Nine Months Old!

Here's a picture we took today:

Well - today is John's Nine-Month Birthday! It seems like just yesterday he was a little lump of baby and now he's a a wriggling chunk of BABY. It amazes me how much he's changed. And it saddens me a bit that he won't ever be this small again (or even as small as he used to be). Tonight I put him down for bed. He took his bottle rather quickly and he was ready to sleep, although he didn't fall asleep on the bottle. I took him to his room, put his pants and socks on him (it's chilly here tonight), and turned on the music we play before bed. We sat in the rocker and he laid his head down on my shoulder. Most times he squirms as if he can't get comfy. But not tonight! He had been kept up late (we had gone to SNBNA's for dinner - gumbo weather!) and he was ready to drift off. And so we rocked for a few minutes and I felt him calm a bit. I knew it was time to lay him down in his crib. And so I did, on his back. And he rolled over toward the wall like he always does when he's ready to sleep, throwing his leg on the bumper pad. Then he decided it tummy time, tucking his knees up under his belly, rump in the air. And off he went. It wasn't always that easy, you know. There were many nights we rocked and rocked and rocked, and he cried and cried and cried. Even occasionally now, when he wakes up in the middle of the night, we still have to let him cry it out. Oh, and how many times do I remember having to hold him until he fell asleep for a nap (or to sleep for the night)?!? There were lots of afternoons when the only way he would nap would be in my arms. So I would settle in on the couch to watch TV or snooze with JHP in my arms. John N asked me once if I always had to do that. And I told him yeah because, at that point, I did. I got to where I would do just about anything to get him to sleep. Sometimes, I'd let him sleep in my arms as I snoozed in bed. It was one of those things that THEY said NEVER to do. But, get real, I wasn't going to roll over on him! I knew every breath he made and that was the ONLY way he would sleep - next to me or John. I'm sometimes sorry I don't have a picture of him and me sleeping together. He, all swaddled up in the crook of my right arm and me, not quite comfortable, but not wanting to disturb him as he slept. He's past that now and has been for months. The closest we've gotten was in September when he was real sick and was coughing alot and not sleeping well. After I fed him his bottle, he fell asleep in the red chair and we snoozed. And it felt good. Just like the first time he rested his head on my shoulder as I rocked him to sleep.

Enough reminiscing...His stats for his 9 month check up on Friday:

21 lbs 11 oz 50-75 percentile (naked)

27 inches 10-25 percentile

46 cm 50-75 percentile

Jimmy and June came over yesterday to play with JHP. I think both kids enjoyed it. We went to the park, even though it was quite chilly. I've uploaded some pics of the event on the WebAlbums. I love the look between these two. I just wish I hadn't cut June's head off!

John Harrison likes to help with loading and unloading the dishwasher.

Here's a poor picture of his upper teeth. I had to hang him over the ottoman to get this one. He won't show me his teeth when the camera is around.

I'm sad to report that all the hard work our friend Terri did on organizing our CD's has been reduced to complete DISARRAY thanks to JHP discovering the CD rack and how easy they are to remove. We'll call you, Terri, in a couple of years to help us recorganize. Until then, it's futile!

I don't have access to the pics right now, but I'll amend this post tomorrow to include some of my favorite pictures from the last set with comments and anything else I think of. It's time for bed!

{edit: added pitctures and comments on 11/17/08}
-EBP-