Nine Months and a New Year

I am a little late in posting Ryan's nine month update, but with the holidays...hey, it's better late than never! Ryan was nine months on the 26th and we went in for his check-up on the 28th. Here were his stats:

Height - 30 3/4 inches (95th percentile)
Weight - 20 lbs 14 oz (50-75th percentile)
Head - 19 3/4 inches (> 97th percentile)

Basically we have a long and lean fighting machine with lots of brains!! Haha. I can definitely tell in his clothes, because they are always too short, too loose in the tummy, and literally have to use both hands to yank it down over his head! Everything checked up just fine. He has his top four teeth that have been trying to come in for over a month now. We think one finally broke through a teeny tiny bit, but geez, they are just bulging at the gums!

Other milestones that have occurred this month include:
*finally army crawling; he gets up on all fours and just chills there for 20 seconds or so before he plops right back down. He follows us around the house and finds the tiniest specks of dirt/dust/food/etc. to pick up and try and get in his mouth!
*loving his jumperoo again - definitely nice for a 15 min break every now and then
*working on his sounds - he says da da da a lot, but not really intentionally; he whispers ta ta ta; and when he gets upset he'll try and say moohh maaah
*he screams ALL the time - not sure why, he just does and he usually does it while clinching his fists, closing his eyes, and tightening his whole body up
*when he eats, he likes to spit his food EVERYWHERE
*he LOVES puffs; we've tried different meats; he likes them at the onset, but after a few days he gets bored and it needs to have cheese on top for him to eat it!
*he seems to understand waving - when people come and go or when he gets up from a nap he waves his arm around really spasticly (pretty sure that is not a word, but you get my drift)
*he goes to bed around 7:30pm and sleeps 12 hours; his naps have improved as well - usually 1-1.5 hours around 10 am and 2 or 3 pm
*he really is getting into all of his toys - loves things that open and close (books, baby lap top, sesame street toy); likes to hold just about anything over his head and then drop it on his face. Only cries about half of the time though!
*loves the remotes more than just about anything else in the world
*he is super clingy and gets scared; he will really start crying around people he doesn't know or hasn't seen in a while

He is a handful that is for sure, but we are loving every minute of it!

 Working on his balancing act!

As far as our New Year's went, it was pretty uneventful, but still a lot of fun. We went and had Mexican food at Pappasito's with the Turner's, then came back to our house to put the little one to bed and just played games. A few minutes before midnight, we went and lit a ton of the leftover sparklers from their wedding. About 5 minutes after midnight, they went home and we went to bed! I was just impressed we were able to stay up to ring in the New Year. Having a little one makes it difficult at times because no matter what time you go to bed or what kind of night you had, they still wake up at the same time!

We are looking forward to the New Year and decided to make a few resolutions. Some of which include: me joining a few groups for Ryan to make friends at and get him more active (I have been bad at that!), strive to get my "work" to a solid 3 days a week so that I have more quality time with Ryan, and to mold myself into a good role model for my son (that can be tricky, when you have never had a little one around the house!).

It is crazy how quickly this last year flew by. Hopefully this year, things will slow down a bit. We have lots to look forward to - a bathroom remodel in the spring, Wes and I are going to take a tropical vacation in May, Wes will be starting his MBA in the fall, and my brother (along with other family and friends) will be getting married this year! Yay :)

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year!