Luke at 9 Months

Here’s a little update on our little man who is 9 months old today! This month’s picture was really hard to get:

He’s around 20 pounds now and is wearing all 12-month clothes (and some of those are getting short!), a size 3 diaper, and size 3 or 4 shoes. I’m very curious to see how long he is at his 9-month check-up next week – I’m thinking around 30 inches! If so, we’ll have to move him to the bigger carseat!

I feel like we’re finally getting into a better night-time routine with him, even though we still have rough nights occasionally. Here’s his new schedule, for the past few days anyway! He’s been waking up (or I’ve had to wake him up for church or school) between 8:30 and 9, I give him a bottle between 9 and 9:30, then he has fruit around 10:30. He’s pushed his nap back to around 11:45 or 12, so sometimes I have to keep him up until his 12:30 nurse feeding so he’ll sleep a few minutes in the car afterward while I’m picking up Caroline. Then I’ll give him a vegetable around 1:30 or 2, then half a bottle around 2:30 or 3 and he’ll go down for a longer nap around 3 or 3:30. Then he’ll wake up around 4:30 and I was trying to nurse him at this feeding, but he wasn’t getting enough, so now I give him a bottle and pump. Then he’ll eat a baby food dinner and a fruit around 6, and take another bottle around 8 or 8:30 and go to bed around 9 or 9:30.

He LOVES to eat puffs and rice mum-mums, but I’m having trouble getting him to eat more soft solids like cooked diced carrots or pasta without completely gagging. I’m hoping it’s because of all the mucous and drainage he’s having and that he’ll do better once that’s gone. I’ve also started giving him a sippy cup at his 3 o’clock half-bottle feeding and he’s doing well with it.

I’ve been debating a lot lately (over the past few months, really) about when to wean him. I’m down to only nursing him once a day and pumping the other 3 times because when I tried to nurse more, he wasn’t getting enough and started waking up in the night again. I really want to do what’s best for him, but if he’s not getting enough PLUS if he’s allergic to what I’m eating then nursing is not really best at this point. I’m going to wait until his appointment on Tuesday to be sure that he really is allergic to milk before I make any decisions, but I’m pretty sure he is so I’m trying to plan it all out beforehand. He’s also STILL really congested and coughing some. Even after 10+ days on antibiotic and he’s only a little better than he was, which makes me think it might not be a virus or bacteria at all and might be related to his milk allergy. I really wanted to make it to 12 months with nursing him since Caroline weaned herself at 9 months, but with his feeding issues, I’m glad to have made it this long!

Luke is such a sweet baby and we are enjoying getting to see his little personality emerge. He is very active, but seems pretty laid back and happy most of the time! Caroline likes to wrestle with him and can be pretty rough, so I think she’s a good match for a little brother – ha! He usually takes it pretty well, as long as she doesn’t hurt him, and pulls her hair if she gets too close!

He’s started babbling a lot now and usually says “Aahh” and “Buh” and “Da-da.” He’s started sticking his tongue out A LOT lately and he’ll just be playing and have it curled up or hanging out – it’s pretty cute:

He’s probably just teething, but I think he gets it from his daddy too ;).

Thanks for making it thru this long, rambling post!