug on his cheeks. I turned around to help Grandma with the dessert and when I turned back, the sight I saw made me just giggle. Grandpa was on all fours on the ground next to Seth. It was the cutest sight!

Jason came back from his retreat on Saturday night, so we all went to ABF on Sunday morning together. Seth went to the nursery again and he did great. I'm glad that we decided to start bringing Seth to the nursery because it gives him a chance to be around other little kids.

After having a relaxing afternoon, we had small group at our home that evening. Three of the couples brought their babies. Two of the babies were playing on the opposite sides of the music table that Seth was playing and I could tell that Seth was energized by the other babies because he would squeal really loud. While the men were upstairs discussing their study, the ladies were downstairs talking and playing with our babies. It was a fun night!

Oh, what a fun weekend too. It went so fast. :)

9 months

Seth - you are 9 months old!

Stats
Height:
Weight:
Head circumference:
Teeth: 4 (two on bottom, two on top). Your top two teeth came in within one week of each other starting Labor Day weekend.

You wear some 6-9 months clothes and mostly 6-12 months clothes. You wear size 4 shoes mostly....when you wear them! You are very interested in your shoes, especially when they have cute little lion faces on them.

You mastered the army crawl three weeks ago and started knee-crawling up at the cabin. Now, you'll knee-crawl about 8 steps and then drop to your tummy to army-crawl. You're beginning to realize that knee-crawl gets you faster to your destinations.

And destinations do you have to go to! Wherever I am, you crawl to me. Where your daddy is, you crawl to him. If you see me go into my room, I here you huffing and puffing to get to where I am. And you move quick!

You like to crawl under the piano and if me or your Daddy is in the foyer, you crawl under the piano to peer at us through the chair rails by the stairs. When Jason or I get home from work, you hear the garage door open and know it's one of us, so you come crawling to the gate at the top of the stairs to watch us come through the garage door. It's so cute!

You also like cords way too much, so when I hear you crawling fast like you're on a mission, I know it's because you've found a cord. Teaching you not to chew on the cords is our first test of discipline that we have with you.

On your 9-month birthday, you accomplished another first - pulling yourself up from a crawl to a kneeling position! Two days later, you decided to pull yourself up from a kneeling position to a standing position. You can stand by yourself by holding onto your musical table, sofa or anything that is the perfect height for you to hold onto.

Your favorite foods are: pureed carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, sweet potatoes, strawberries, pears, apples and bananas. You LOVE your morning breakfast oatmeal with apples. You exclaim, "MMMM!!!" with every bite. You occasionally have Cheerio and Puff snacks, but we're still trying to help you get the experience of finger foods. I think you'd rather just have Mommy and Daddy feed you!

Nursing is still going strong. For the last 4 weeks, you would rather just get the nursing done and over with so you can be on the floor and play with your stuffed animals. I really have to focus you by getting rid of all the distractions - low light, door shut, fan on so it drowns out background noise.

You are always making some noise. Whether it's happy screamings, motor boat lips, blowing raspberries, "Hmmm!"ing. You babble "mama" and "baba" alot, but you only seem to do that when you're sitting. When you're exploring, you'd rather stick everything in your mouth instead of babble.

You play a laughing game with us. First, you laugh. Then we laugh. Then you laugh. Then we laugh. This goes on back and forth for a few minutes. We just laugh and laugh! I hope that's what our home will always be like as you grow up - love and laughter.

Right now it's seems as if you found your tongue. You keep running it over your four teeth and stick it out over your lips.

You consistently take 2 naps - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Rarely do you take a catnap around dinner time. You still go to sleep at 7pm and sleep until 7am, but two times this week you have woken up screaming. We haven't figured out why, but I've read about these "wonder weeks" in which babies have big developmental leaps and things can just get a little off. So, I'm hoping that's what it was! But, I do have to admit I loved cuddling you back to sleep when you did wake up late at night.:)

This has been such a fun month so far. You are growing so fast and exploring everything. I'm so happy at your happiness when you see something new and exciting. Your daddy and mommy love you so much!

And then there were four

I was awakened at 4:30 this morning to Seth's piercing scream and then some whimpers. I laid in bed for a few seconds to see if Seth was just dreaming and perhaps drift back to sleep, but he began to cry so I got up to see what was going on. Seth's door was creaked open, so I peeked in to see what Seth was doing.

I always wondered about the sweet moment of walking into my baby's nursery with his hands on the top crib rail and his cherub smiling face peering over. I even envisioned the cute picture I was going to take of this sweet sight.

I just didn't think it was going to happen at 4:30 in the morning. It was supposed to happen after his nice two-hour morning nap.

I saw Seth take a little tumble as he was trying to figure out how to get himself back on his back in the crib, which made him cry more. I walked up to Seth's crib, peered in and what did I see?

Yep, one of the balls hanging from his sports mobile had been freed by Seth. At 4:30 in the morning.

Dern mobile. It was up on his crib one night too late. I should have seen the signs. Seth is fascinated by the mobile and trys to grab it anytime we walk past it. And two days ago he figured out to pull himself up to a kneeling position at exactly the right height. Waking up at 4:30am + pulling himself up = grabbing the mobile.

Rainy Day

It's been a rainy, rainy day today. Lots of down pours, some lightening and thunder. Seth, Jason and I just took it all in the comforts of our home. Seth was thrilled over the rain racing down the window, just squealing and shrieking over excitement.

Weekend Wrap-up

I'm just coming off the high of having a wonderful, relaxing weekend. Although, as I recap what we did, it sounds just a little busy. Maybe having a baby has mellowed me out.

Yeah, right!

Jason took me and Seth out to dinner to Pittsburgh Blue for dinner on Friday night. Dinner at a sit-down restaurant with an infant can be tricky. Timing is everything -especially when your baby is typically only up for 2-3 hours in between nap times and dinner can take about an hour and a half, plus the 20 minutes to get to the restaurant and home again, which only leaves you a half hour to eat your sit-down dinner. Dining with a baby is different, but I don't want avoid it and I'd rather help Seth get through it because going out to a restaurant every once and a while is something our family does. Maybe I'll change my mind when Seth is 18 months old and wants to tear through the restaurant dining room.

Nonetheless, Seth did great. He sat on my lap, while playing with his various toys and spoons. While we ate (er, while I scarfed my meal down), he sat in his car seat. Seth always gets a lot of attention with his helmet, so of course, we got lots of visitors to our table.

On Saturday morning, I took Seth for a quick jog in the stroller. It was a little cool, but Seth was bundled up so we made it a quick jog. Afternoon naps and resting were had by all.

My friend, Cassie, and her two little sweet children came over in the afternoon for some playtime at the school playground. We cooked dinner afterwards, during which it was confirmed again what a poor cook I am. I mean, really, how can a person botch up a batch of pre-packaged refrigerated French rolls? Digging in to dinner, Cassie's 5-year old said, "Mommy, I can't bite into this bread". A few seconds passed when Jason and I both started to roar with laughter over the deep-seeded truth to that comment. Yes, dear child, you are not the only one.

We went to ABF on Sunday morning and after 20 minutes, we decided to bring Seth to the nursery. I dropped him into the nursery worker's arms, who put Seth on the floor. He started crawling around, looking back at me just to make sure I was still there until I waved good-bye. I came back 45 minutes later to pick Seth back up and the worker said he did great. Crawled around and explored. I think we'll try the nursery again!

Sunday afternoon was our football draft party for our ABF fantasy football league. We had 16 people over and it was a blast! Seth was a little frustrated because he wanted to crawl around the floor, but I wouldn't let him because there were computer cords galore. We sat on the deck and chatted until it got a little dark. I put Seth down for bed around 7pm and then we started a beautiful bonfire and enjoyed the fire until 10pm.

Monday was another great day. I discovered Seth's 3rd tooth! His top left came poking through and if I had to guess, I think it probably popped through a day or two before. I just don't always feel around Seth's mouth for more teeth - he doesn't particularly enjoy my prying.:)

It was a crisp and cool morning. I went for a run and it was perfect. Lots of couples and families out on the trails. After Seth got up and ate, we went to Joyce's home to do a little photo shoot. Seth sat in his grandma's toy rocking chair. I can't believe he sat up in it! I remember when he was just a little peanut, thinking how far into the future it would be until he could sit in it. He loved the chair and started to figure out that it would rock!

Seth took an afternoon nap and by the time he woke up, our friend Joe stopped by to hang out. Seth would not crack a smile for him! Ha! But, he warmed up to Joe after a while.

It was a great weekend and so hard to go back to work! But, these weekends give me perfect memories!

Jammie-jams

The last few days have shaped out to be a precursor to what fall (late-Sept and earl-Oct) is like....cooler temps and the fast-moving clouds. We went from high-80s last weekend and early this week, to a cool 70 degrees and low-50s last night. Which meant...

....back to the zip-up, footed pj's for Seth. Or, as we call them, "jammie-jams". Seth hasn't worn these for over 3 months and about 2 inches ago. When he was smaller and still very much an infant. Give me a moment while I wipe tears cuz my baby is growing up at the speed of lightening. I zipped Seth up and he seemed like such a little boy. He looked at both cuffs on each arm and touched them as if to say, "what is this material on my arms??". Yes, my dear son, it's a little cold so these jammie-jams will keep your bare arms warm.

I love looking at Seth's arm rolls and the little elastic-band fold on his wrist. For that reason, I'm sad that fall and winter are approaching because it means Seth's bare little baby arms will not be quite as available to touch.