9 Months Old

Ian turned 9 months old last Sunday, and he got a clean bill of health. He is growing quickly and is already wearing 12 month clothes! He weighed 22 lbs 2 oz (90th percentile) and was 29 inches long (75th percentile). He got his second flu shot and was tested for anemia (he's not anemic, by the way). Here are some more pictures of Ian that were taken on Christmas Eve.


He discovered the bag of bows while I was trying to finish wrapping some presents.

Christmas Day

I can hardly believe that Ian's first Christmas has come and gone. We had a relaxing day with family, and Ian certainly enjoyed all of the attention from everyone. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at Phil's parents' house with DadDad, MomMom, Tia (Megan), Natalie, and Nan. The second half of Christmas day was at our house with my parents and brother, Justin. As the pictures will show, Ian loved every new toy, big and small, that he received; why do I have the feeling that he might never be this easy to please again? We missed having Phil cracking jokes and bringing a whole other level of comic relief to family get-togethers. Hopefully we'll be able to celebrate Ian's second Christmas together as a family.

Playing with some of the fun toys that Santa left for him.


Checking out his stocking and some toys.

Ian loves these stacking cups. He likes pulling each one out, spreading them all around him, and then selecting 2 to bang together.

Ian and Natalie playing contentedly with their new toys.

"Look at this fancy remote control that Santa left me!" Ian LOVES remotes, and is always trying to steal the remote control out of my hands so he can play/chew on it. I guess the need to be in control of the remote is instilled in men at birth.

Shooting some hoops.

Unwrapping presents is serious business!

Staring at DadDad in a Santa hat. He was in complete awe.

Trying out his new Texas Tech sippy cup.

This is my FAVORITE picture. I thought I would get a cute picture of him with the Santa hat on, but, as you can see, he didn't think that was a good idea. What a terrible Mommy I am to take a picture, and then console my child (as soon as the hat was off, the tears dried up)!

Looking at a present with MomMom.

Helping Natalie.

Talking with Uncle Justin while Granddad puts together one of his new toys.

Merry Christmas!

"Ooohhh...look what's in this bag!"
Admiring the new shoes, after removing the tissue paper ever so carefully.

Reaching for the exact piece of wrapping paper he wanted to rip next.

"Oh look, there are more presents over here!" He had just lost interest in tearing up the wrapping paper that is covering his body, and had found something more exciting to investigate.

Stretching to get his hands on an especially sparkly gift.

Reading with Grammie.

Sitting with Uncle Justin on the couch.

Christmas Videos

I apologize if anyone thinks the videos are a little excessive. I wanted to make sure that Phil saw as much of Ian's first Christmas as possible, so I took quite a few videos. The quality of the videos isn't that great on the blog, but you can still see how much Ian enjoyed Christmas!

Discovering the musical instruments Santa left him.

Sitting on the cute dump truck Santa brought.

He got this hat in his stocking, and I wanted to get a picture of him with it on, but, as you can see, he didn't care for the hat at all.

Playing with his new basketball game.

Playing with Uncle Justin.

Unwrapping a present. He looks like he has been doing this his whole life!

What's the best part about Christmas for a 9 month old? Tearing up the wrapping paper! Why do we even bother with purchasing gifts?? :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

This has proven to be a busy and sleepless week for both of us. Ian was sick for 3 days this week and he had a fever that stayed around 100 to 101 degrees even with Motrin or Tylenol, he has had terrible allergies which have made his eczema flare up (I think he is allergic to our Christmas tree), I discovered that he is allergic to amoxicillin, benadryl works wonders for his itchy rash that appeared over his head, face, neck, and torso because of the amoxicillin, he's started taking Allegra twice a day since his allergies have gotten worse, and, after we go to the doctor tomorrow for his 9 month check-up, we will have been to the pediatrician's office for 3 of the last 4 days. Thank goodness I had all of our Christmas shopping done last week! Our house is all decorated, and it has been fun getting ready for Ian's first Christmas, even though he won't understand what's really going on. We'll be sure to take lots of pictures and videos since Phil can't be here to share Christmas with us. Riding in his big boy car seat.

Naked Christmas tree. Don't I have a cute assistant?

Ian rolled on over to inspect the tree a little bit closer.

Merry Christmas!

Long-Overdue Update

It has been a long time since I've posted pictures, so I have included the pictures that have accumulated over the past few weeks. I am in the process of getting our house decorated for Christmas, so I should have some more pictures soon. Ian is doing great and continues to do new things every day. He babbles "dadada," "mamama," and whichever vowel sound is striking his fancy at the time. He has started making a disgruntled screech while arching his back and balling his hands into fists when he gets mad about something. He continues to roll all over the floor, but isn't interested in crawling just yet (which is fine by me). I had to take out his infant car seat and replace it with a regular car seat today. It's amazing that he has already outgrown the car seat that we brought him home from the hospital in! 8 months old

Chewing on a carrot on Thanksgiving Day with some assistance from MomMom.

Looking at the cows with Uncle Robert. I think the cows might be studying him as well.

He likes to put his thumb in his mouth whenever I am taking pictures.

Ian is getting cooking tips on how to smoke a turkey from all of the men. Isn't male bonding great? Even Chester thought he belonged in this group.

Hugging Uncle Justin.

Natalie was playing some music for the small crowd. Ian looks pretty captivated.

Ian's first Thanksgiving meal. Even though he didn't enjoy a true Thanksgiving dinner this year, he was quite happy to have some carrots and a teething biscuit.

Natalie was singing to him, and he was talking to her at the same time. It made for some joyful noise, that's for sure!

Playing with Grammie, Granddad, and Aunt Debra after the Thanksgiving meal.

Admiring the handsome boy in the mirror.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we traveled to Marble Falls to walk through a trail of lights. I put Ian in some Christmas jammies (they barely fit him that night, and they definitely won't fit on Christmas Eve) and a warm coat, and he experienced his first taste of Christmas lights. He was tired, but he wouldn't fall asleep because he was too busy looking at all of the lights around him. He got his picture taken with Santa that night, and he didn't even cry.

Ian's hair is starting to get long on top of his head. I thought it would be fun to see what he would look like with spikes.

Today we went to my friend Janelle's house and let Ian and her little boy, Triston, play together. Triston turned 1 in November, and he crawls everywhere along with walking while holding on to furniture.

Triston loves giving hugs. You can see his right arm is around Ian's arm, and Triston is pressing his face into Ian's shoulder to give him a hug. Ian didn't quite know what to think of being hugged by someone his own size.

Sitting on one of Triston's toys.

Doesn't it look like they are plotting something huge?? This is probably the least amount of trouble these two will get into together.