Ten Months

Hello everyone!  I turned ten months old this past week.  Mommy started piano lessons with me.  I excel at pounding on the keys and grinning! 

Now that I'm getting to be such a big boy I can play with my big sister.  This sometimes goes well.  Megan gets upset with me when I put her toys in my mouth and get my drool all over everything.  She also isn't too keen on sharing although she always tells ME to share.  Thankfully I've still got that "he's just a baby" excuse going on so I get away with a lot more than my sister. At this sweet moment we were playing nicely.  I was the customer at Megan's restaurant.

My favorite things to do these days are stand up and try to play with anything that doesn't resemble a toy.  I like to get into mischief!  Mommy bought these nice bumpers for the fireplace but I just like to take them off.  Mommy is hoping that the one time I take a nose dive into the fireplace that I find the spot where the bumper is still attached. They need to make these more sticky! It's way too easy to remove.  And check out my space monkey jammies. It doesn't get any cuter than that.

Last week we had baby dedication at our church.  There were 21 kids dedicated to the Lord!  Since I'm a "Vance" and it went in alphabetical order, we were unfortunately last.  I got pretty antsy! 

Me listening intently to Pastor Brett.  I wanted to make sure my parents weren't making any promises they couldn't keep!

Grandma and Steve took me home because Mommy and Daddy were in charge of children's church that day and I couldn't go to nursery because I was sick.  <More on that later!>

I have taken a lot of baths in the last few weeks.  I got a nasty tummy bug that would not go away.  That meant lots of trips to the bath to clean me up.  I went to the doctor twice in addition to many phone chats with the doctor and a trip to the Children's hospital lab for some tests. All tests came back negative for all the weird things it could have been (parasites, salmonella, etc).  I've been on a special lactose free diet (as well as some other restrictions) and am finally better.  We are all so thankful. Through it all I stayed pretty happy although not as giddy as I usually am.  This bath day was a few days ago when I was all better and back to my splashy silly self.

I'm always climbing up to standing. I figured out how to stand up in my crib even in my sleep sack.  I'm starting to walk along furniture.  I can climb the stairs with lightning speed..especially if I'm chasing a cat or my sister.

When you are 10 months old and you have a big sister...this was bound to happen.

I must say, I do like this hat! 

What else is new?

• I lost a little over a pound during my sickness. Now that I'm getting my appetite back I should be making up for that in no time. 
• I haven't been trying new foods also due to my illness.  It's been a lot of rice cereal and applesauce.
• My sleep has been pretty bad with being sick.  When I get up, I like to stay up for 1.5-2 hours  This past week while Daddy was in California for work I was nice to Mommy and slept all night one of the nights.  I also slept all night last night .  My parents are hoping to have more of these! 
• I can say kitty! It may not sound exactly like "kitty" but I definitely make the same "kitty" like sound whenever I see the cats.  They are really my favorite.  I just grin and giggle when they are around and I really want to pet/grab them at all times.  The cats so far have been very patient with me and I haven't been bitten or scratched yet. 

Little Man (9 months)

 

 Hey everyone! I'm now 9 months old.  I thought it was high time that I started dressing more like Daddy.  In my plaid long sleeved shirt and dark jeans I'm sure to look like a Boston Scientific employee!  Actually on this day it was school picture day at Megan's school.  It was convenient that it came around the time I turned 9 months so I participated in school picture day too.

 The weather has turned chilly and I've gotten to try out my new cold weather clothes.  This was  cool shirt I got as a baby gift.

 It says Andrew on the front.  And I love my "You are My Sunshine" book.

 This is my warmer jacket. We haven't gotten to ridiculously cold yet so this is my in between jacket. I look so cozy with my furry jacket with ears!

 

Showing off my wild hair.  It hasn't calmed down yet...................................

 

 The big news of the last few weeks was my 2nd airplane trip.  This time we went to visit my Nana and Papa. Here is me looking happy on the plane.   I think this was about 5 minutes into the flight. You will notice there are no other pictures of me on the plane.  There wasn't much in the way of happiness to document. I was not the best flier.  The problem was I needed to take a nap and there was no cozy crib to sleep in.  My mom thought I should just fall asleep in her arms.  Yeah right.  I fought it as much as possible and eventually gave in and slept for about 45 minutes.  The plane ride home was a bit worse in terms of crying but I did eventually sleep then too.

 My time actually in Texas was fantastic.  There were always plenty of people to pay attention to me.  That makes me happy!

 I also got to relax in the pool............

 I even got a little pool play time in.............................

 Daddy and I in the hot tub. No worries, it wasn't heated to hot! Just warm.

 This is me enjoying a graham cracker.  It's one of my favorite snacks.

 It's sort of a Vance right of passage to get one's picture taken with the Michigan bear.  I was a big fan.

 Just Papa and me!

 On our last night we went to a Texas BBQ restaurant.  I didn't have any BBQ but everyone else thought it was good. 

 And back home again... notice we're back in sweatshirts! No more short sleeves. 

 My newest trick...standing.  Once I figured out how to pull myself up to standing, it's ALL I want to do now.  I will climb on anything get up to standing.  I especially like climbing all over my mom.  This gets old for Mom by the end of the day.  By the way, the pack and play becomes my personal jail several times a day when Mommy needs to do something and needs me to be contained.  Thankfully it's on wheels and most of our main floor is wood floors so it travels well. 

 Mommy is hijacking my blog to show off her fancy cheese ball she made.  It has nothing to do with me because no one let me have it.  I heard it tasted good along with being festive to the season.

 This was Megan and I cheering on the Vikings when they played the Packers.  Apparently after we went to bed the Vikings really collapsed. 

Time for cute Halloween pictures! Megan and I went to Toddler Tuesday's Trick or Treat party and met our friends Clara and Isaac.  We all had fun and all of us managed to eat lunch too.  An amazing feat when the kids out numbered the adults!

 

Cinderella and Lion!  We had lots of fun trick or treating.  I only went to a few houses.

 So cute and cuddly...and not that ferocious!

This is me trick or treating.  Megan was my spokesperson since I can't actually say trick or treat.  I only say Maaaa maaaaa and Daaa Daaaa .  Maybe next year I'll be saying twick o tweet!

Mommy loves this outfit.  She says it's so cozy and reminds her of something you'd wear at a cozy lodge.  It's a long sleeved onesie that looks like long johns with bears on them. 

What else is new?

• I had my 9 month well baby visit.  I was 22 pounds 6 ounces and 29 3/4 inches tall.  Head was 18 inches.  My height/weight really jumped! I've always been around the 50th percentile for everything. Now I'm 90 and 95th for height and weight and 75th for head.  In comparison my sister was 30 inches and 23 pounds at 1 year.  I'm a big boy! 
• I'm still doing a very fast army crawl.  I haven't figured out how to crawl on my hands and knees but I have the right back and forth motion.  I just need to pick up my tummy and I'll be off to the races.
• Like I said before, I can stand up now. In the last week I've gotten really good at it and am starting to figure out how to take steps using objects to guide me along. 
• I'm a smiley happy guy most of the time. Whenever someone takes out a camera I immediately give a huge grin.  I'm an easy subject!
• As far as sleeping I still go to bed somewhere around 8.  Some nights I sleep all the way until 7 am and others I wake up usually around 4, talk and talk and talk until someone gets tired of my talking.  Then they change my diaper, give me 4 oz, and put me back to bed. I drink that in about 2 minutes and settle into my crib and go back to sleep. 
• I love to babble.  As I mentioned earlier I can say mama and dada.  Mommy is thrilled that I said mama fist.  All of her hard work of saying "mama" in my face since birth has really paid off.
• My sister has taken a new interest in her old baby toys that were passed on to me.  I've started to fight back when she gets in my space with MY toys.  I'm learning to stand up for myself. 
• I really love the cats.  If I see them, I take off crawling toward them.  If they are sleeping peacefully on the couch, I pull myself up to standing to try and get my hands on some fur.  whenever I feel fur, I just crack up laughing.  The cats, so far, have been very patient with my antics. 
• I am still a great eater. I tried pieces of sweet potato today (vs puree).  I still enjoy picking up pieces of cheese, cheerios, graham crackers, crunchies, etc.  I no longer like Gerber puffs which is disappointing to my mom since she bought a Sam's club pack of them.

That is the update on me!

My First Tooth! (8.5 months)

 Who is that handsome devil in the mirror? 

 Why yes...that would be me!  The floor mirror toy is still a hit. 

 My hair is always a conversation starter out in public.  It sits nicely in the back, but the front is all wild and spikey (no product needed!).  Mommy decided to do a photo shoot showing the 10 minutes after a bath. This is me after coming downstairs after my bath.  Hair is relatively calm still.

Two minutes later..the spikes are coming!

 

 A couple more minutes....

 10 minutes later.  The picture doesn't do my hair justice!

This one does a good job!  Mommy did not pose me this way.  She just found me like this while she was doing dishes one morning.  Can't you just picture me 16 years from now in my shiny new convertible that my parents buy me for my 16th birthday?  Hey, a baby can dream! 

It's been a couple pretty amazing weeks for me development wise!  What's new you ask?

• I got my first tooth!  It's on the bottom.  It's taken about 2 weeks for it to really push through.  This morning at church I bit Mommy's finger and she said "Ouch!" so she is declaring it an official tooth.  The new little tooth is quite sharp!  My other bottom one is working its way up still.  I have had a few interrupted night's sleep with my new tooth but overall it hasn't been too bad. 
• I am a crawling machine.  I am everywhere and constantly getting in trouble. I have a special affinity for power cords.  I seek them out whenever I can.  Mommy joked that I may have Albert Einstein hair but I'm more of a Ben Franklin when it comes to scientists.  Love that electricity! 
• I'm not sure who invented the Roomba (or the "Robot Vacuum as Megan calls it) but I sure like him too.  One day I crawled over to the Roomba and turned it on.  Then I burst out crying as it scared me.  You would think that I would now be afraid of the Roomba, but it's quite the opposite.  I'm always crawling over to the Roomba and trying to turn it on. 
• I'm getting much more coordinated with my finger foods. More are making it into my mouth which makes Mommy happy.  She often remarks that we need a dog to clean up after meal times.  The cats aren't interested in my floor scraps!  I tried shredded cheese this week and LOVED it.  See the video at the end to see my enthusiasm for cheese.
• I'm a very happy little guy and always giving big smiles to everyone. 
• Today I went to church nursery for the very first time and I loved it. My parents have avoided taking me there so far because I tend to get sick really easily and when I get sick I get really sick.  But today could not be avoided. Mommy volunteered to take a friend's nursery duty.  I took my nap before church because I got up a little early.  When she got to church, they had enough workers so she didn't need to help...but she hadn't brought all of the "survive church with a  squirmy 8 month old" gear so after I had my bottle, it was off to the nursery for me!  I impressed the workers with my jumping skills. I showed them just how to jump in that jumperoo.  I didn't cry when Mommy dropped me off.  I was just happy to get to crawl around and play during church instead of being stuck in the stroller or being held the whole time.  Now we're all hoping I stay healthy! 
• Mommy weighed me the other day on our bathroom scale and I weighed 21.5 pounds! I'm wearing 12 month clothing.  Mommy is hoping I can squeeze into my 9 month summer clothes when we go to Texas to visit Nana and Papa. 

Now the videos!  First one is of me cracking up watching my sister play this silly game she made up
with Daddy.

 


The second one is me and my cheese!  And my wild hair.....

On The Move (7.5-8 months)

 

Hi Everyone!  My apologies for the delayed blogging.  Life is just so busy in our house!  Here is the recap from the last few weeks~!  This picture was taken at my very first family camp over Labor Day weekend.  I enjoyed my time at camp.  I'm sure as I get older I will enjoy it more and more when I can play games and run around like my sister.  This year I was content with meals, naps, and rolling around.

 Grandma got me this peek-a-boo bear that is pretty fun.  He plays my favorite game, peek-a-boo, of course!  He also is really tasty to eat.

 This is me doing some computing during a meal at camp.  I need lots of things to keep me entertained so everyone can eat. 

 This is me and the camp director "Bobber Bill".  I thought he was pretty great.  My sister is a big fan too.  This morning she told Mommy, "I love Bobber Bill!"

 I got to go on my very first boat ride.  I tolerated the life jacket more than my parents thought I would.  I'm pretty easy going so I'm not sure why they were worried about it.  I just go with the flow most of the time. 

 Snuggling with Mommy

 I'm such a big boy now that I can sit in the infant seat part of our double stroller. 

 And I'm big enough to go on the swings at the park too.  Makes stroller rides to the park even more fun for me. 

 The next weekend Megan and Daddy had a camp out at a county park nearby.  I'm not much of a camper but I did get to join everyone in the morning.  Mommy and I brought donuts so we were pretty popular.  The night before Mommy left me with a babysitter so she could join the camping for a couple hours.  I was not happy about being left behind and I did not get a glowing report from the babysitter. 

 But that is pretty hard to believe when you look at this picture, right?! I'm always a sweetheart, I just wasn't happy about not being included in the family camping. 

 

 

There seem to be a lot of pictures in my high chair.  That's probably because it's the time when I'm still.  Otherwise I am on.the.move!  I started "army crawling" although we are kind of a Navy family so maybe we can call it the "Sailor Scoot".  I get anywhere I want with a  combination of rolling and scooting. 

What else is new?

• I've started a few little finger foods like the puffs and the crunchy sticks.  I'm very interested in what everyone is eating.  Once I do a little better at "chewing" I can try more finger foods. 
• I still like everything to eat.  I have some sort of meat/vegetable "dinner" each day along with my cereal, fruits, and veggies. 
• I'm taking 2 naps a day and my sleep at night?  Depends.  I sleep all night some nights, some nights I get up.  I started busting out of my jammies in the middle of the night and then getting annoyed by having my legs out of my PJ's.  Mommy fixed that little problem by going out and getting all zip up PJ's.  When I wake up in the middle of the night, I don't cry. I just start talking, and talking, and talking for about an hour.  Then I get annoyed and someone usually comes in, fixes my jammies, gives me some milk, and I go back to sleep. 
• I turned 8 months old today!