9 months in, 9 months out

I am pretty certain no one loves these posts as much as I do, but I absolutely love going back in time to read about the milestones in Sawyers life and the new things he has started doing and loving each month. I accidentally missed 8 months with how crazy June was, but I’m here to make up for it in one doozy of a 9 month update.

This sweet kid has been out as long as he was in. Can you believe that? We could have grown another Sawyer in the amount of time we’ve loved him! He is hands down the happiest baby I’ve ever met. Everyone and I mean everyone tells us that. We started having a nanny come to the house once a week to give my mom a break, and she even said that she has worked with a lot of babies, and never met one as happy and silly as our little guy!

I believe it too. He literally wakes up clapping and laughing. The only time this child is unhappy is when he gets his nose wiped or face cleaned off after dinner. Then he screams like you’re torturing him ;)

This month he started crawling and holy cow, parenting definitely just got real. I have to lock him with me in the closet while I get ready in the morning or he will crawl himself right down the stairs! He finds himself in highchair-jail quite often so I can keep an eye on his busy little body ;) I think his favorite thing ever is trying to keep up with Axl. He will see him across the room and try with all of his might to crawl over before Axl hides! We also finally have 2 teeth! They haven’t grown in completely yet, but he did cut 2 teeth on the bottom just last week and that little goofy grin just kills me! Although I am now terrified for my nipples every time he eats.

let me at 'em! let me at 'em!

Speaking of eating, he eats everything. It’s like all of a sudden he just became the hungriest little hippo! If he shows interest in something, we let him try it. His favorites are cheese, scrambled eggs, chicken, and his #1 peas and carrots. I still make all of his baby food and he usually gets a puree at lunch and dinner and then I try to pair it with a protein and some finger food to fill him up! When my breastmilk supply dropped drastically, I knew I had to keep up with other calories if he was going to stay full! Good news is, I don't think he is hungry...little man is 23 pounds and in the 94th percentile for weight and 96 for height!

I shared more in my breastfeeding journey post, but we’re still going strong with no plans to stop until he reaches a year. I pump 3 times a day at work, and he nurses in the morning when he wakes up, before dinner, when he goes to bed, and then I recently added a 4^th pump time around 10:00 when I go to bed. I absolutely detest pumping at 10:00 but it has helped increase my supply and if I’m really serious about not formula feeding I think it’s our only option. Only a few more months, I can do it!

He is in to everything these days. I don’t even know where to start. He loves musical toys, water bottles (his #1 favorite toy), and these little toy marracas he plays with at Grandma’s house. Lately I’ve noticed him loving being sung to. I was singing Jeremy Riddle’s “More than a friend” to him the other day trying to get him down for a nap, and he had his eyes absolutely locked on mine the entire time with the biggest grin. This morning I was singing “I love you a bushel and a peck” and every time I’d stop he’d let out a little yell to say “keep singing!” It melts me.

Sawyer recently started making this "sour face" and it absolutely KILLS US! Whenever we do something he doesn't like or if he sees the face is making us laugh he goes right to it, and it's hilarious.

He is sleeping like a champ! I am so grateful for it. We usually put him down between 7:00-7:30 and he’ll sleep until about 6:00 occasionally waking up in the middle of the night for a feeding. Try as I might to get him to sleep on his back, it’s not happening. The first thing he does when we set him in his crib is flip over onto his tummy. He puts his little booty in the air and sleeps like a stink bug and it might be the cutest thing ever.

Last weekend we survived our first tummy bug which was pretty much hell on earth. I heard him coughing on the monitor, followed by hysterical screams and I went down to check on him and there was vomit everywhere.  Like, his stomach is the size of a clementine. How could one tiny tummy make so much vomit?! It was up the walls, dripping down his crib, in his eyes and ears and hair. I yelled for Jake and we quickly got him into the sink (which resulted in my all-time favorite picture of him ever) and I bathed him while Jake cleaned up the carnage in his bedroom.

I was far too paranoid after that fiasco to put him back in his room, so we laid towels down and decided he would sleep with us. After he ruined his third set of Jammies with puke, we decided we’d just let him sleep naked for faster clean up. I had a total first-time-mom panic attack after watching him throw up (Its terrible, you guys. He had no idea what was happening and he would just cry and there was nothing I could do to help!) and I called his pediatrician who is incredible and answered her phone at 11:00 PM on a Saturday and walked me through what to look for and how to best care for him. Luckily his tummy settled and he slept the rest of the night after about 1:00 and was right as rain the next day!

I guess I’ll wrap this up by thinking of a few things I never want to forget. Truth be told, I don’t want to forget a single thing, but I know it’s inevitable. I love his smiles in the morning. How playful and excited he is for a new day. I never want to forget the way he kicks excitedly when I pick him up after work and when his dad walks in the door. The way he locks eyes with me while I rock him almost like “it’s me and you mama” is my favorite time of the day and I hope the image lasts in my head forever. I always want to remember every ounce of baby chub and he determination in his eye when he sees something he wants and crawls on over to get it.

I know it goes without saying, but there is no way to understand the depth of love for someone until you have a child. I’ve never been so deeply in love with anything or anyone in my life, and he has made it so much more wonderful in every single way. I love you Sawyer Bear! 9 months in, 9 months out. :)

Thanks so much for reading, friends, you can read all about Sawyer Rose Grows: here!

Until Next Time,