King of the Castle! : 9 Months - Happy 3/4ths Birthday!!

Wow. That is all I will say because we all know what I am thinking...is he really 9 months?! We had his 9 month appointment on Friday and he weighs 22lbs. 2oz. (75%), is 29.5 inches (75%) and his peanut head is 17 3/8 inches (25%). He did really well with his hep B shot, flu shot booster, and the heel prick for hemocrit testing...was a champ as usual!

Good times as always with our little bean! I swear right after his 8 month post, he learned how to do a ton of new things:

I can stand unassisted for pretty long stretches of time. Mom gets SUPER excited when I stand on my own, so I am trying really hard to learn how to do it without falling on my tush after a minute or two.
I still haven't quite mastered crawling on all fours. I can get up on all fours and rock and take a few strides, but then I get sick of that. But, I can army crawl and/or roll to get where ever I want to go, so I am not too worried, plus...
I prefer to walk. I can take lots of steps across the living room with my new walker. Or if someone lets me hold their fingers, I will just start cruising all over the place. I also cruise while holding onto the couch or ottoman.
I can officially clap on my own. And, I do it a lot when someone says "yay!".
Mom taught me how to high five and I think it's so fun!
I can wave hello and goodbye and always have a big smile while doing it.
I dance, kind of. I get this adorable little smile on my face and start rocking back and forth. Mom always chants, "dance, baby, dance!", so I shake my little tush.
Talking is definitely one of my favorite things. I discovered again just how loud I can get, so I happily yell a lot. A lot.
I say Mamamama ALL of the time and Mom just loves it. Every morning when she comes in to wake me up, I look up at her, smile and say Mama. I say dada too, but I'm saying Mama more to make up for the long stretch of when I was only saying dada! And, babababa is probably my favorite.
I have an adorable little laugh. Dad called me Beavis once...not sure what that means, but Mom thought it was funny. And, you can really get me giggling hard when you tickle me...especially my thighs!
I am sleeping through the night, yipppeeee! I usually go down some time between 7:30-9 and sleep until 7 and Mom usually has to wake me up in the morning to feed me & get me ready for the day. She is extremely paranoid that putting this in writing is going to jinx it, but I have to document this momentous milestone!
I get a little upset now when people take things out of my hands (things I guess I shouldn't have like Mom's phone or the remote). I guess I get mad because I understand now what's going on! And, they think they can fool me by putting it behind their backs or under a blanket...guess what people, I know it's still there and just hidden!
Daddy started using the big bathtub now for baths...no baby tub for me anymore!
I graduated to size 4 diapers, even though 3's probably still fit better!
I am in the clingy, want to be held a lot phase. I really don't see what the problem is - I just want to be close to those who I love and love me back!
Doc said all 4 of my top teeth are about to break through...makes sense why sometimes I go from being super happy to super sad in a matter of seconds...the pain comes out of nowhere!
I make this adorable pouty lip and fish face a lot and it's just way too cute!

Events/Places I went:

I went to Braden's 4th bday party at Chuck E Cheese's and had so much fun. And, then another one at his house with family. I was a show-off there because it was right when I was learning to stand on my own!
I went to Festival of Trees with Mom, Gma Debbie, Aunt Lindsay and Braden. I had a great time looking at the lights and trees and I got to meet Santa!! I wasn't even scared of him!
I got very sick. I know I had croup a few months ago, but my parents consider this my first real illness because I actually had a fever and was down for the count for multiple days. It was very rough and my family was so sad they couldn't fix me. But, I got lots of snuggles from everyone, including one on one grandma time with both Gmas! I was fully back to myself in about 5 days and everyone was thrilled.
I celebrated my 1st Thanksgiving! Mom put me in this silly turkey hat - she knows that seeing those pictures later in life will probably make me pretty mad, but I'll let her do it for now! I liked celebrating with both families and I am looking forward to being able to eat all of that yummy food next year!
I went to Mommy's surprise 29 1/2 birthday party that her friends and family threw for her! I guess she threw Gma Debbie and Aunt Lindsay surprise parties for their bdays, so they had to "get her back" with the help of her friend Lea and of course Daddy! We had to keep it a secret for many months. It was great to see her so happy and so surprised! I hope I get one of those sometime!

Adventures with eating:

When someone asks me if I want to eat and then signs the word eat at me, I get really excited and know what it means! But, if you do sign it or say it, you better have milk or food ready!!
I eat pancakes for breakfast now sometimes! I am not too sure about them, but I still have a few bites. I have also tried waffles, but not a big fan yet.
I am finally on stage 2 baby foods and am loving pretty much everything. The only food that I really have not been a huge fan of was prunes. I did OK with them on the first day and then the second and third day, I didn't even want to open my mouth!
I also tasted some rolls on Thanksgiving. Looks like I might be a carb lover like Mom!
I LOVE my Gerber puffs. I just needed some time to understand how to eat them because now I devour them. I can even stick my hand in the container and grab them myself!
Still going strong nursing, but I have definitely cut back in the amount of milk I drink every day because I get more solids.
I am a pro with my sippy cup & am partial to the ones with straws.
My doc told my parents to start introducing more table food, so I am excited to try new things!

Yes, I take way too many pictures, but can you blame me?!