Mattox's 9th Month

{Taken Friday, December 4, 2015}

{Taken Tuesday, November 10, 2015}

{Taken Tuesday, November 17, 2015}

{Taken Tuesday, November 24, 2015}

{Taken Tuesday, December 1, 2015}

Nine months!  I do not know how you are already nine months old!  As of this week, you will have been out in the world as long as you were in the womb.  These nine months have definitely gone faster than those first nine months.  I really have to get on the ball and start planning your first birthday celebration.  You are moving all over the floor doing the army crawl and will get up into a full crawl position and make some good forward motions although you still prefer to be on your belly.  Once you figure out how much faster you can move on your knees, nothing will stop you.  You still want to grab and touch everything you see.  You haven't really messed with the Christmas tree much yet, but you have fallen asleep under it a few times.  

Size:  We went to your nine month well-check on your actual nine month birthday so we were right on schedule.  You weighed exactly 18 lbs. (21st percentile) and were 28.25 inches long (44th percentile).  Your head size remains large at 18.66 in. (97th percentile).  That head size has caused a few bumps and bruises as you get it stuck when you try to squeeze into tight spots.  Ha!  You have still been wearing size 3 diapers and mostly 9 to 12 month sizes.  

Developmental Accomplishments:  You are army crawling all over the place, and you just have to figure out that you can crawl much more efficiently on your knees than your belly.   You can also stand holding onto furniture for a good little while when we stand you up.  You haven't pulled up fully by yourself yet, but you do get onto your knees.  You can hold your own bottle.  You still love your big brothers and laugh and "talk" a lot now.   You grasp and bang your toys together and pick up small treats with your fingers.  You just don't always put them in your mouth.  You will feed yourself teething crackers though.  You have four teeth at the moment with two on the bottom and two on the top. Separation anxiety and stranger anxiety has really been increasing too.  You didn't want to be put on Santa's lap so we all had to get in the picture with Mommy holding you.  You hate being left alone in a room and will try to crawl after us and get mad when you get stuck.  Mommy and your big brothers love being home with you this month, and we hope Daddy will get to join us more too. 

Sleeping:  You still sleep very well through the night and only occasionally wake up once to get more milk.  You wet out of your diaper almost every night because you like to turn yourself onto your tummy.  You do still sleep in the bassinet in our room, and I am just waiting until you are really pulling yourself up and trying to stand to move you to your crib. 

Eating:  You have still been doing well eating, and we are still chugging away at breast feeding which I am thankful for.  If you would consistently take 7 oz. at each feeding, we could probably go with just four feedings a day, but you still need at least 5 feedings a day getting between 5 and 7 oz. each.  You have been getting just the one 6 to 7 oz. bottle of formula with cereal in the afternoon this month because you want to nurse more.  That has been okay with me although your new teeth did cause a little trouble.  You still really love eating solids and have really been doing well with every food you have tried.  You eat more mixed combination meals with a fruit and oatmeal combination for breakfast, a vegetable combination for lunch, and a meat and vegetable combination for dinner.  You have now tried avocados, peas, squash, apples, pears, bananas, sweet potatoes, peaches, zucchini, green beans, broccoli, white potatoes, mangoes and kale.   You like white potatoes mixed with a green vegetable like peas, green beans, broccoli, or kale.  You eat a chicken puree mixed with an orange vegetable like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, or carrots. You also love pieces of whole fruit like cantaloupe or mango in your little mesh feeder.  We just tried a little fruit and yogurt combination this week, and you love it!   You also ate some grits with a little cheese and butter that we ate one night for dinner.  

Nicknames:  Mattox Pattox (Mommy's nicknames for your brothers are Evan Pevin and Brody Pody so yours goes with theirs); Matt Matt; Matt Patt; Matty Patty.  Also, we call you "Squealie Pig" because you love to shriek and squeal really loud, sometimes happily and sometimes when you want to get our attention.  I love my little squealie pig!  

And of course, more cute pictures from the month:

I just cannot resist that little hand reaching out for me. 

I don't always like using his sleepers for our weekly photo sessions, but I just loved the colors of this little sleeper.  I also loved that it has a train on it, but it is hard to see in pictures.  

Those sweet faces!

He's been working on the railroad...with his little hammer.

Although we haven't had his baptism/dedication yet, I really wanted a picture of him wearing this little white outfit that Brody wore for his dedication. It is just the cutest and softest little sweater one-piece. 

So sweet. 

I love the face he made when he put the little ribbon from his giraffe in his mouth.   He needed the giraffe to comfort him after a long photo shoot. 

Mattox needed some new cold weather clothes because I had given many of Evan's and Brody's away.  I found this little dinosaur set at Target on the clearance rack.  Evan really loved it.  We decided he needed some pictures with Evan's stuffed Rex (from Toy Story). 

Then, it was Evan's idea for them all to have a picture with their favorite stuffed friends.  Brody's favorite teddy bear is missing though so it is mostly Evan's stuffed friends. 

I know I had this outfit from Evan's first Christmas, but I cannot believe I do not have a picture of him in it.  I loved this shirt from Janie & Jack because it says "Forest Rangers" on it.  The St. Bernard's were cute too.  Evan and his cousin Lanny both had these shirts. 

Evan and I both thought he was practicing his karate during this photo shoot.  Our little Karate Kid! 

Then, he got really silly! 

Because big brother Brody was making him laugh.  He was laughing so hard here at Brody dragging my camera lens cover across the floor.  

And big sister Cocoa had to get in these pictures too since they were on the floor.  She loves her baby.  He wasn't so sure about those kisses though.  

This is the best comparison I have for the month.  I had hoped to have a shot of all three wearing the "Forest Rangers" shirt.  Sigh.  

Santa Baby {Mattox}

Mattox's 9 Month and First Christmas Portraits

Taken by:  Mom

I was inspired by this pin on pinterest that I have had on my board for a few years now.  The logistics of getting this photo shoot to work involved setting our camera's aperture as small as possible.  Apparently that is actually the trick to getting great photos of all Christmas lights.  I discovered that most of those cool shots of lights are taken with a wide angle lens with the aperture value set at about 1.8.  Since we don't have a wide angle lens, I just set my aperture as low as it would go on the AV camera setting.  The lowest my regular lens would go was 4.5.  I just crossed my fingers and hoped it would be good enough.  I was actually pleasantly surprised with how well these turned out.  They were taken in his room with the blinds open to let in the natural afternoon sunlight.  We just draped some pretty white Christmas lights on the wall behind him and around him and hung white sheers over the lights to soften them.

Neutral November {2015}

November was definitely one of those months that seemed like it was over before it really even began.  It was a pretty low key month as Evan finished up his last month of school before his month long winter/Christmas break.  As has been typical of this year (and last), we had many many rainy days.  We spent a lot of our time indoors and just tried to keep our sanity and enjoy our time together.  Eddie, of course, worked a lot which has been typical of his new job this year.  He really hasn't gotten a break or a vacation.  I hope that next year will be different, but it isn't looking very promising.  Mostly, November was a month we are thankful for as we counted our blessings all month.

These crazy boys had fun together, met a princess one night at dinner, had the cutest spaghetti faces, and enjoyed a breakfast donut date before school. 

After over a week of constant rainy, cloudy days, I was elated to finally see this blinding glare from the sun. I also enjoyed these beautiful shots of a full moon.  It kind of made up for missing out on seeing the big super moon eclipse earlier a couple months ago.  I also loved doing this Thanksgiving scripture writing plan.  It really helped me be more intentional about my Bible reading.  When I missed some days, I had to work extra hard to catch up, but I am pleased that I completed the plan.  I am now doing the Christmas monthly plan.  You can check that out and join in here.  

I loved this passage from Thessalonians about respecting hardworking people.  Just something that doesn't seem to be done a lot in our current culture.  One of my thanksgivings this month is watching Mattox's first year picture frame fill up.  I am only a couple of months behind and have printed many of his first year pictures thanks to a couple of Shutterfly free prints deals.  I have even made a very good start on his first year scrapbook on Shutterfly.  

Something else to be thankful for is seeing these two playing together more.  Mattox absolutely adores his big brothers and watches them or tries to get to them all the time. 

We actually didn't read our P is for pumpkin book until the week after Halloween.  I find it difficult sometimes to find holiday themed books at our library because they all get taken pretty quickly and then have very long wait list.  We thought this book was quite cute and funny about a house that was "haunted" by a ghost that kept returning to get the perfect pumpkin pie.

Oh, I just love this little blue eyed cutie.  And he is just extra snuggly and cuddly after his bath.  He just loves to sit in front of the mirror while getting dried off and lotion put on.  He makes the cutest faces in the mirror. 

We spend a crazy amount of time in our pajamas around here.  What else do you do on rainy days?  Yes, my four and a half year old is hanging out in the baby bassinet.  

Evan and Brody have really been enjoying playing with their Lego sets together.  Brody has really advanced to playing with big Lego sets now.  Mattox was shaking his little monkey booty to some fun Laurie Berkner Youtube videos.  

Mattox has been feasting on yummy meals like this butternut squash and chicken feast. 

Reading progress:  I finally read The Girl on the Train on the kindle.  Brody and I read some more P books and other books we found at the library.  We enjoyed finding another Otis book.  I tried to read the Little Roja Riding Hood book (partly in Spanish) to Brody at the library, but he was being a little difficult. 

I liked this verse that popped up in my scripture writing plan.  It was reminded me of my husband's profession as a forester. 

We really enjoyed our adventures with our littlest man this month.  He is just becoming such a big boy now.  He loves eating fruit like mango from his mesh feeder.  I made the little prince a crown at lunch one Sunday with some aluminum foil.  He is still just so precious sleeping and snuggling with daddy in the bed. He will crawl/scoot himself over and lay his head down on us. 

Brody showing off his artwork one night at dinner when I took the kids by myself to eat dinner at one of our favorite kids' eat free places, Carolina Ale House, in Cary.  Brody also likes the big red British style telephone booth inside the restaurant.  Brody was not as happy when I made him model this Yoda coat at Target.  Ha!  He has definitely started embracing his duties as big brother more playing with little brother and holding him for a few seconds at his doctor appointment.  

Mattox army crawls all over the living room.  He was only scooting backwards and would get himself into some tight spots like under the entertainment cabinet.  Now, he can scoot forwards, but he has gotten himself into ever worse spots.  He tries to follow me out of the room and gets his head stuck where I have the furniture barricading him in and the dog out.  Ha! 

I made this little pumpkin puzzle for Brody to work on his number recognition skills.  He loved it! 

We learned our letter Q for queen this month too.  We didn't get nearly as far in the alphabet as I had hoped.  I had hoped to be finish up our letter lessons by the end of the year.

Brody makes me gifts all the time like this little charm for my necklace.  He is my sweetheart! 

The boys have really enjoyed getting ready for Christmas.  They looked so cute all dressed up for church in their cute sweaters/sweater vest.  The boys delivered their little Operation Christmas Child gift in honor and memory of their little sister.  More on how we filled our box coming soon.  Mattox new favorite sleeping spot is under the tree.  He is actually doing that right now as I write this.  He plays his little heart out on the floor until he just falls asleep.