9 Months In, 9 Months Out

Happy 9 Months Hayden! Can you believe he has been out of my belly for as long as he was in there?!? It feels like just yesterday I had that big belly carrying him around!

This is what he looked like in my belly...

And this is what he looks like now!!

It is still crazy to me that he actually looks like the sonogram picture... chubby cheeks and all! He is changing everyday and we are having so much fun watching! Right now he is getting in his two top middle teeth. He never had much of a problem when the two bottom middle teeth came in, but these top ones are bothering him a little bit more. We have been giving him Tylenol and/or Motrin and it seems to be helping out! He is also starting to show a little more interest in crawling, but still hasn't taken off... he does do quite well walking when we are "helping" him though! So cute! I think one of my favorite things right now is the fact that he has officially become a side sleeper. It is so cute to go in and check on him and see him all curled up in a little ball sleeping on his side! He doesn't seem to have a preference as to which side it is, but 9 out of 10 times when we go in to check on him he is on one of them! We had his 9 month check up today and everything looked great. As a matter of fact, Dr. Papciak said he was very smart!! He weighed in at 18 pounds 12 and 3/4 ounces and was 27 and 1/4 inches tall! He was a little below the 25% for his weight and in the 50% for his height. As always, here are his new likes and dislikes!

What Hayden likes:
- Giving out high fives - He will give almost anyone a high five and it is so cute! The way he pounds his legs on the ground you would think he would kill your hand when he gave you a high five, but he barely touches you... so sweet!

He was thinking about if he wanted to give me a high five or not!!!

- Brushing his teeth - He opens his mouth as soon as he sees the toothbrush(it is actually a finger brush!). I guess he really likes getting those teeth brushed! I think it really helps with the new teeth he has coming in. I am sure it feels great on his gums. I just hope he always likes to brush his teeth this much... then we won't have to beg him to do it!!!:)
- Arms up - This game is pretty new for us, but he really loves playing it! Everytime I say "Arms up" he throws those arms up as fast as he can! He does it with the biggest smile on his face you have ever seen... he is doing something great you know?!?:)

Arms Up!!

- Movies - The child LOVES his movies. I took a pictures of him watching one of them and you can see just how into it he gets. Almost as much as me watching reality TV!!!

I told you he got into it!!

- Throwing his toys - As you saw from the previous post, he loves throwing his toys. He will even try to throw the ones that are way too big for him to pick up!
- Playing with his feet - He loves to lay on his back and play with his feet. He does this when we are changing him, just playing on the floor and even grabs them while riding in the car! I think this is pretty crazy because I just don't see how he can get those feet up high enough to grab them when his is strapped in his car seat... but don't you worry, he CAN!
- Picking out his book for story time - I just recently started letting him stand up where his books are stored and choose his own book for story time and he thinks it is the greatest thing ever. I seriously think he is thinking about which one he wants because sometimes it takes him much longer than others to pick out his story! It is so cute... I love it!

He can't make up his mind!

- Helping Mommy - No matter what the task, he is right there to "help" me. As long as I give him something equivalent to what I am doing we are happy campers! I am hoping this is something that continues forever... I love a good helper!
- His big boy car seat - We finally transferred him to his big boy car seat and he is really enjoying it. It is still reclined and rear facing, but he has more room and I think he is much more comfortable. I sure hope so anyways because it is HUGE... it takes up so much more space than the carrier! He definitely likes being able to look out the window... he never knew there was stuff out there!!

I'm not sure which one shows that he loves it more!!

- Waving "Hey" and "Bye, bye" - Loves doing this to strangers in the grocery store, but usually will not wave either to someone we know. Silly little boy! The best part is he usually is waving backwards... I guess he likes to see what his hand looks like when he is waving it!!

The Backward Wave...

The Forward Wave...

- Talking - Still my big talker. Not many new words, but saying his normal ones ALL THE TIME!
- The tickle game -He is most ticklish right at his ribs and loves it when we play this game! He will laugh as soon as he seems my tickle fingers coming!
- Spewing his food all over us - He used to spew his food and I don't really think he knew what he was doing, but now he is oh so aware and loves to get us dirty! I always tell him "no, no" when he does it and the other day he let me know he definitely understands. I gave him a bite, he spewed it everywhere, and then he started shaking his head no and saying "no, no"! Smarty pants!!
- Bath time - As always!

Happy boy!

We even have fun after the bath!

- Diaper changing time - I think he thinks this is now a game. Lets see how long Hayden can make it take Momma to change my diaper. He is always trying to roll over during the change and ALWAYS tries to take the diaper off faster than I can get it on! Makes for an interesting diaper change I guess!!
- The playground - We just introduced Hayden to the playground a couple of weeks ago, and it was a big hit! He got to swing, slide and we even climbed a little wall to get to the top of the slide. I am sure this will be something we do more and more of... he loved it!

Playground fun...

What Hayden dislikes:
- Being told "No, no" - Out comes the pout!!! He is fully aware of what this means and really does not like it when he gets told no. He doesn't mind telling you no, but when he is told not to do something it is quite a different story. I have a feeling we might have a bit of a problem when the tantrums set in!!

Here comes the pout...

- Peas - Still doesn't like them... maybe never will?!? I STILL don't like tomatoes!
- Shots - This will probably never get any better... cries as soon as he sees the needle!!
- Long car rides - He really doesn't like being in the car any longer than an hour unless it is during his nap time, and then when he wakes up he wants out immediately!
- Staying up late - A lot like his Momma! He gets extremely fussy and hard to deal with if you keep him up past his bed time(currently 8-8:30). Needless to say, we try to get him to bed around that time... gotta have a happy baby!

What Hayden is not sure about:
- Oatmeal/Rice cereal - He started out liking these, but now he gags every time we give it to him. He acts like it is so bad he is going to throw up!
- Nap time - I think he really, really, really wants to take naps, but if it is not on his terms we run into a bit of a problem. Sometimes he will just lay right down and off he goes, but other times we get quite a hissy fit! He's just not sure if he wants a nap or not!!! The key here is to catch him right when he is ready... if you can accomplish that you've got 2 or 3 hours to get some stuff done!!:)

Of course I have some cute 9 month pictures, but even better than that I made two little slide shows so that you could see just how many different faces Hayden has! I am sure you would never believe just how many pictures you have to take to get that one you actually wanted!!

And my favorites were...

Giving Mommy his biggest smile...

The famous pout!

Cutest Smile!!

I just love it...

If you actually made it to the end of this oh so long post you are probably better than me... it probably would have taken me a few days to get through all of this!! Sorry it was so long, I just had a lot to share! What can I say... we LOVE our little boy!!