still working on baby proofing

tee by imps and elfs
hammer pants by nico nico (both from stels)

tiny metal spoon? check.

plastic tube and foam pieces? check.

the riverboat velour romper belonged to me first

extension cord? check.

up to no good, as usual. i can't wait to see what else he throws my way come toddlerhood.

9 months

9 months check-up
29 inches
19 lbs, 9 oz.

loves yogurt, rice and lentils--not so much.
still fights naps and bedtime, wakes up for an hour during the night to crawl and fight sleep, sometimes sleeps a 3 hour stretch between 6 and 11 pm.

i, on the other hand, am a wreck. heart palpitations, fatigue, muscle pain...blood work on monday and an appointment to set up a holter heart monitor. hopefully it's just a thyroid condition or anemia, not anything directly related to the heart. apparently 1 out of 20 women develop hyper/hypo thyroidism in the postpartum period. at any rate, i spend my days dreading those little heart flips and worrying that i should have signed up for life insurance.

leon is trying his best to keep me entertained.

sleep...on letting go

top by atsuyo et akiko
wool pants by lucysplace

we've been sleeping on the floor for nearly two months now. my back is killing me, but this is nothing new. leon still wakes up every 1-2 hours to nurse. he still hogs half of the mattress. i don't have it in me to do things differently. three weeks ago he slept a 4 hour stretch. i suspect it had something to do with being ill with the swine flu. rats.

but, he's actually turning out to be a happy happy baby. he chuckles and snorfles and tosses his head back laughing. his daytime naps are starting to settle into a pattern. usually 2 hours in the morning, 1-2 hours in the afternoon. he loves eating his jar food, and his crying jags are less frequent. he doesn't mind the car seat, in fact he falls asleep without too much of a peep. this is a huge change from early october. he is also getting better at being with the cats. he rakes their fur gently and only pulls once in awhile. he also yelps whenever he sees them. i wish i could record all these sounds and movements but whenever i turn on the camera, he stops what he's doing to crawl over and pull up on my leg.

it's taken me a long time, nearly 9 months, but i can now honestly say that i enjoy his company.

sweater, my brother's from 1977
padded overalls, jacadi
knee socks by nix (the only ones that stay up)

baby food, flying, and sucuumbing to pretty gadgets

1. flying with baby food
apparently it's ok to bring jars of baby food onto the plane. however, the TSA will probably use its fancy machinery to test the food. the sealed jars were given a quick exterior swabbing, which was then placed in a machine. for what? i have no idea. they also did a pH type test on the vapors of the opened jar of food. i was given a pat-down. oddly enough, neither matthew nor leon were subjected to similar treatment.

2. 5 teeth coming in all at once and baby-led weaning
i freaked out a few months ago when leon bit off a chunk of apple and gagged for longer than i would like. i wouldn't call it textbook 'choking', but it scared me half to death. now that there are more teeth, and i've gotten used to the gagging (thank you, tamiflu!), i think it's time to try more finger foods.

3. the expensive gadget dilemma
sure, i guess i could do everything without a $150 beaba babycook, but knowing my cooking-resistant ways, i probably wouldn't. just the thought of buying a steamer and using up all those pots and spoons and colanders (and washing them) makes me tired. there's a reason why i prefer one-pot recipes. so, i have a $50 gift card to williams sonoma, and am considering buying the beaba soon. as matthew pointed out, it wouldn't really save me much money in the long run. but it steams! purees! reheats! but will i use it? will i regret it?

crawling, standing, walking, running

leon has figured out how to fall on his behind, which has saved me a lot of worry.

the skin on his knees is no longer soft.

sometimes when he pulls up to stand he lets go with both hands.

when he stands up, he turns around and gestures with one hand so that someone will help him walk around the apartment.

sometimes he'll break into a gleeful sprint, especially if you pretend to tickle him.