Cade Michael - 9 Months

Cade's now 9 months and a week old. Obviously I'm a little late on this posting. The last week's been a tough one at our house. Between already hectic schedules, there was also a huge storm that blew through upended trees, electrical lines and plans that we had. Not only that, but we lost our dear cat Oliver. So, there was also a whirlwind of emotions experienced and it exhausted us all. I just didn't have the energy to do a post on my sweet baby Cade. Now that the grief isn't completely all consuming (though still in the forefront of our lives), I want to dwell on the happiness that is our newest family member, Cade Michael!

Cade Loved His Oliver

He had a really big month with lots of new developments. Due to the delay in the post, I actually have stats on him to share. He's still rolling along the 50th percentile in height coming in at 28.5 inches and staying steady in the little peanut range at 8% weighing 16lbs 14 oz. How that boy is so tiny is truly a testament to NOT having my metabolism. That boy eats, eats and eats and apparently doesn't gain much weight. Thank goodness the boys seem to have gotten that good gene from their Dad.

In addition to nursing or taking a bottle 5-6 times a day, he eats 3 meals and wants whatever you're eating whenever you're eating it. While he loves for you to feed him his yogurt for breakfast in the morning, the rest of the day he wants to be independent and feed himself. It's been a bit challenging for us to give him the balanced diet he needs with only providing him foods that he can feed himself. Sometimes we can sneak in bites of baby food in between his shoveling food into his own mouth to help supplement more fruits and veggies. We try to give him those in solid forms as well but some cooked veggies can be pretty slippery for little hands to grab. And now we have to be careful what snacks of Dylan's are lying around because Cade has quite the knack for identifying food and eating it...baby approved or not! Here is just a sampling of the new things he tried this month - avocado, eggs, cheese (cheddar, feta and goat), chicken, cream cheese, bagel, bread, muffin, beets, asparagus, okra and meatballs.

I don't think we've had a middle of the night waking for some time but we're still staying pretty tired. Cade decided the nice morning routine we were having wasn't working for him so he went and disrupted it all but waking way too early almost every day. Looking back, it all started on our trip to Dallas and hasn't yet returned to normal. Most days, he's getting me up closer to 5 am and even in the 4 o'clock range some days. Seriously now, those are really just not acceptable hours! Most days, Mike and I are splitting the time from Cade waking to about 7 with naps. Maybe once these teeth he's cutting make it through, he'll return to the good ol' days of 6:30. At least I hope so. Momma needs a bit more sleep.

Cade - 9 Months
That's right, he hearts his mummy!

On physical skills, he's got some great new ones. We've seen him cruise a few times (walking while holding onto furniture), using only 1 hand when standing and, a few times, letting go altogether and standing for a second or so before landing on his bum. In the last month, he also started clapping and will often be seen applauding himself after he accomplishes major feats like pushing a button on the piano.

Two other skills he has quite regularly happen at the same time....pointing and saying his first word, "WOW!" I first heard the word very clearly on the 28th (9 months and 1 day old) when he and Mike were in the bedroom and I was grabbing something out of the closet. It was clear as day! So, wow is his official first word. And I caught him on video last night using it at the wonder that is the stove vent hood:

He's already had more developments in the last week but I'm going to stick to format and wait for his 10 month old post (in less than 3 weeks) to list those there.

My Sweet Boy