Max turned 9 months old! His 9 month appt went great and he was pronounced 29 inches tall and a little over 22 pounds heavy. His percentiles were not particularly high this time around, but Doc said growth happens that way- fast at times, slower at others.
I have been greatly enjoying having a proper house for the holidays, even if I do not have the money to go and buy all the pretty things in stores that I want- I think I am doing pretty well with the free decorations thus far. Here's my mantle with aforementioned (on Flickr) foraged pine cones from a neighbor's yard, candles generously gifted from my sister (selahestelle), homemade snowflakes and Mardi Gras beads from actual New Orleans that a lovely friend brought back for me a few years ago.
One of my missions lately is to bring an edible to my in-laws for the holidays that will truly be appreciated, as in, they would miss it if I were to skip a year. I think I may have found the answer in cut-out cookies. This year I have made sugar, brown sugar and gingerbread and I started last night on frosting some of them. I'm a little worried that I will seem like a show off to the in-laws, but I really enjoy making them and she said I could, seemed happy about it in fact, we shall see what kind of reception they get.
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My other mission which I think has resolved itself was/is Max's sleep. He had been waking up at 5 or a little earlier for a long time (maybe a month?) whereas he used to sleep 10+ hours at night he was now sleeping 9+ (way-back-when he USED to sleep 11+, those were the days.....)
This sounds fine, 9 being the minimum, but it was definitely less pleasant, and also cause for concern were his daytime naps.
Max has never been a "napper" per se. His standard nap amount for months and months was about 30 minutes. Not long at all. He would occasionally throw in some longer ones, but more often than not, I had 30 minute chunks of time to do the myriad of things I couldn't do with him in tow.
In the past couple of months he has been mixing it up. For a little while he wasn't taking enough of his 30 minute naps (2 hours naptime being the minimum). Then he was taking one long nap (an hour and a half) either for his first or second nap with the other being about 30 minutes, not an ideal nap schedule, but pretty good. Every now and then he'd take a third little nap too, which was always welcome.
Just recently he's had a few days where he "opted out" of his first nap and wasn't going down until well after noon or even 2:30!!! (the day this photo was taken)
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This is pretty serious when he is waking up at 5 am. This was the day he fell asleep in the moby wrap when we were walking back home from a playdate.
So, I was worried that I maybe needed to enforce some kind of scheduling or be tougher on him for naps or something, but he has now turned over a new leaf all on his own.
He's been waking up around 6 or even later, regardless of his bedtime, which is SOOO much nicer. Even though I stay in bed with him for a couple of hours after his early morning wake-up (which is nice, don't get me wrong) it is fitful little uncomfortable bouts of sleep interspersed with baby kickboxing at best.
At worst it is laying there for 2 hours not being able to get in the position you would really like to. But you have a happy warm baby next to you and it is much easier than NOT being in bed. Anywho- starting this whole thing at 6 or later is wonderful.
Also, his naps have gotten better on their own too- he's been getting more than the minimum 2 hours and has been doing great with going down.
Here he is last night- I went in to look at him (something I do every night now) and his little feet were sticking out! I thought it was so cute and funny. :)
In other news, he and I both have bad coughs with chest congestion. I am a little better today, but I think I may be losing my voice. Fun.
There's not much sadder than a baby with a hard cough- oh wait, there is a baby crying with chest congestion who makes a weird goose honk sound when he breathes in between. That's sadder.
