our baby boy is in a downward slide to one year old!  I’ve just started to plan his first birthday celebration, put away all the smaller 6-12m size clothing, and his hair is officially growing fast than my own. where is this baby going??? this 9th month was a busy one for Brady and our family- lots of change going on in his little body along with all the holiday rush and activities.  it all made for lots of firsts for this big boy!

feeling a little sentimental this month.. maybe after doing our annual year in review has spurred this sentiment but look at how much Brady has grown and changed! I’ve also decided to give up on getting him to lay down for a photo anymore. I didn’t do an image like this with the twins or Baker, but after looking back on this photo documenting my belly just days before Brady was born I wanted to do a 9 months out photo as well. of course Britt delivered! his profile is my favorite.  I was making all the noise with my mouth I possibly could without moving it attempting to get a very easily distracted kid to look at me.

we had our nine month appointment with Dr. B and we left with a clean bill of health, only to return with a nasty double ear infection less than a week later.  he sat contently while we got his measurements and flirted as she listened to his heart and checked his tummy.. the rest of the time he was basically climbing the walls.

Brady at nine months is b u s y.

his sisters LOVE him.  after posting this below picture on IG someone asked in a comment if I prompt the girls to love on him. the answer is NO.  if they are sitting in the vicinity they are touching and loving and squeezing this boy. Parker was already sitting on the table with him and I told Baker and Jolie to hop up there as well and I just started snapping. I am so very thankful my kids love each other this way. Brady loves it. and has come to expect it!Brady at NINE months

Weight: 21 pounds 9 ounces (67th percentile)

Birth: 7 lbs 4 oz

Height: 29 in (76th percentile)

Birth: 20 in

Head: 46.4 cm (80th percentile)

Birth: 34.5 cm

WHATS NEW

• TEETH.  we have two more teeth.. and two more on either side of those new top teeth that appear to be bursting the gums any day now.. and they have been the demise of the improved sleep habits we had been working on.
• we also started crawling this month!  he moves all over the place! it started out as more of an inch worm movement which was hilarious! check out our little inch worm! but over the last couple weeks he’s been able to master the crawl on all fours.
• he is hard pressed to pull himself up to stand and play. most of the time he needs help but recently he’s been able to pull himself up on to his standing toys and the sofa.. and the side of the bathtub. thats fun.
• he thinks my telling him “no” its absolutely hilarious. that is also fun as he kicks the mirror hanging above the changing table and sends it swaying to knock off all the frames and art hanging next to it.
• we’re down to one solid nap in the middle of the day.
• …and sleep is a nightmare. literally. its a fight to the death every time he’s going down for a nap or bed.
• BLW continues to go great!  we’ve slowly added a few more favorite foods to his rotation.
• Brady has mastered his pincer-grasp and can pick up smaller pieces of food.. along with every tiny string, wrapper, paper on the floor and it goes directly into the mouth.
• baby babble.  Brady is starting to enunciate certain sounds- pointing and making repetitive noises.
• hes Mr. Demolition. good gawd he’s into slamming toys, dumping the dog water, and knocking over blocks just to hear them hit the floor.
• loves to play.  Brady has mastered a couple “baby” games- look at this sweet boy playing PEEK a BOO! he also will sit and play independently, but loves to be right in the middle of his sisters!
• he has a random obsession with doors and cabinets. you sit him down on the ground and he hightails it straight to the closest door. he wants to open them up and push them closed over and over and over.
• Brady mastered the “bye-bye” wave!  its literally the cutest ever.
• he shakes his head no.  and when he really doest want to do or eat something he purses his lips together and waves his arms in front of his face.
• Brady is showing to be a little jealous.. if I’m sitting on the floor and one of the girls crawls into my lap he comes over squawking and attempting to crawl into my lap as well.
• he has started to seek out attention from others and will interact with giggles or act shy. our housekeeper, Susana, speaks Spanish to him and he absolutely adores her!  Ive never seen him interact the way he does with her. so special.
• he is SO ticklish! I say “I see a belly!” and he immediately buckles over in giggles before I even touch him.
• Brady finds it really funny to ‘eat‘ the palm of his hands- Baker is ticklish in her palms, too!
• we are mastering drinking water from a sippy cup.
• Brady is in size 4 diapers and wearing 9-12 months clothing.

EAT

at our appointment with Dr. Butler she asked about how much he was getting in his bottles. I told her that we were offering 7-8 ounces and right then he spit up all over the table. she asked how often he was spitting up like that and it was happening once or twice a day. she suggested to decrease his bottles back to 6 ounces because it could be affecting his sleep at night (more on that below) with his history of reflux. so we’ve been offering just 6 ounces and its going better! along with his regular bottle feedings we are adding in more solid foods throughout the day amping up for hitting our one year mark and ditching the bottles all together.

PLAY/DEVELOPMENT

crawling is our biggest growth and development this month! Brady is always on the move will do the shuffle back and forth between mom and dad and sisters- often squirming until you put him down so he can make his way into every corner of the kitchen and straight to the dog bowl full of water before I can catch up to redirect him. he’s gotten fast over the last couple weeks! he is into everything and climbing all over the place! last month he was starting to get his move on but it was slow and easily controlled.  he could barely hold himself up in the target cart and now he’s climbing out of it!

his personality is emerging and he’s become very opinionated- pushing my hand away when I’m trying to give him something to eat or keep him out of danger– ha! he screeches and squeals in protest and I end up laughing about it and it eventually ends in him giggling, too. Brady is starting to bee bop to music (we listen to a lot of it), wave goodbye and play peek a boo! he will also play independently with toys and seems to love his little people fire house and the new tobbles stacking toy he got for Christmas.

Brady is pretty drama filled- freaks out anytime someone.. anyone walks away from him. really loves being around his sisters but it only counts if mama and dad are there, too. he also bursts into tears if its not exactly what he wants to do. Baker was a really chill baby and Brady is keeping us all on our toes and our hands full- some days he won’t let me put him down at all which proves to be a very unproductive day. according to my wonder weeks app Brady just finished Leap 6 and it basically explains Brady will “cry more, sleep less, have mood swings, and be extra clingy” check, check, check, and CHECK.

I’m thankful for Parker and Jolie being such a big help and the perfect little mamas to Brady when I need to reheat my coffee or run to the bathroom!

SLEEP

pretty much sucks. WHAT IS SLEEP?! I have to give him some credit, though because he is actually sleeping until about 5-530am most nights- other nights its 4am.. and others we just won’t talk about. the real hassle comes from getting him to lay down initially at night and even now he fights me at naptime.  ESPECIALLY after the 5am bottle. the child is passed out cold after he eats and then the moment I lay him down he screams like someone is pinching him. he wants to cuddle.  thats all. he doesn’t need anything (dry diaper, full belly, totally FINE) aside from sleeping on my (or Jordan’s) chest. its not working for us over here and I’ve done everything in the book to get him to go to sleep and learn the ability to self soothe even a little bit!  he doesn’t take a pacifier and the sleep training I did and was successful with Baker DOES NOT work with Brady.

MOOD.he’s taking just one nap a day but its a really good nap. if we are home and he’s in his crib he will nap from about 10:30am-11am until almost 3pm. that gives me a ton of time to clean up, make the girls lunch, blog, work on my stitch fix clients, and whatever else is on my agenda that day. if we are out and about and he cat naps in the car in the morning I’ll usually put him down between 2 or 3 pm and he will sleep about an hour or so.

BRADY JORDAN

you have been on the “outside” as long as you were on the “inside” and this feels like a huge milestone for us; both you and me. I’ve spent so much time reminiscing about those last weeks of pregnancy this month- I couldn’t wait to meet you and would day dream about your baby nose and sweet little lips wondering how much you would resemble your dad or if you would take after your mama.

watching you grow and develop during these past 9 months has been amazing. we’ve done a ton of celebrating this month as your 9 month fell right in the middle of all the holiday fun!  two highlights include Thanksgiving and your first taste of pie!and getting to sit on Santa’s lap! it seems you have a real concern with facial hair and are weary of hats, so Santa was a NO-GO. we assured him you had been a good little boy, though 🙂
you’re an easy-going buddy, and cheerful 99% of the time. you’ll always flash us your wide toothy smile when you’re happy and it brightens up our entire day. you’ve also started to grab and play with things you shouldn’t. you seem to know and can expect me to say NO before you do something and you’ll stop and look at me for a few seconds waiting for me to redirect you or at least say something. regardless of my suggestion you just look at me for another moment, smile and go about what you were going to do anyway….. such a stinker and way more cheeky than I can handle with a straight face.

I can’t imagine life without you- you have made our lives so much more complete. although your dad and I are busier now, our lives has become so much more satisfying and fulfilling with four babes under this roof.

N I N E MONTH PHOTO D U M P