Oh yeah, he's 9 months old now

Oops, I'm a little behind on my blogging. I thought I'd do a year in review like my sis and sis-in-law have done, but I've decided that it takes too much time that I don't have. So here's the really really short version: We had a baby, and he's really cute...but you all knew those facts anyway ;)

He also turned nine months old at the end of December, which I'm behind on too. But I'll expand on that. Well, not now, he needs a nap, so I'm on Mommy duty. I'll get back to you, I promise :)

Ok, now I'm back, several hours later. No, he didn't nap for that long. But he did nap for 2 hours, and then we had lunch and then we played, so the time was well spent. I also washed the dishes and cleaned the bathroom while he slept. Aren't you proud of me? Anyways... Josh conveniently had the day off the day that Matthew had his check-up, so it was nice to have him along for the appointment. He's 24 lbs. 2 oz. and 30 inches long (Matthew, not Josh). I was asking the doc about food stuff, like how many times a day should I be nursing and how often should he have solid food and how much of it, yada yada. And he told me that those are all variables depending on your kid. He said from the looks of it, Matthew is growing just fine, so whatever I'm doing must be right. It's nice to get affirmation from your baby's doctor.

We also took Matthew to get his nine-month pictures done, which hopefully some of you have received in the mail by now. The photographer took 80 pictures! And why, you may ask? Well, he wasn't so cooperative for smiling, and when he did smile, he did his whole scrunch-up-the-face look. And as adorable as that is, we figured that friends and family would much prefer a normal smile from our son.

He's been teething for a long stretch it seems. It's woken him up at night a couple times, and he's drooling all over the place and chomping on anything that gets even remotely near to his mouth. Which includes adult hands and fingers. Even shoulders when we're holding him. I hope it's just cause of his teeth and not a sign that he'll be a biter. So yeah, all this teething, and you can see the teeth through the gums. That's how close they are, but they are just taking their sweet little time breaking through.

His newest discovery is standing. No, he can't do it on his own yet, but that doesn't stop him. We'll hold out our fingers so he can grab them and pull himself to a sitting position. But then he doesn't let go like we expect. We feel him tug some more because he wants to stand. He's not strong enough to pull up on his own, but he'll get there eventually. For now we help him out, and he looks so funny when he's standing, cause his hands are glued to our hands for support and balance, yet his hips are swinging round and round and he's all wobbly. He's a cross between the Tin Man and the Scarecrow.

Now for some pictures...

His teeth really bothered him one day, so Daddy set him up with a teether and a cozy blanket.

Funny how they are both giving me that fake smile.

Daddy decided to help Matthew smile for this one. It's a little freaky, cause he looks like the Joker or something.

Yup, still doing that face.

He's not smiling, but for some reason I just really like this picture. Maybe it's the look on his face. He was working hard on something, but nothing that involved his diaper. Here, see for yourself...


Not exactly crawling, more like a squirming worm.

And one final picture...

All you need is Luvs!