Skip to main content

The nine month mark

The ninth month mark in this parenting game has been the most interesting yet. In the beginning it took six weeks just to get a smirk, now I blink and Graham is crawling or pulling himself up or even standing on his own for a few seconds.

Gone are the days when he laid still for diaper and wardrobe changes. Now it's more like wrestling an alligator just to get him changed. A screaming alligator at that. Although he has less teeth, he does bite. Oh yeah, that's another new development.

Now that he has both top and bottom teeth, you have to be on high alert when his mouth is anywhere near your skin. He bit me for the first time at a funeral home when I was talking to the family and wasn't paying attention to him. And it wasn't a quick bite, his jaw was still clenched on my shoulder when I squealed and caused a scene.

That wasn't the only scene he caused at the funeral home that night. He also pulled my shirt down, exposing the entire left half of my chest. Luckily it wasn't my skin being exposed but rather my light blue bra. It wasn't until Pat nonchalantly said, "you better watch your shirt." It was quite an eventful evening.

This is what I'm talking about. Everything is extremely eventful with a nine month old. It's an extremely fun and extremely interesting time in his development and thus our lives.

His nine month doctor's appointment was extremely interesting. At his six month appointment, he laid on the exam table calm and still while they took his measurements. Those days are over. The nurse couldn't even mark where his feet were because he wouldn't lay still long enough. When she finally got the feet marked, he destroyed the exam table paper before she could get to his head. So she had to start all over.

Gone are the days when I could sit him in the middle of the living room floor, go use the restroom and come back to find him sitting in the same spot. Now I leave the room for a minute and not only is he no longer in the exact spot where I left him, but he's not even in the room anymore.

I literally can't take my eyes off of him for a second. I turned away from him to hang something in his closet, he was sitting right in front of me. Next thing I know, he had tried to pull himself up and went tumbling backwards and hit his head.

And the biggest changes of all are the changes to his sleep habits. Yes, we have been spoiled rotten with a baby who has slept through the night since six weeks old so you might not feel bad for us. But starting with our first night of vacation, all eight nights of vacation and the last four or five nights, he has been waking up in the middle of the night and staying awake for an hour or sometimes two.

Could be teething, could be wanting to show off all his new tricks, could be the fact that we ran to him every time he cried on vacation to keep him from waking other people up, could be a combination of all of the above. No matter the cause, we want our good sleeper back.

Nothing keeps you on your toes more than being a parent. Just when you think you have things figured out or get used to the way things are going, they change again.

Sure it's crazy, embarrassing and eventful but I am still loving every single second of being Graham's mom. That being said, I wouldn't hate it if diaper changes went back to being easy and no longer felt like rodeo wrangling. Not going to happen, is it?


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

First Annual Ugly Sweater Party

Ugly Sweater Party from Emily Robinson on Vimeo . Well, our First Annual Ugly Sweater Party was a huge success! We had SO much fun, as you'll see from the video. I also had so much fun making this video! I got a new flip cam for Christmas so it was fun to actually make a project with the videos! For those who attended the party, you will definitely enjoy all 14 minutes of this video (it is worth every second). I was laughing so hard while I was making it! For those who didn't attend the party, I can see how the video might get old or seem really long. Either way, if you watch it, let me know what you think!
Week: 19 Baby size: 6 inches, the size of a mango Bump size: 35.5 inches   Weight: +10 pounds Cravings: Anything sweet I still can't pass up desserts and don't worry - I didn't pass on anything this week, as much as I should have. I ate a glazed doughnut, piece of chocolate cake (it was small...) and a piece of cheesecake. Not all in the same day, but in the same week.  Other than my poor eating habits, which is old news at this point, there were a few other big developments this week. I guess you could say I officially "popped." I received more comments (and more belly touching) this week than I have throughout the pregnancy. This is both good and bad. I kind of liked being able to "hide" my pregnancy and only talk about it when and with whom I wanted. Those days are officially behind me and my protruding belly apparently is just screaming to people, "yes, I'm pregnant. Let's talk about it." There are only two weeks ...

Beware of Infections...

When I think of an infection, I think of something that needs a little neosporin and a band aid and then life goes on. When the doctors started talking about Mark's infection as something that is life-threatening, as you can imagine, I was shocked. He has stage IV cancer for god's sake, an infection is the least of his worries, right? Wrong. Turns out it's not uncommon for people going through this treatment to get these infections which can be fatal if it doesn't respond to antibiotics and continues to spread. So, going back to my blog about not worrying because it doesn't get you anywhere and it's a waste of time, yada yada yada - I have done very little of anything else besides worry during the past 36 hours or so. Even during the hour and a half last night watching the movie Amityville Horror I was worrying. Well, I guess I was worrying more about not peeing my pants, but you get the idea. I feel bad for the people around me when I get worried like this. I ...