Riley is 9 months old!

Whoa, time is FLYING!  I know, I know, I say that all the time, but it is just seriously blowing my mind.  Riley is 9 months old!  We took him in today for his 9 month check up where he received his second flu vaccine, an H1N1 vaccine and a finger prick to check anemia and lead levels.  With his first shot he just got a concerned look on his face, and then on the second he let out the wail!  Didn’t last long though and once I picked him up he was fine.  And then we moved onto the finger prick where he didn’t even flinch!  He just sat and gave the blood draw nurse the stare down.  But the doctor said that he was perfect!

And thanks to Windows Live Writer, I can finally add this geeky table that I have been dying to add to his monthly updates with his growth stats!!!

Age	Weight	%	Height	%	Head	%
Birth	8lbs 9oz		21.75”
1 week	8lbs 1oz
1 month	11lbs 3oz	90th	23'”	90th	15.25”	50th
2 months	12lbs 14oz	90th	25”	100th	15.75	50th
4 months	15lbs 14oz	75th	27”	100th	16.5”	50th
6 months	17lbs 9oz	75th	28.25”	100th	17”	50th
9 months	21lbs 3oz	75th	30.25”	95th	17.75”	40th

1) He is crawling!  He started crawling on 10/22/09 at 8.5 months old!  He still has a slow deliberate crawl at this point, which just makes it cuter.  As Finn and I move through the house from room to room he will crawl after us.  I’ve got to try to get it on camera, but I just LOVE watching it.  It’s like he’s saying “Wait for me!”.  He also loves to stand.  He has always had really strong legs and has loved to stand, but now he can pull himself up to standing and even cruise around his music table a little.

2) He got his first tooth this month!  And it looks like he’s about to get two more!  Unlike Finn though, it has definitely bothered him.  Finn never had any teething issues (until he got his molars) he would just wake up one day with a new tooth.  Riley….well….not so much……these things are definitely hurting him and bothering him and making him cranky and not sleeping very well.  Poor little dude!

3) He is 100% breastfed!  We’ve reached a little milestone with Riley that we never got to with Finn.  With Finn my supply started to take a hit around the 6 month mark and that is when we introduced formula and by the end of the 9th month he was completely formula fed.  So right now, my supply is awesome (knock on wood) and he will be formula free for at least another month!

4)  He has the most gorgeous chocolate brown eyes.  Its still surprising to me how dark they are, especially in comparison to blue eyed Finn. 

5) “Ohhh, he’s juicy!”  The grocery store check out lady said Riley was Juicy, just makes me laugh because he totally is!  Not to mention….he has the best Squeezable Cheeks!  People have started squeezing his cheeks, even perfect strangers!  I’m just waiting for him to say “Whatchyou Talkin Bout Willis?”.  It surprises me that he is “only” 75th percentile for his weight given how much chubb he has and how tall he is, evidently there are much chubbier babies!

6)  Baby Bam Bam!  The church nursery lady has started calling him baby bam bam because he lifted up the baby swing with one hand.  While this may be a bit of an exaggeration, I have seen similar feats of strength.  He is VERY strong!  I’m definitely going to be in trouble when he becomes a toddler and I have to manhandle him.  I’m going to need to get a personal trainer.

7) He’s Waxy!  I have never, not even once, cleaned Finn’s ears.  Riley on the other hand has wax just falling out of his ears in big clumps!  It’s the craziest thing!  I asked the doctor about it and she said it was fine, nothing is clogged in there and looks “normal” but that I’ll just have to keep cleaning them out.

8) He loves to play ball!  If you pick up a ball he will sit down on his bottom and turn his body to face you and squeal in delight until you throw him the ball!  He’ll even catch it and throw it back.  He has some serious hand coordination, its truly amazing!  I think we have a ball player on our hands!

9) He’s loud!  I found the post where I announced his birth here on the blog and think it is funny that I mentioned then how loud he is.  Even right from when he was born, Todd and I looked at each other and said “wow, he is loud”!  And he is truly owning it.  I am not looking forward to his toddler tantrums!

And one more of the cutie patootie!