Oliver - 9 Month Update

To say that I'm obsessed with this boy is an understatement.
He has wiggled his way into my life. My heart.  My soul.
I love him and can't even begin to image life without him.

I've been horrible with updating the blog month by month.  Sorry kiddo, #2childproblems
But I am trying to update his calendar with the same fervor that I completed Eleanor's.

So what is Oliver up to? EVERYTHING!

**Oliver loves the dog bed.  We can't keep him out of it.  Usually he goes head first into it and then squeals with delight.  Yes, he is covered in dog hair after this escapade..but what am I supposed to do?

 **Oliver LOVES eating.  He certainly prefers food over bottles, but let's not fool ourselves - he still loves his bottles.  Especially his nighttime bottle. He SCREAMS at us while we change him into his pajamas, then takes a few sips of the bottle and his eyes sort of roll into the back of his head.  He's in formula heaven!  He loves having two dinners.  The first one we feed to him - pureed baby foods - still most of which are homemade (Grandma Schroeder even helps!)  Then he eats some finger foods with us while we eat dinner.  He eats peaches, mango, green beans, pasta, puffs, rice cakes, graham crackers, avocado, banana, and I'm sure I'm missing something!  He's not great with his pincher grasp and still really just shovels the food in.  Karl can always be found right under the high chair....

 And of course, since Oliver naps so well during the day (sarcasim font) he's EXAHUSTED at dinner time.  He rubs his eyes and tugs at his hair....creating a food disaster!  We could bathe him every night!  But he really does enjoy feeding himself.  Oliver also still gets a sippy cup of water with dinner #1.  He does pretty good with it.  He also really enjoys drinking out of my water glass and provided I give him small enough sips - he does pretty good.

Oliver tried a little bit of Mango Sherbert from Cherry Berry over the weekend.  I think he really enjoyed it, but he also really enjoyed that I gave him a spoon to munch on.  So, I only gave him a teeny bit...his belly doesn't need all that sugar.

Oliver is still really bad at sleeping.  He takes 3 - 4 30 minute naps per day.  He doesn't have a schedule and just naps when he wants to.  And when I say 30 minutes, I mean 30 minutes.  You can set a timer to it...but of course, there are those rare moments, usually at the most inconvenient time, when he decides to nap for an hour plus.

But where Oliver lacks in the sleep department, he makes up for it in the mobility department.  Oliver started crawling at the beginning of the month, so just shortly after 8 months and he has been picking up speed ever since.  He pulls himself up on anything.  Even unstable fabric boxes!

He lets go with one hand and will stand there, very comfortably.  No wobbles.  He wants to let go with the other hand, but usually as soon as that happens, he ends up on his butt. (Oh man, just look at him in the picture!!)

Oliver loves to be wherever we are.  He has really become a Momma's boy and a Daddy's boy.  If one of us walks out of the room, he'll kind of freak out.  It's rewarding and annoying all at the same time.

The good thing about Oliver is that he'll just sit in one spot and entertain himself while we are busy doing something...(Sarcasm font...again).  Oliver's nickname is Mr. Destructo.  I mean, he's just a brute!  He'll attack everything.  He's a tazmanian devil!  And EVERYTHING goes in his mouth.  Fingers, paper, markers.  Anything.  He's a drool bucket and still no teeth!  So while he is very different then his sister...they share that in common.

 Speaking of sister...she's still totally obsessed with her brother...but I think he likes her a little more.  She'll lose interest in him after a few minutes, but he never bores of watching her!  As we get a little more "rough" with Oliver, Eleanor thinks she can do the same thing...so we have to remind her that she can't tackle him or flip him over like we do.

We transitioned Oliver into his new car seat earlier in the month - He really hated the transition and I really doubted if we did it too soon.  Every time I put him in the car seat - he screamed.  Every time I took him out - he screamed.  But we had to transition him!

After this dining experience one Sunday afternoon, we knew - we either took him in and out of the carrier or in and out of a car seat.  The decision seemed easy.  Then we didn't have to carry him around in that seat anymore.  But man...there are really some times that I miss it!

I mean...he falls asleep in the car - now what do I do with him??

Oh but just look at him in the cart like a big boy.  Sometimes he loves it - sometimes he hates it.  He's just getting used to it.

We are trying to sign with Oliver too.  It really helped Eleanor and I want it to help Oliver.  The only problem is I feel like maybe we aren't as consistent with it as we were with Eleanor.  BUT, Oliver does have these handy videos he watches on YouTube...like once a week or something.  OK, I commit to blogging more often and I commit to signing more often.  Watch out...if you watch with video...I mean, it's pretty catchy!

Oliver just had his 9 month check yesterday.  And besides chronic ear infections and now a referral to an allergist (more on that later) he's doing amazing well!

He's 27.5 inches long, which puts him in about the 16th percentile for height.  My shorty!
He's 19# 1 oz, which puts him in the 38th percentile for weight. My chunk!
His head circumference is 45 cm, which puts him in the 48th percentile for head circumference.  No baseball caps for that noggin!!
But really - he's just perfect.  Those eyes!  That hair!  OMG - Eleanor didn't have hair like that until she was 2!  I'm a sucker for those eyes!

And of course, for our grand finale!  Our 9 month photo shoot.

I really liked this picture - it turned out so cute.  I like his outfit.  I like the way he looks in it.  But for some reason, my stupid camera and stupid picture taking ability focused in only on his feet :-( So, I tried again the next night...all by myself!

As you can see - taking his picture is definitely a 2 person job. But I finally got one!

9 months!  I just can't believe it!  Time is a beast.  I love him and am so happy to watch him grow.  But I just can't believe my baby is growing into a little boy day by day.

Phew!  Thanks for sticking through that marathon!