Howard Trio Plus One: Graham 9 Months

This past month has been extra busy. We traveled to Monte Vista for Christmas, both sets of grandparents came to visit in the last month, I started a part-time accounting job for a church (about 10 hours a week from home), we started our kitchen remodel project, and Micah and I both spent about half the month getting over the sickness that we caught before Christmas. Yikes. I feel like we have a lot going on right now, but I think I'll feel better about everything when I get more acquainted with my job, and I just have to keep reminding myself that it will take all year to get our remodel project done, so we have to pace ourselves. Of course, Graham continues to grow and develop too! Somehow we are already less than three months away from his first birthday!

Did anyone notice that I changed the title of the blog?? I did it last month as I didn't feel like it could just be the "Howard Trio" with the addition of Graham, so now it's "Howard Trio Plus One."

Age: 9 months

Weight: 16 lbs 4 oz (+11 oz)

Length: about 26.75 inches (+.75 inch)

Faith really wanted to help with the photos this time, but it was really hard to get his number on since he wanted to play with it!

With Alexis

With Jack

With Faith

We were trying to take more photos but Graham was done

Size Clothes: I’ve officially put almost all of the 6 month clothes away as he is growing into his 9 month stuff now. Some PJs are still a little big on him, which is the opposite of our other kids as they were always long and skinny so they outgrew PJs before outfits, but Graham is more proportional.

Night Sleep: This last month has been all over the place when it comes to sleep. On a good night he goes to bed between 7 and 8, I feed him before I go to bed between 10 and 11, he wakes up around 3, and then he’s up for the day around 7. On a bad night he wakes up 1-2 more times during the night and has trouble falling back asleep. This past month has been a little difficult since we traveled for Christmas and then he spent a little time sleeping in our room in the pack n play when grandparents were in town, and he doesn’t sleep as well in the pack n play.

Naps: I’m happy to say that naps are going great! His morning nap is between 9:30 and 10:00 and he naps for 1.5-2.5 hours. His afternoon nap is between 2:00 and 3:00 and he naps for 1.5-2 hours. This has been great, especially since I took on the part-time job and my plan is to work from home while the kids are at school and Graham naps.

Nursing: Not much has changed here as he still eats about 9 times a day. I’m hoping to cut out some of the nursing and replace it with solids in the next month.

Solids: Graham hasn’t shown much interest in solids. We’ve tried some purées, teething wafers, and food cut in small bites, but he hasn’t been very excited about any of it. I’m hoping he’ll start to catch on in the next month.

I even borrowed this device from a friend and tried putting purees in here so he could be in control, but despite the fact that he looks interested in this pic he really wasn't

Food Intolerances: I slipped with dairy recently and he seemed okay, so after I get him to start eating a few more foods I'm going to test dairy through myself again.

Milestones: Graham continues to do the army crawl to get around. He has gotten from seated to his belly several times, but he isn’t doing it consistently. He gets up on all fours and rocks, but then reverts to the army crawl. Kisses! They are wet, open mouthed and sloppy, but totally sweet at the same time.

He looks like he wants to crawl!

Teeth: Graham has cut three more teeth in the last month for a total of seven teeth! He is literally always teething, but thankfully he doesn’t seem very bothered by it.

Toothy grin, but his top teeth don't show when he smiles yet. There are four up there though!

With teeth comes toothbrushing!

Likes: He loves to take off a sock, chew on it, and play with it. Watching his older siblings continues to be great entertainment, so if I need to make dinner or something I can just sit him on the floor near them and he is content for awhile. He loves all of the big kid toys and will always go for those instead of his own toys.

Yummy sock

All four kids swinging at our neighborhood park

We tried the swing a couple of months ago but he wasn't ready. This time he LOVED it!

Dislikes: He does not like getting saline in his nose, getting his nose wiped, or getting his nose suctioned, which is hard when he's fighting colds!

Speech: He definitely says “mama” in reference to me (when he’s crying in his crib, sitting on the floor, etc.). He has also been saying “bababa.” I’ve also heard “ya.” He makes this noise when he’s being silly where he sucks in his breath and kind of squeals at the same time.

Places he’s been: Micah and I went to the mall one day when we hired a babysitter (he had a gift card to spend and he wanted to scope things out at the store), and we took Graham along, so he had his first mall outing. Micah and I don't enjoy malls that much, and Graham didn't seem too impressed either, but he was content sitting in the stroller and people watching.

Things he does that makes us smile: He’s such a happy, mostly content, baby that he makes us smile constantly!

The big kids like to take turns riding on the front of the Bob when we walk around the neighborhood

I found a great "new to us" stroller on Craigslist. I needed a nice single stroller that was lightweight and folded up small for the car. I'm excited about this one!