Nine Months

What has Kellen been up to these days?

(I think between 8 and 9 months I have seen the biggest change since birth. He has really just taken off)

Kellen is weighing in at 21 lbs 13 oz and is 29.5 inches tall. He has slowed down a bit and is coming in in the 80th percentile (this is the first time since birth he is not in the high 90th percentile). He is wearing 12 month clothing and some 18 months depending on the brand. He is in a size 3 shoe (and I have finally found some cute ones). We just are finishing up the last of the Size 3 diapers that we have and then will be putting him in size 4 all the time instead of just at night. They seam to help out with leaking.

He is still drinking 4 - 7 oz bottles a day (but has begun to refuse some of them). In the past couple of weeks we have started him on "real" food. He is such a great eater and prefers the "real" food to the jarred food. The other night we went to a Mexican restaurant and ordered him a mini cheese quesadilla and he ate the WHOLE thing!!! On top of that he ate some banana and rice and beans. The only thing he has not really liked and refused to eat is grits. Other than that his teachers at school are amazed at how well he eats "real" food. He is getting a little frustrated with us when we try and feed him the jarred food now. I have to say that it is a little hard, because I don't know how much food he is getting. When you feed him formula or a bottle, you know how much they are drinking. When you feed them jarred food you know how much they are eating. But with real food it is hard to gauge how much they are eating. One of Kellen's favorite foods is Mac and cheese. So far so good though he is eating very well for us!

As far as sleep goes, he is an okay sleeper. I can't really complain. He goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 and then will sleep anywhere from 4am till 6:30. Recently, it has been closer to 4 am every morning and sometimes 3 am. So it has been hard on mommy and daddy. He will take anywhere from 1 to 3 naps a day and those naps can last from 30 min to 2 hours. I guess it all depends on how he feels! :o)

His favorite toys right now are what we call redneck toys...he loves plastic bottles. He will sit on the hardwood floors and bang the bottle around the floor. He loves the noise it makes. He also loves to chase the cats. Now that he is really crawling he will zoom after the cats. Holly is SO good with him. Skyler continues to not be so good with him. He loves to play peek-a-boo and loves his rocker chair. He is saying ma-ma and da-da and ba-ba. In the last week he as started to wave...it has to be the cutest thing ever! :o)

A day in the life of Kellen goes a little like this....

• Wake up (really whenever I wake up) or by 6:15 (but mostly around 4 am these days)
• Get dressed and drink a bottle and play for a few minutes while Mommy finishes getting things together
• Out the door and on our way to day care by 6:50
• Mommy drops me off at day care at 7 am
• Nap, play and eat (I am trying lots of new foods and new activities)...I love my teachers and they LOVE me a couple of weeks ago I moved up to Infant B. I am doing so much more and trying so many new things that I get really tired during the day!
• Daddy picks me up from daycare at 5 pm
• Eat dinner at 5:30
• Play with Mommy and Daddy till 7pm-ish
• Bath Time (between 7 and 7:30) I don't really like to get my hair washed, but I love to play in the water. These days though I am so tired that it is hard fro mommy and daddy to enjoy bath time.
• Bed time...Mommy and Daddy try to read to me, but I am SO tired that I just want my bottle and to go to bed. Mommy started playing music during bottle time and I am not sure what I think about it

Kellen is really pulling up on everything. The last couple of weeks he has gone from not being able to pull up ...to pulling up... and then to pulling up like a pro! He really has no fear....when he is done standing he just plops down and goes about his business. He is really keeping us on our toes.

I really don't know where the last 9 months have gone. Kellen has been such a blessing in our lives. I really can not imagine my life without him. Still daily you can hear Matt say, "I can't believe that we have a son." No matter how tired or stressed or worried or sad I am it all melts away when I see his sweet little face.

We will have his 9-month pictures taken on Saturday with Jason Pendley.  I will share the link with you all as soon as they are up on his website! :o)

Happy 9 month birthday baby boy! We love you so much!!!

New Hair Cut & Pumpkin Farm

 
What a busy week!  Last weekend I decided to give Kellen a haircut.  His hair was just too all over the place for me...so I got out the clipper's and buzzed it.

It is a little short and would like it to be somewhere in between how long it was and how short it is now.  He is such a trooper.  He sat through it all and did not get too antsy until the end.  And here it is....

Grandma Keeta is in town for the week so we thought it would be a good idea to hit up a pumpkin patch.  I found Yahoo Farms that is located in Jasper.  I had picked it because it sounded like a lot of fun with a pumpkin bunny, a pony ride, corn maize, pumpkins, hay ride, and so on.  It turned out to be fun, but not as cool as it sounded on the website...the pumpkin bunny was a women with ears on her head.

 

But we got some cute pictures of Kellen and some great family time.  Both Grandmas went and uncle Andy too! 

We took a hayride and Kellen went on his first pony ride...He loved it or at least I think he did.  There was no smiles, but no crying either.  They even went around twice.  All in all it was a great day!  I have already found a different place to try for next year!  :o)

I love this face!  :o)  Happy Fall Ya'll!!!!

Hip, Hip Hooray...Kellen stood up today (well last Tuesday)!!!

I have been trying to get this posted since last Tuesday!  Kellen is now standing up!!!  He has been pulling up for awhile now, but never quite had the strength to make it all the way up!  Well on Tuesday he did it!!!  The window in our living room is the perfect height for Kellen to crawl over to and look out the window and has been enjoying watching a lizard and a caterpillar that live in our hibiscus bush outside the window.  Well On Tuesday he made it to standing position!  :o)  The funniest part was that a cat that happens to hang in our back yard from time to time just happened to be walking by when Kellen stood up!  The cat walked over to the window and just stared at Kellen like,  "what are you and what are you doing???" It was so funny to watch.  They stood looking at each other for awhile!

Kellen didn't really try again till Saturday!  He is now pulling up and standing anytime that you will let him!  On Sunday we decided that we would lower the crib since he was now able to stand up!  It was a GOOD thing that we did, because after his nap Grandma Dee walked in to go get him and he was standing in his crib like it was nothing!!!  :o) 

Our baby is growing up so fast!  It has been so much fun to watch him grow and learn new things!  We are working on the whole clapping thing and it is SO funny to watch him try to imitate what we do!!!  

Kellen also has started to eat "real" food (as I call it) instead of "jarred" food!  He has tried pears, bananas, chicken,  green beans, and pasta!  On the menu tonight...mashed potatoes and peaches!  :o)

8 Months ~ only a week late! :o)

I know that I say this often, but where did the time go? Did we not just get home from the hospital with Kellen??? Here is what Kellen is up to these days...

• He is weighing in around 22 lbs. He is still able to where some 9 month clothing, but mostly is wearing 12 months. He is in a size 3 diaper, but wears size 4 at night....this has made all the difference in the world in the fact he does not wake up totally soaked.
• We changed Kellen's schedule up a little this last month. We are now letting him wake up on his own or waking him up at 6:15ish (during the week). He has a bottle around 6:30 and then we head off to daycare around 6:45ish. Daddy usually will pick him up from daycare around 5. We still fight over who gets to pick him up, because we love the BIG smile we get when we walk in the room! Around 5:30ish Kellen will eat dinner. This consists of a meat and veggie and sometimes a fruit if he acts like he is starving. Then it is play time until about 7:00ish. The time between 5:30 and 7 is really hard for Kellen...he is usually so tired, but I am selfish in the fact I want to spend time with Kellen awake and not sleeping so I try not to let him go to sleep unless he just can't handle it! :o) Around 7 we go upstairs for bath time. Kellen loves bath time even more now that I am not using his bath chair and he gets to hang out in the big tub and plays. He is such a little fish!!! I think he would stay in there until he shriveled up if I let him! After bath time we try to read a couple books, but this usually does not go well, because Kellen is SO tired!!! He gets another bottle and off to bed. He usually does not cry too much, but some nights he will cry for no more than 5 minutes! This past week he had a hard time sleeping...I think with being sick and home from daycare for a couple of days and having multiple houseguests just threw Kellen out of sorts a bit! He seems to be falling back into his routine and sleeping through the night again!
• As far as eating goes...Kellen still eats very well for us! He drinks 4- 7 oz bottles and will eat 3 times a day with a snack here and there. For Breakfast he will eat oatmeal and a fruit or yogurt (the yogurt is not his favorite and I hate the amount of sugar it has in it). For Lunch he will get a veggie and a fruit. For dinner he will have a meat and a veggie and sometimes a fruit. We introduced puffs to him this last month and he LOVES them! He also loves pizza crust...I think that it feels really good on his teeth! We are trying to make a move to more textures so we will see how that goes.
• Kellen's teeth have just continued to come in. At this point he has 8 teeth all together! They just seem to continue to come in! For the last month it has been one after another! No wonder he is chewing on everything and anything...including window sills and furniture! On Friday (9/25) the Daycare called and told me that another child bit Kellen. They did not break through the skin, but he did have a little red mark when I picked him up on Friday! I was very understanding to it all, because I never know when the next phone call will be that Kellen bit someone. Since then Kellen has started to bite us...we are trying to work on "no biting"!!!
• Kellen is on the move right now! He loves to crawl after the cats, this makes me a little nervous because they both still have their claws...Holly has been so good with him. Skyler on the other hand is not so good and has got Kellen a couple of times, but it doesn't seem to stop him from going after her again and again! He is really trying to pull up on everything. He can get to his knees, and has got the idea of getting to his feet, but is not quite strong enough.
• He is really starting to babble. "Mamamama" is his favorite. It is my favorite when he wakes up and just starts talking. He also really likes "babababa"! We are working on the dada, but so far it is mostly "ma" and "ba"! 

Kellen is keeping us busy and we are learning that we can not turn our back for even a second. He really is into everything and so curious about anything that moves. He loves to sit and look out the window at a little lizard and caterpillar that lives in our Hibiscus bush. He will talk and talk to them!

We enjoyed our visit with The Whitfield family a few weeks back! They came in on Saturday for The Tucker family celebration! Then the boys went to the Falcon vs. Panther game on Sunday! Deborah Anne and I hung out with the little ones! Sarah Scott loves to give hugs it is the sweetest thing! Kellen was not so into it! As you can see on his face! :o) I think Deborah Anne was a little worried about Sarah Scott hurting Kellen, but I was more worried about Kellen hurting her. Sarah Scott is a little over 1 and Kellen is a few pounds heavier and about the same height. Kellen kept tripping her and pulling on her pants every time she walked by. He also kept trying to steal her paci...I really do think he is a bit of a bully! :o) It was SO much fun hanging out with them...if they only lived closer!!!

We are staying busy these days with our day to day lives! I love fall and I am so excited to take Kellen to a pumpkin patch and dress him up for Halloween! If only I could decide what to dress him up as!