Wasn't He Just Born?

So on March 13th, Preston will be turning 9 months old. Will has reminded me that it will be nearing the time when he will finally have been on the outside of my belly as long (and longer) than he was on the inside.

He's growing up.

It still seems like he was just born yesterday. It's so weird how sometimes we go to fetch him from his crib in the morning and we swear he grew overnight.

Here is a little trip down memory lane from the last 8 months. You can click on any of these to enlarge.

Some things that Preston digs:

• He's learned to pick up Cheerios and feed them to himself. This in itself is an accomplishment because it is the first dissolvable food he has eaten, not to mention it takes a lot of hand-eye coordination to use his little fingers to pick one up!

• He has been saying a lot of hard constinants, like "Da Da", "Ba Ba" and also some soft ones like "Ma Ma" "Hi" (that one is new within the last few days).

• He is getting better at falling asleep without much assistance, and no longer needs to be swaddled (well, about 90% of the time) in order to fall asleep.

• He is rolling all over the place. I think he has discovered this as a means of transportation and loves it!

• When he is sitting up he can lean over to one arm and almost get into crawling position, but not quite yet.

• Also, when he is sitting in his crib he can lean over and pull himself into kneeling position with the help of the railing (he loves to look out of his crib).

• He now does this fake laugh. I think he picked it up from me because he really sounds like he is trying to copy my laugh. It is pretty cute.

• He can shake his head as if he is trying to say no, but I don't really think he knows what that means.

• He will grab ANYTHING put in front of him. We've had to pull plenty of things out of his mouth lately.

• He is a super happy baby when he takes good naps. If he doesn't, then he is pretty high maintenance and cranky. On a good day,he will take an hour morning nap, a long afternoon nap (60 - 90 min if we're lucky) and then another short evening nap around 6pm. Bedtime is usually 8pm.

• He does this cute weird squinty eye smile and tilts his head. It's quite charming and really pulls at your heart strings.

• He LOVES to play the piano.

• His favorite song is "Itzy Bitzy Spider". He can be having a crying fit and if you sing that to him, he will stop and look at you and smile.

• He is just like his Dad in the sense that he loves to see and do new things. If he could be toted around in the Baby Bjorn 24 hours a day he would be in heaven. Will has taken him on a lot of outings and Preston just loves it.

• Preston is very social and anytime he sees another baby he will do this sweet high little voice and say "Ooohhhh Ahhhhhh".

• He has kind of started doing seperation anxiety when we hand him off to someone else but ONLY when he is tired and cranky. If he's had plenty of sleep then he is happy to have anyone hold him.

• He LOVES watching Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, etc. LOL Seriously, he will sit there and just stare at the dancers. I think he likes the music and the bright colored outfits. This is actually great because we are sick of listening to Baby Einstein (Mozart). I don't know if I will ever be able to listen to Mozart again without thinking of Baby Einstein.

• He FINALLY likes tummy time. I will often find him in his crib on his belly.

• He FINALLY is taking a bottle. Hurray! But he still breastfeeds for about 75% of his meals. I hope to have him weaned by the time he is 12 months...wish me luck. He LOVES his Mommy's milk.

• He hates to get dressed. Whether you're taking clothes off or putting them on, he puts up a huge fight.

• Changing diapers is hard, especially when they are poopy, because he will reach down and grab his little man-goods and if it's everywhere...well...no need to say more than that.

• His favorite foods at the moment are Cheerios, sweet potatoes, banana yogurt, and anything off of Mommy and Daddy's plate. He still hates any type of grain cereal (rice, barley, oatmeal).

• I have to clip his fingernails at least twice a week because they grow so fast.

• He weighs about 22 pounds. 2 more and he will be over the weight limit for his Bjorn.

• He still wakes up about twice a night, but is better about going back to sleep faster than before.

• He doesn't have any teeth yet but he is always biting his thumbs and he has blisters because he bites them so much. We need to find something to put on his thumbs that is safe but tastes gross so he won't bite them.

• He still won't take a pacifier, never has and probably never will.

• He is drinking from a sippy cup

Will, feel free to add anything that I forgot.

Anyway, thanks for enduring my huge long post.I think this was more for me to remember than for anyone else. We love our little Preston and everyday we always are telling each other how cute he is and how much we love him and are glad he is in our family.