Favorite Things - 9 Month Edition

So I decided to post a bunch of our favorite things we've used to survive these first 9 months with Ben. If you're not interested, just skip this article since it's going to be lengthy, but if you have a little one, need a present for someone with one or are just plain interested continue on.

I have to play some catch up since I'm just starting this so I'm breaking it down into 3 month segments based on what I remember. It's amazing how quickly you can forget some of this though!

(All of these are in no particular order)

0-3 Months

1. Papasan Swing - this was a necessity and the best feature was that the chair part laid down flat or sat up while it swung. This type worked a lot better for us than the other types of swings out there.

2. Bouncy chair - the only way I was able to shower. I could put him in this all swaddled and he would listen to the shower and be content. He never really liked the vibrate feature, but I know lots of other kids that did.

3. Boppy - This was great for nursing and then it transitioned into a support for when he learned to sit. We got a lot of use out of it!

4. Swaddlers - These we used every night until he learned how to get his arms out. He was houdini in those things! We outgrew them before a lot of other kids I know.

5. Other mentionables: Video monitor (moved him to his room around 8 weeks and it was extremely nice to see what was going on without him in our room), co-sleeper for our room the first few weeks, pacifier from the hospital, nursing cover & freezer storage bags, baby bath, oversized mirror for car, play mirror for him to look at himself with (seriously I thought he was vain, but it came in handy at keeping him entertained for a while), burp clothes, grandparents.

3-6 Months

1. Gym - we started using around 1-2 months and he enjoyed it, but really started batting at things and playing with it more so around 3-4 months. (This isn't the one we have, but it's similar - minus the kid)

2. Johnny Jumper - one of our all time favorites. Maybe because it's hilarious to watch him, but also because he loves it and still uses it currently. We have the one with the tray on it so we can put toys on there for him to play with plus a few attach to the strings on the sides. See his videos for live action of this wonderful toy.

3. Exercauser - mainly I used this a little at first to help him be upright (since he had GERD), but he's grown into it with the different height levels and still loves using it.

4. PJ's - once he was houdini we had to transition him to a sleeping sack which was awesome - we used one like below which works so much easier for middle of the night diaper changes and I HIGHLY recommend them instead of the sleeveless ones cause then you have to undo the long sleeve onsie you put them in also. We probably started using this around 2 months until about 4 months. Then we had to graduate to footy pj's once he rolled over and started sleeping on his tummy.

5. Bumbo - we probably didn't get as much use out of this as most other people, but it defintely came in handy to keep him upright and in one place. Also was handy as a portable high chair on a few occasions.

6. Other mentionables: Humidifier, pacifiers, lotion, children's tylenol (he was sick constantly once in daycare), lots of bottles so you can go at least a day without washing all of them for daycare, highchair, bibs, play phone with lights and sounds, busy bee toy (has rubber wings for teething), and Baby Cubes for homemade baby food - easy to pull out of the freezer at night and into his bag for daycare in the morning.

6-9 Months

(we had a photo shoot this weekend for the pics and he's very active so there's a lot on this list)

1. Learn & Groove Table - take the legs of for sitting playtime and then once they can stand put them on. He loves this mainly for the standing part and all the lights and sounds. This is one of his current favorites as you can probably tell from the huge grin on his face.

2. Learning Hoops - not sure if Ben or Brian like this one better, but it seems to be used on a more than regular basis. (Thanks Lara!) Also, he's figured out you don't need the balls to make the sounds and lights, but rather just push the button in the hoop.

3. Music Station - This was a hand me down also (Thanks Traina's yet again) and he loves the dancing monkey and music. It converts also for sitting and standing.

4. Activity Walker - This converts also for sitting and then walking. He loves walking behind it and is starting to get a better hang of it, but he tends to fall once he reaches to play with all the moving parts on front. (Yet another fantastic hand me down)

5. Books, Books and More Books - He can't get enough of books and loves being read to. He will lay on the ground and try to flip pages on his own, but loves the 'touch and feel' and 'peek a boo' ones best.

6. Old Skool TV - This was a Xmas present and it was one he gravitated to a lot. Thanks Bensons! Who knew a blast from the past on such a simple toy could be so much fun!

7. Pull Up Ball Blast - The best part is seeing him learn with this. He loves to push the ball in the top and see which one of the four holes it comes out of on the bottom.

8. Laugh & Learn Puppy - Another Xmas present that he has a lot of fun with and has fun songs that sound like Amy Adams in Enchanted. Yes, you read that right and that movie is one of my favorites. How can you not like a movie that pokes fun at fairy tales and has Patrick Dempsey in it?!

9. Other Mentionables: Sippy Cups, lots of spoons, Teething Tablets, Baby Motrin, Pacifiers, bath toys, pet dog (his favorite thing in the house that he now chases), Puffs, Cheerios, noise machine for sleeping at other places, and all baby proofing things.

Mini Casanova

Kickin it old skool for the ladies.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Genius!

Boy genius with his NY Times crossword puzzle. It's not very complete, but at least he can write pretty legibly.

Who Dat that won the Superbowl?!

First off I want to apologize for the delay in my updates. It was a busy week with a healthy Ben and then of course the last couple days we've both had a cold. Luckily it's not too bad and already starting to go away.

So this past week Ben has been a crawling fool. He's all over the place and getting much faster with every passing day. Just today he crawled from the family room where he was playing with Dada all the way to the kitchen sink where I was making some food. It's a lot of fun to see what he actually wants to play with now that he can get to where he wants to go so my next post will probably be a "Favorites" post as I've seen a few friends do.

Anyway, he's also figured out clapping although I'm not sure he really understands he's clapping, but he does understand he's doing something. We of course go on to clap and say "Yay!" as he does it which usually leads to an uproar of giggles. He's also using the clapping to say he wants more of whatever we're doing or that he's really happy.

For the superbowl we decided to have friends over again which is now starting to become an annual tradition. It works out well with our basement and the playroom for the kids. Just last year we only had two kids over and this year we had four. Next year we already know there will be more with twins on the way for Erin - yippee!! The kids all got along great and Jack ruled them all since he's a year older which he seemed to enjoy. Great friends, good food, fun game. Here are some pics.

Jack on a truck ride

Milo & Ben Playing

Nicola hanging with her Dad

And crawling...

So the last video I posted was from Wednesday and this is from this morning. He's learned to crawl just far enough to dive to his destination. He's starting to understand that he can get places also which means we're going to have to keep a close eye on this little troublemaker.

Almost Mobile

So Ben is very close to being mobile. Here's a video from the other night. I finally started babyproofing last night, but I'm sure we'll find things we missed once he has a better hang of it. He still won't go more than a few crawls before stopping, but pretty soon he'll be off and we'll never be able to catch him again. Ah, the joys of parenthood. On one hand I'll be very happy we don't have to carry him around and get things for him, but on the other I'll miss the days of being able to walk away and not have to worry about him for a few seconds.

Quick story - Brian dropped Ben off at daycare yesterday and put him down at which time he crawled a little ways across the room to steal a toy from another kid. I think we may have a trouble maker on our hands and guess we need to start working on sharing.

Feeding the Dog?

Well this morning Ben figured out that if you hold a puff in your hand near the dog that she will take it out of your hand and eat it if you won't. This basically meant that the dog got more food than he did. Oh well, I guess they are BFF anyway. I didn't get video of him actually feeding the dog, but this is close enough.

8 Months Old!

I'm a little late with this post, but we've not had a great week so I apologize in advance. It all started about a week and a half ago when I decided to take Ben to St. Louis with me and leave Brian here. For those of you that don't know - this is a big feat for me since Ben is not a fan of long carrides and proceeds to scream when he's awake after being in his carseat for a while. So in prep for my trip I got him a big boy carseat in the hopes that if he could see out the window then it wouldn't be so bad. Well, it was. He generally will take a nap, but it's 2 hours max in the carseat so the rest of the time was spent crying basically. I put on Yo Gabba Gabba after a while and that seemed to limit his crying a bit, but still not pleasant. We left on a Wednesday and were staying through the weekend, but on the second night we were there it all began. He didn't sleep well and just wanted to be held. At first I thought it was because he wasn't in his crib, but after a while I realized there was probably more. I also thought that maybe he was just getting spoiled by being held with my parents, but was wrong again. The rest of the weekend was long to say the least, but once he spiked a fever I knew there was more. We got back on sunday and took him to an urgent care place and they said that it was just a viral bug and sent us home. Then on monday night we went to Children's Mercy once his fever reached 104 and it was the 4th day of it. Turns out he had a double ear infection and bronchiolitis. After a few days on drugs he's doing much better. Let's just say it's not easy to give an 8 month old an inhaler through a mask or give an already energetic baby steroids (wish I would've got some video of it - it was ridiculous how much movement he had). Oh - and I guess this energy is possibly hereditary per the doc so at this point I blame Brian since he still can't sit still.

Besides the latest bought of disease that seems to be plaguing Ben through this winter season, he's generally a happy kid and getting close to crawling still. He can make his way around the room pretty well by rolling and crawling backwards, but still no forward motion beyond the lunging.

He's still gaining weight which is good considering the different illnesses he's had the past few weeks, but I'd guess when we get our 9 month check up that he's at most in the 50th percentile - Prove me wrong Ben!

I look forward to the next round of sickness he brings home in a week or two - Yippee!

Click on the pic for a slideshow