9 Months Old

Ronan is 9 Months old! I just cannot believe it; time has absolutely flown by in the blink of an eye....yet there were many long, sleepless nights thrown in the mix. It's hard to believe our little angel has now been with us on the outside as long as he was on the inside (well, I guess not quite - considering he was 10 days late!). It's already been a year and a half since that evening we learned we would have this little one joining our family. How fast life changes completely! I can barely remember my former life sans baby. It was a wonderful time, but this chapter of life is even better. He has brought so much more meaning to my life, and I am so deeply thankful every single day for him. I get choked up even thinking about how much he means to me! I'm already dreading him growing up and leaving me...I'm just trying my best not to get ahead of myself there. Time is fleeting and precious...my little baby won't be a baby much longer; he will be a little toddler! He is starting to form his own opinions and little quirks, and I couldn't be more in love with him.

9 Months Old! September 4th, 2012

This past weekend was Labor Day, and wow - he sure changed a lot in 3 days time. All in that fun filled weekend he pulled up to a standing position on his own (with the help of his bookshelf and the stacking cups he wanted to pull off the shelf), began clapping and waving, and he is babbling "mama" all the time....not quite sure if he means Mama, but we're getting there nevertheless. He has started forming his own preferences and opinions, too! For instance...when he wants something, he does not appreciate it being taken away from him! He will burst into tears when I take away his baby brush. He loves it, for some unknown reason to me. It's so heartbreaking to watch him cry like that! He also does not like it when people laugh hard or loudly around him. It scares him and he will bawl. It's so, so cute and so sad all at the same time. At his 9 month doctor's appointment yesterday, she assured us this is normal for him to be scared of loud noises, but we just need to go on as normal. He needs to learn that laughter is part of life, as are sirens, cars, and other things that create unpleasant noise. She said if we tried to shelter him or avoid things like that then he will be that 6 year old who pees his pants when the fire alarm goes off in school. We certainly don't want that! So, Mommy needs to learn to toughen up. But it's hard because when he cries, it makes me cry. You literally feel the pain that your child feels. I just can't imagine or remember being a child and how hard life is. And I mean that seriously. As a child, you just don't understand the world around you and it's a lot to take in and learn. People joke that children have it so easy, and I definitely don't believe that to be true at all. I guess my whole point to this "diary" entry is, as much as I hated the "you'll see when you're a parent" comments, I now realize they are all true!

Everything in our little family is going really well. Nine months later and it's still a struggle to handle it all some days, but we're getting the hang of it. Life is busier than it ever has been before. Being full time working parents is definitely much harder than I thought it would be. The days and weeks fly and I shed a tear nearly every morning on the way to work when I have to leave my little boy. I still wish I had more time with him - a 40 hour+ work week is just not fair sometimes - but I am learning to appreciate the time I do have with him even more. I'm able to go with the flow more, especially when he's cranky or being difficult, so there are a few positives. But I figured it up recently, and my baby spends as many if not more waking hours per week at daycare than he does with me in a week's time. That's a really tough pill and one I don't want to swallow at all. I would give absolutely anything to have more time with him each week, but I try to remind myself I'm doing what's best for our family and for his future right now and I know life may not always be this way, if we're lucky. There is the hope that one day, when we are done having children and they are in grade school, that I will be able to work less hours so I can be there for them before and after school. I still would give anything to have a bit more time with him now while he is in the precious and short baby stage, but I'm learning to live with it more, and I know I do it all for him! I just hope I am not filled with sadness forever every time I think about missing so much of him being a baby. My new job is going well and while I enjoy being closer to home, it doesn't really allow me more time with him...in fact, I actually get about 30 minutes less time each day, plus my summer half Fridays are over for the year. I also lost a week's vacation and 4 paid holidays coming to my new job, so I am not particularly happy about those things! But saving gas money is good and knowing I'm closer to my family is great. I never knew how hard it would be to be a mom until I became one....even though everyone tells you so!

Now for all about Ro! Dr. Sue was extremely pleased with him at the appointment. He's right where he needs to be....18lbs 15oz (25th percentile) and 29 1/2 inches long (80th percentile). "Tall and skinny" per his doc. He has been given permission to eat whatever he wants (of soft foods). A lot of parents are told by their pediatrician not to feed their kids nuts, shellfish or honey. She surprised me when she said we can give him anything (excluding honey, since I didn't check). I'm in no rush to run out and give him those things, but it does make things a bit easier for us. She said the #1 concern is obstructing the airway so while he can't have a peanut, he can have peanut butter. Very interesting! We're in for some messy adventures. We switch off between purees and letting him feed himself...he's only interested in feeding himself every other day or so. He's only really good at eating cereal and less slippery foods so far. I followed a friends advice (thanks Les!) and started coating slippery foods in crushed up cheerios so he has an easier time picking them up. It worked! We even did it with avocado a couple nights ago.

It's so fun to feed him now! He eats a lot of our food when at restaurants; he's had rice, feta cheese, bread with marinara, avocado, ham. Whatever we think he'll eat out, we ask for a little side of it. If there's one thing we'll avoid, it's kids menu items. I refuse to have my baby eating nothing but fried foods. The doctor pressed the importance of having him eat what we eat (and that means healthy eats!). I'm so proud that we have made so much of Ronan's baby food. He loves it so much. We had to go out for an impromptu dinner out tonight because the power went out in our house for a few hours. I brought jarred food to avoid having to open our fridge full of food and breast milk, and he flat out refused the jarred food after one bite and would only eat table food. That's my boy!

I've finally been experimenting with my good camera a little bit more...before I got pregnant I had taken a couple photography classes at the local community college, but I never had anything to practice shooting. Well now I have the perfect subject! I have been so busy though, and when we want to get a quick shot we usually just use automatic mode so we can capture the moment before it's gone. We took Ro to the playground this past weekend and thanks to the 3 day weekend, we weren't in such a rush for once. So I got to playing with it and all the settings and I think I got some pretty darn good shots, if I do say so myself. Please enjoy my amateur work...hopefully I'll get even better as time goes on and I get more practice!

Ronan's new favorite game is grabbing my index fingers, holding on tight and pulling himself to standing. Then he will hold on as he plops back down on his butt and then proceeds to clap a few times and then repeat - several times. It's hilarious. Here's the video we caught after work on Tuesday, his 9 month birthday. It's long, but worth the watch!