10 Months

Check out my mad photoshop skills!  I taught myself how to hide the circle and text
behind his hands and feet by layering images and working with layer masks in Photoshop.
What do you think...is it believable?  I'll admit it's not perfect, but for my first time
doing that, I was pretty happy with it.  :)

Eeks!  I'm verrrrrrrrrry late in posting this monthly update.  Shame on me!  But, summer time is busy...add in a week long vacation, a couple of photo shoots and sprinkle in a thousand-or-so pictures to edit, and that's what you call my excuse, people!  Forgive me?

So....since I never posted Brody's stats from his 9 month doctor visit, I thought I'd add them to this post. 

Height: 28.5" - 50%
Weight: 22.4 lbs. - 71%
Head - 46 cm - 65%

That said, I know that Brody actually weighs just over 24 lbs. now, though.  I know that because while we were on vacation the other week, Brody got another ear infection.  So, I found an in-network doctors office in the area (in Spencer, IA) and took him in to get checked out.  Of course, while there, they weighed him.  What a big boy!

Ok, what are we up to this month?  Hmmm...

• Brody is wearing all 12 month size clothing now.  And we've moved on to size 4 diapers. 
• No more army crawling, this boy can MOVE!  He crawls everywhere.  And he's fast, let me tell you.  People keep asking if he can walk yet, or if he's getting close.  He's not.  He will cruise really well around furniture, and can even stand unassisted for a couple of seconds, but he's very cautious and actually doesn't even seem to want to try to walk.  Even when we hold his hands, he either turns around and wants to be picked up, or he sits down and crawls to what he wants.  And you know what...I'm actually OK with this.  I think most new parents are so anxious for their babes to take those first few steps, and I'm not saying I won't be SO PROUD when he does finally walk for the first time, but he's already such a busy boy crawling all around...  I guess I'm just saying that I'm in no rush to chase after a little toddler...yet!

• Brody can pull himself up with ease now and is (and has been for a while) frequently found in his crib standing up looking over the railing at us.  It is quite possibly the cutest thing to see in the mornings and after naps.  We are ALWAYS greeted with the biggest smile you could ever imagine.  It's the best.
• B still eats like a champ.  Pretty sure there is nothing this boy won't eat.  A couple of times I've had to throw out his baby food dinners though because it made ME want to vomit.  Seriously...some of those things look and smell like the nastiest cat food in the world.  SICK.  I cannot subject my child  to such disgustingness.  I can't and I wont. 

• Brody is still on the same eating schedule as last month...3 bottles a day, 2 meals, and 1 snack.
• He's also still on the same nap schedule.  One around 9:00 AM and the other around 1:30 PM.  The length of his naps seems to vary.  Usually his afternoon nap is the longer of the two though, but he totals about 4 hours of nap sleep a day.
• He's still going to bed around 7:30 and sleeps 11 hours till 6:30 AM on weekdays, and will sleep in a bit on weekends till 7:15 or so.  Thanks, B!

• Still no words yet.  We get Dada, Mama, and Baba sounds a lot, but I don't think he knows what they mean yet, so I don't count them as actual words.  He sometimes says Hi after we say Hi to him, but I'm not sure if he is repeating us or if it's just a coincidence. 
• Brody knows how to wave bye bye and hello now!!  This is so cute to see.  He started doing it early on vacation and we got such a kick out of having him do it all week.  Sometimes he does it more easily than others, but he definitely knows what it means when we say bye bye to him and he waves back at us.  Awwww.

• Brody now has 7 teeth and I think he's working on the 8th.  Four up top, and now 3 on bottom. 
• Brody is getting quite the little personality.  He is still such a good boy.  Always giving smiles to everyone and always very friendly.  He will pretty much go to anyone who holds their arms out for him and generally isn't scare of anyone yet.  The only person we've notice him being slightly scare of is our friend A-Rob.  Twice when he's seen him he clung to me and one time even cried a little.  Otherwise he shows no stranger fear.  Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing....hmmm...
• He has learned to cry and pout when he doesn't get what he wants...which is really only when he doesn't get food when he thinks he should be getting some.  I swear...the kid is a tank and wants to eat all the time.  If we aren't quick when it's bottle or snack time, he cries and pouts and kicks his legs.  We do our best to ignore the behavior, and 9 times out of 10 he will settle down within a couple minutes.  He's learning how to express himself and communicate his needs...I wish he would choose another way to do it, but since he can't talk, I guess it makes sense that he cries to tell us what he wants.  I attempt teaching him sign language, but I don't think it's taught at daycare, and I am not consistent with it at home, so, I'm pretty sure he's not picking it up.  I will try to make myself be better at it.  They (random things I read on the Internet) say that right now is the best time to teach sign language.

• He loves to play, crawl all over the house, play peak-a-boo, pat-a-cake, itsy-bitsy-spider, read books, and roll a ball around.  He's such a trooper and we can easily take him along with us just about anywhere. 

I'll try to do a separate post about our vacation soon, but don't hold me to this.  I've got lots of photo shoots and editing I'm working on in my spare time, and I also need to work on planning Brody's first birthday party in the coming weeks (OMG...how can he already almost be ONE?!?!).  Life is flying by way too fast....does anyone know how to slow down time?  I'm savoring every minute of it, but sometimes it feels like I blink and a whole month has gone by!