9 Months 2 Weeks 3 Days

We're about 2 weeks into giving Christopher babyfood 3x a day now. It's definitely very time consuming trying to keep up with that AND breastfeeding AND naptimes! I want to continue breastfeeding Christopher for as long as possible...probably start weaning at 1 year old...but it's hard trying to continue nursing and feeding him babyfood. I feel like he's eating ALL DAY long!

In these last couple of weeks, I'm finding that Christopher doesn't have a HUGE appetite. Sometimes he gobbles down breakfast, which is rice cereal mixed with a fruit, but it's usually hard to get him to eat all of his lunch (a Stage 2 jar of veggies mixed with rice cereal) or dinner (a Stage 2 jar of a meat and veggie). I keep hearing about these babies close to Christopher's age eating 3 jars per meal! I know that's a bit excessive, but Christopher should at least be able to finish 1 jar per meal.

My personal weight gain goal for him at our next visit (October 31 - Halloween) is between 12 and 24 ounces...or not more than 1-1/2 lbs. That's a healthy gain, so we don't need to push it. That would put Christopher between 17 lbs 8 oz and 18 lbs 4 oz. If the pediatrician has issues with that, which I hope she doesn't, then that's too bad. This child is NOT malnourished and I'm NOT giving up breastfeeding. Yes, he's small, but if he was malnourished, he'd show other signs. Other than his weight, he's a healthy and active baby BOY and is doing everything he should be developmentally.

Speaking of developments...nothing really new going on, but he's perfecting his skills at pulling himself up and crawling. He's doing better at crawling with both knees instead of one. Every now and then he does his one-legged crawl. It's still hilarious to watch! He's still not cruising the furniture as his feet are still too clumsy. I'm not in a hurry for it, though! That would mean walking won't be too far behind! We really don't have much for him to cruise in our house anyway. He could on the couches, but he has a hard time pulling up on them since he can't get a good grip.

Christopher experienced Chuck E. Cheese for the first time last week. We went with our next door neighbor, Wanda, and her great-nephew, Jordan. I could tell that Christopher had a blast! It wasn't very crowded, so I was able to put him down and let him crawl around. He rode a couple of car rides...got his picture taken...and had a sketch made of me and him. Here are a couple of the pictures:


Shad says that this picture of Christopher looks just like him when he was a baby.


Yeah...not the best of either of us, but I thought Christopher sticking his tongue out was funny!

Shad and Richard bought Christopher a UT jersey a couple of weeks ago. I took it to a local shop to have his last name printed on the back of it. It's too cute! Here are a couple of pictures:


Front


Back

Our plans for this week include going to a pumpkin patch in Smyrna with Alanna and Journie. I really wanted to go with the MTM group online to Gentry Farms in Franklin, but we've scheduled it for October 14, which is the Vols only Saturday off. Therefore, we have everything else planned for that day. I can't wait to get pictures of Christopher! I think they'll be so cute!

Well, Christopher has now been napping for 2 -1/2 hours and I haven't eaten lunch yet. Better go do that before he wakes up!

9 Months 1 Week Old

Christopher turned 9 months old last Friday. I know I keep saying it, but I can't believe time has gone by SO fast! We've got a birthday party to start planning soon! Especially since December's such a busy month for us! Not only do we have Christopher's birthday, but our 6th anniversary is December 2. Plus, there's Christmas! Whew! An expensive month for us!

Christopher had his 9 month check-up this past Tuesday (September 19). Here's his stats:

Weight: 16 lbs 12 oz (less than 3rd %)
Length: 27" (7th %)
Head Circumference: 44.5 cm (17.5") (21st %)

He only gained 1 lb 2 oz between his 6 month and 9 month visits. We're increasing the solids and adding a vitamin w/fluoride and going back for a 6 week follow-up weight check on October 31...Halloween.

We've been keeping busy with football games on Saturdays. There have been 3 home games so far and the 4th is tomorrow. I went to the first game, but stayed home with Christopher for the 2nd and 3rd games. I'll be going again tomorrow and dropping Christopher off at my dad's.

I've also been keeping busy with co-ed softball. We've been playing games on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for the most part. So far, out of 6 games, we're undefeated! We do really well when we keep the bats going! We had an interesting game last night. We were short 1 guy when the game started, but had 9 players. Our 10th guy showed up while we were on the field. The other team argued that if we started with 9 players, we ended with 9 players, which is incorrect. The rule says that the 10th player can be added, but not in the middle of an inning. Later in the game, the coach of the other team was STILL arguing about that call. It got pretty heated, so the umpire threw the guy out...quite dramatically, I might add! Nothing else was said about it until we had about 5 minutes left in the game. We were ahead 13-3 when it was the other team's turn to bat. THEY QUIT...just walked out!!! Such a wonderful example they set for their church and for Christians in general!

I had a crappy game, though. First of all, my coach put me in as catcher instead of the outfield. I am NOT a catcher! I'm scared to death of being that close to the batter without any protection! I ended up doing okay, though...no foul tips or exciting plays for me. However, as far as batting goes...I got walked once and had 1 single. I actually STRUCK OUT once, too, and hit a blooper to the infield and was thrown out. I haven't struck out in AGES! That pitcher figured out that I don't like outside pitches, though, so she had my number from the start. Thankfully, it was a guy pitching when I got my single.

Christopher's crawling around like crazy now. He's doing this one-legged crawl most of the time, but will crawl "normally" while on carpet. I'm pretty sure that hardwood/tile is not fun for him since it probably hurts his knees. I moved him up from the Babies to the Crawlers in church last week. I work in there during the 2nd session, so it's interesting to have him in there with me. He's definitely a Momma's boy and doesn't really want to get down and play much. That's something we have to work on. Hopefully it'll get better after I wean him off the breast.

Speaking of crawling...Christopher's just made his way to me and is fussing, so it must be naptime! Time to go! I'll update again later.

8 months 3 weeks and 4 days

Well, I'm sitting here at just after 11:00 pm waiting for Shad to get home from the UT ballgame. I probably won't make it until then, though, since it'll probably be around 1:00 am. UT played Air Force and barely won...31-30. I stayed home with Christopher since the game didn't start until 6:00 central. Plus, I agreed to work the church nursery tonight.

Christopher and I made the 6 hour trek last Saturday, though, when UT played California. It was such a GREAT game! We won 38-18! California's 18 points mainly came in the 4th quarter against our 2nd and 3rd string players. Since the game started at 4:30 central, we had plenty of time to tail-gate. Then, my dad and Patti took Christopher with them to their house while Shad, Richard and I went to the game. The next game I go to will be in 2 weeks against Marshall. It's UT's homecoming, too.

Christopher's sleep has been wobbley over the last couple of weeks. I don't know if it was teething or not, but he kept waking up once in the night and wouldn't go back to sleep without eating. He's been back to sleeping through for a few nights now, but I don't hold my breath either. Last night, he went to bed at 9:30 and slept until 7:00 am! Yay! He had a rough time going down tonight, so I hope he does okay.

Last night, Richard came down and actually paid US to go out on a date so that he could baby-sit Christopher! LOL! Shad and I went to Toot's, which we never do with Christopher since it doesn't have a separate smoking/non-smoking section. Then, we went to a late movie and saw Invincible with Mark Wahlberg. It's based on a true story about Vince Papale who played football with the Philadelphia Eagles. It was a really good movie! We definitely enjoyed our date night!

I'm fighting off allergies again! Grrr! This is at least the 4th illness that I've had since Christopher was born back in December! I NEVER get sick this often! In addition to losing some brain (memory) cells, my figure and my hair, I think I've also lost some of my immunity! The last issue was strep throat about 2 months ago. I've had the normal scratchy throat, runny/stuffy nose and head and chest congestion since Wednesday. Today, however, I noticed my throat was sore again, which doesn't usually happen after it quits hurting. I looked at my tonsils and sure enough...there are 2 white patches back there! Ugh! I'm thinking it's Tonsillitis, though. I also think that's what I had to begin with last time, but didn't see a doctor soon enough, so it turned into Strep Throat. I'm planning to go to the doctor on Monday, if possible, and get on some more antibiotics.

Poor Christopher has a cold now, too. I'm sure he caught it from me as Shad started complaining today that he's not feeling too well either. Of course, he has to BLAME me for getting him sick! As if I PURPOSELY pass it on to him so that he can suffer, too. Anyway, Christopher's runny nose started on Thursday and has turned into nasal congestion. It doesn't sound like it's moved into his chest, but I'm keeping a close ear out for it.

Tonight in the nursery at church, Christopher scared me to DEATH! I was in the process of opening a jar of baby food and had given him a Gerber Star to keep him occupied for a minute. He started making little gagging gestures, so I quickly proceeded to do the swoop-thing to get it out. HOWEVER, it was in further than I thought and I think I actually pushed it in further and COULDN'T GET IT OUT!!! I started to panic and asking for help. Then he started coughing and then crying, so I knew it went down okay. Poor baby cried so hard! I wanted to, also, but held it back as best as possible. I sure was shaking, though! Thankfully, one of the other ladies that works in the nursery with me came to us really quickly, but wasn't needed in the end. After crying for a minute, Christopher was okay and ready to eat his mixed vegetables! I'm SO glad he won't remember stuff like that for a long time! This is such a scary time with him learning to eat solid foods!

Shad finished working all the overtime last week, so now he's been instructed to go back to 40 hours a week. That means that I HAVE to find a part-time job now. Ugh! I went to the mall here in town and started applying for evening positions. I'm going to have to give up softball and I won't be putting Christopher to bed except on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. I don't like that one bit, but it was either that or Shad getting a 2nd job and him being extremely worn out, not having a life and us not getting to see each other much. We're still not going to see much of each other if I get a job, but I guess until he starts making a lot more money, it'll have to be this way. Sometimes I hate what life deals us!

Well, that's about all going on around here right now. We'll be starting another semester of Discovery U at church, so will be busy on Sunday evenings in addition to Wednesday evenings. I refuse to give up that time to work, though, so can at least look forward to that!

It's now time to hit the sack for a little bit before Shad gets home and wakes me up. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day at church...regular church stuff in the morning...working the nusery for the new members class from 12 - 2...then working the nursery for Discovery U from 5 - 7. Uff da...but good money!

I'll post another update after Christopher's 9 month check-up on September 19.