I had the best Mothers Day I could have asked for this past weekend! We celebrated with my family (Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Darrin and Maritza) on Saturday night at my favorite Japanese restaurant. Sunday, we went down to Santa Monica and had lunch just the three of us at Shutters on the Beach. It was beautiful and peaceful down there, and the restaurant has an amazing view. After lunch we walked around for a bit before coming home. Then, we met up with Scott's Aunt Robin & Uncle Howard for dinner at Gulfstream. I was definitely spoiled! Last week, a gorgeous flower arrangement was delivered from Scott and Tyler! That was only the beginning... Scott also made me a photo book that looks like a real book. It has photos from when I was pregnant all the way through last month. It was such a thoughtful gift and it means a lot to me, especially since Scott took the time to make it for me. He says it took him many many hours to put together online. I also got some other fun gifts from everyone, including my whole family! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect first Mothers Day!
Lots and lots has changed with little Tyler in these past few months. Just after 6 months, he started to learn to crawl. Now, at over 9 months, he is unstoppable! He just crawls and crawls and crawls... We have to confine him to certain areas so that he doesn't go where he shouldn't. Also, around 6.5 months, he pulled himself up to standing all by himself for the first time. Now, he loves to hold onto furniture, toys, people, etc and cruise all around. I am sure he will be walking in no time! I am not entirely sure that I am ready for that...
He also loves to babble. He "says" things like "bababa, mamama, dadada, and lots of other interesting sounds. At times it seems he really is trying to say something. He also finally is catching on to eating solids. It took him quite a while to actually decide he likes to eat anything other than milk. He eats quite a few different things now, and loves to eat with him hands. Some favorite finger foods are "organic puffs" (baby cereal that melts in the mouth), blueberries, freeze dried bananas and apples, cheerios, garbanzo beans, freeze dried yogurt and pretty much anything else I am willing to give to him. We have not given him any candy, chocolate or other such junk, and I do not plan to do so any time soon. We save that for ourselves! Haha. Actually, we have cut back on that stuff ourselves. It is hard to eat that stuff around Tyler because anything we eat, he wants to eat. So it's better if we just don't have it.
He is still a great sleeper. I actually consider myself the luckiest mom around. I do know quite a few babies/toddlers who sleep well, but Tyler is the only one I have heard of who sleeps in late like he does. We put him to sleep around 10:00-10:30pm, and most days I do not get him out of his crib until 9:00-10:00am. Yay! I am so NOT a morning person, so this is awesome for me. He usually wakes up in his crib around 7:00-7:30am and is up for a little while and then falls back asleep for a little while longer. He also takes some pretty awesome naps too! Lately his naps can be up to 4 hours long! Usually not that long, but 2-3 hours is normal.
Tyler has officially grown out of his infant car/stroller seat. :( This one actually makes me a little sad. I LOVED that his car seat just came straight out of the car onto his stroller, so that when he falls asleep in there like he so often does, I didn't have to wake him up to move him over. His toddler car seat actually can be used on the stroller, but it is so big and heavy and does not recline so it is not as practical for use on the stroller. I do LOVE my Orbit toddler stroller seat though! It is amazing. It reclines and has the best sun shade that I have seen! Perfect for napping in there.
We had Tyler's 9 month check up about a week and a half ago. He weighed in at 16 lbs. 12 oz. which is the 10th percentile. His length was 28.75" which is the 75th percentile. The doctor says we need to fatten him up a bit since he is in the low end of weight for his age. I have been trying to feed him more "fattening" foods. This sounds a little strange for a baby, but good fat is healthy for them. Some of his favorite weight gaining foods are avocados, whole milk organic yogurt & garbanzo beans.
It is getting more difficult to take him out to restaurants, but overall he is still pretty good. I just make sure to bring plenty of finger foods for him to help keep him occupied for part of the time. The hard part is he wants to be able to crawl around and explore which we can't let him do so sometimes we have to walk around with him for a bit to let him feel like he is able to explore.
These are some photos from back in March. Yes, March. SORRY! I know, I have been slacking...
