9 months

I can't believe he is really 9 months old. In some ways, it feels like Crosby has been a part of our family forever. In other ways, it feels like he was born just yesterday. I guess that doesn't sound possible. But it is true for me! It seems nearly IMpossible that a year has passed since I was on bed rest, praying with all my heart that I could keep him safely, tucked away just one more day...one more day...one more day... What a blessing this child is!!! I could go on and on but I will just get to the pictures...

I should have posted these last night but forgot that I even took them. We were having dinner in Brentwood and I just happened to have my camera! :) Blake stuck his hat on Crosby's head. I don't know what I think it is so cute to watch him struggle to get it off!!!

On to Perspective Pictures...

Crosby with his bear...

Nugget getting in on the action, as usual... :)

Crosby with his bear in his chair...

Mug shot...

Big feet, little feet...

Big hand, little hand...

Upside down...

Outtakes...

Compare: 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months. My, how he has changed!!

Crosby is still wearing size 3 diapers. I am hoping we stay there a little bit longer because Blake bought a really big box just the other day!!! I have yet to "over buy" on diapers so I am hoping time is on our side. I am thinking he will be in them for several more weeks but we'll see. You never know when a growth spurt will hit! He clothes range in size from 6-9 month to 12-18 months. Just depends on the brand. He has quite the torso and that throws us off in all "one piece" outfits, onesies, etc. He is eating a lot more variety these days. He has had tiny pieces of chicken, ground turkey, broccoli, baked potato, peas, cheese, crackers, bread, pasta. He is fond of the "puff" and is able to put them in his mouth. He loves to feed himself and it getting much better with it. It keeps him occupied for a while so that helps me get through a meal!! I am seeing a pincer grip these days with self feeding!! What a big boy! He is drinking around 25 ounces of milk a day, plus 2 more ounces in his oatmeal. We are trying to give him solids 3x/day. On busy days, we may skip one though! He doesn't seem to mind either way. He doesn't manage to take in as much water as I would like. I think that would help out with some of his...bodily functions...if you will. Prunes are do the trick but I am sure he would like to skip them every now and then! I know I would...

Crosby still sleeps through the night. I hear people say they start waking up again out of nowhere so I am a little hesitant to even mention sleep patterns... He takes 2 naps, usually around an hour and a half or more each time. I am able to lay him down awake and he goes on to sleep. Although he has been playing a bit lately...



Fortunately, all I have to do is stick his pacifier back in his mouth, lay him down and tell him "night, night" and that usually works. At least it did this morning! Sometimes I have to do that a few times before he gives in. He is really good at independent play, to say the least! :)

Crosby is creeping and crawling. He likes to grab our hands and pull himself up from sit to stand. He is trying to pull up on most objects that are taller than he(is tall...right??). As a result, we did put his bed on the lowest mattress setting today.

In the area of toys, he seems to prefer his ring stacker, books and this net looking ball (?) that is easy for him to grab. Of course, he would be so happy if we just let him have our keys, cell phones, remote, camera and the measuring tape! You know, anything he really should NOT be playing with. He is still a fan of Baby Einstein and Praise Baby videos. I tried Clubhouse Mickey again on the computer and he is still Mickey's biggest fan! He loves it when I sing, to the tune of Happy Birthday, "Good Morning to you. Good Morning to you. Good Morning sweet Crosby... Good Morning to you!" He has a sheep that Ginger H. gave him. I sing Ba, Ba Black Sheep to him ( although the sheep is clearly white...) while shaking the sheep in front of his face. I don't think he will get tired of that one anytime soon either! :)

And just to share the ugly...he has had a mild case of croup, a runny nose and 1 fever (after vaccines). He has fallen backwards and bumped his head on the floor MANY times. He has fallen OFF the bed. He has slipped while sitting in the bathtub and ended up drinking a mouthful of water. I have knocked his head on the door when walking through it. I have knocked his head on the car when trying to put him in his car seat. He has been bitten by at least 6 mosquitoes. He nearly slid out of his stroller because I didn't strap him in while I was in the dressing room. Fortunately, we have gotten him through 9 months without TOO much damage!! Even though the falling of the bed part was quite traumatic for both of us...chills...

Only 3 MORE MONTHS until his 1 YEAR birthday!!!! Heaven help me... I will admit to buying the outfit for his big day while we were on vacation! At least I have that part figured out. I am not sure what else we will do to celebrate his birthday only 4 days after Christmas...poor thing. We WILL celebrate both. I WILL NOT blow his birthday off and "combine" gifts... We just might even do a "half birthday" party in the summer when he is older!!!

So here is to 9 wonderful months with the best little boy I know!!! :) And the most adorable... And the sweetest... And the cutest... And the... Okay, I'll stop...

Mondays With Crosby

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 39 weeks old!!! The goal was to try and take it easy this week-minimal running around. Just hanging out here at home. Between CBS, play group, small group, continuing education, grocery shopping, visiting baby Jacob, etc, it feels like my plan failed! I think this is going to be a busy fall!

On Wednesday morning, was awaken by the sound of a baby seal barking in my ear. I thought I was dreaming, staring at the monitor, trying to make sense of what I heard. I walked into Crosby's room, expecting to find a large, gray, marine mammal balancing a ball on it's nose. When I opened the door, there was none to be found. All I saw was a gummy grinning, peach-fuzz headed, baby boy sitting up in his bed. No marine life present. Then he coughed... Apparently he swallowed the seal before I could get to his room!!! Okay, so maybe the last part isn't true, but the first part is. Our little man sounded barked like a seal every time he woke up for a few days there. I called the doctor's office on Thursday. It sounded like a mild case of croup to them. Luckily, it never seemed to get much worse and I haven't heard a seal for the past 2 days!

The little guy has been moving less like a seal and has been moving around on all 4's the past 2 days. He is going to be all out crawling within the next 2 weeks, no doubt. I am afraid... We are going to have start baby proofing. I am not even sure where to begin. I know we need gates for the stairs, covers for outlets, locks for a few cabinets. I am not sure about some of the other things I have seen. Pads for tables and the bricks on the fireplace???? Toilet locks??? If anyone would like to fill me in on the "must haves, " please feel free to do so.

This is how I found him after his nap this morning!! Yikes!!! He was so proud of himself. If you look closely, you can see him smiling with his pacifier in his mouth! I have caught him doing this several times now. We will be putting his bed on the lowest setting tomorrow...on someone's 9 month birthday...

Wrap up...

I hate that I am just now posting this. It is WAY to close to Monday! I had plans to space things out a bit. Bust, as usual, time got away from me so here it is Sunday at 11:28 pm and I am finally getting it done! So, to round out our trip to Sea Island, I have a few videos to share!!!

"Jumping in"

This next one is quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen!!! While Blake was playing with Crosby, the little guy sneezed and put his face right in the water. Blake thought it was pretty funny so he decided to demonstrate if for me! Well, somebody else found that to be HILARIOUS...

How funny is that? I don't know that we have ever laughed so hard!!! I am so glad we had the camera on hand!

Overall, the trip went great. Sure, we were in the car a lot. Crosby definitely had moments where he was ready to be out of his seat. But for the most part, he was excellent! If I could do it all over again, I think I would have kept him in the infant car seat. It is a little more reclined than the convertible seat, which would have been more conducive for sleeping. Oh well, hindsight...

He slept great in his pack-n-play. However, he learned to transfer from prone to sitting!! Sooo, I would lay him down for his nap, he would roll onto his belly and then he would promptly transfer into sitting! Once he was upright, he didn't really seem to know how to get back down. So he just sat there, playing with his pacifier and talking. I had to go back in multiple times to lay him back down because he did it over and over. It was almost as if he couldn't stop doing his new trick once he learned it! He didn't stop with his sitting transfer...

We now have a creeper!!! I am a little bit worried about this new milestone!! I have a feeling life as I know it is really about to change!! :) He started creeping the first day we were in Sea Island. I shot this video the Monday after we got back! He doesn't really move a ton just yet. He has to be really motivated, say, with a tape measure or cell phone or a remote! You know, typical baby toys! We hit several milestones on this trip, to say the least. I am thinking we don't need to take another vacation any time soon or the child may be driving when we come back!!!

Seeing how it is 11:48...I better post this. I wouldn't want it to be Monday... :)

Mondays With Crosby

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 38 weeks old!!! Yes, THIRTY EIGHT... As if I needed further confirmation that my tiny baby is getting bigger, the scale read 20.6 pounds this afternoon!

Not only was last week's post late, it was really lame. Only one picture and a handful of words. When you have to drive somewhere to access the Internet and have a rambunctious 38 week old and are with your friends, it is hard to sit and write!! So, this week, I am attempting to pick up the slack. Prepare yourself for a lot of pictures. Actually, I didn't take very many pictures at all. I just had a hard time deciding which ones were the "best" of the little guy so I posted way to many!!!

What have we been doing the past week or so, you ask??? Well, let me tell you all about it! :) Blake told me he would be "very disappointed" if we did not leave as soon as he got home from work on Friday, the 11th. Soooo, I spent Thursday and Friday running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything ready. On Friday, I packed the car all by myself and had us read to pull out of the driveway as requested!!! (true miracle...) We headed to Dalton, GA to stay with my aunt and uncle for the night! This is the same gracious aunt and uncle who allowed us to use their beach home in Sea Island...

Crosby with Uncle Ken and Aunt Dot...


We got in around 9:15 pm CST, which was well past Crosby's bedtime. But he was as happy as could be when we got there. He sat in the floor, entertaining us for an hour or so before we bathed him and put him to bed. It was only his second time in the pack and play so I was a little worried about how that would work. But, he was great. No problems!

The next morning, my cousin, Leah, and her husband, Jay, came over for brunch! Leah had not seen Crosby since he was 8 weeks old and it was Jay's first time to meet him.




We had a GREAT visit with the Borings and Hills! Now if we can just get Laura in town...
After brunch, we loaded back up and headed to Auburn. Blake was so excited to take Crosby down for game day. We all dressed in our AU colors and headed to campus. Crosby loved see all the fans.

Hanging out at by the stadium for Tiger Walk...



Would you look at who we ran into!!!! That looks like Sam Malone!!!


And that looks like Gid and Jason!!!
Jason, Kerri and the boys were at the game with some friends. We were able to meet up for Tiger Walk. The big boys got pretty close. Crosby had to stay back a little because of the band! He had already been scared silly by the police sirens, escorting the officials in. I didn't want to chance it with tubas!

Sitting on his dad's shoulders like the big boys...


We just had to do it!! :) He tried to steal her baton...


Family pictures in front of the Auburn sign...


And family shots in front of Samford Hall...


Blake and I headed downtown so I could do a little shopping in a children's shop before we parted ways. Although we considered taking him to the game, it was decided that he might not enjoy it as much as we would. And we would have had to buy HIM a ticket... SO, I arranged to meet with some of my friends from EAMC. Surprisingly enough, almost everyone was able to get together at last minute notice!!!!

Melanie, Melissa, Jennifer and Donna...some of my favorite SLPs and COTA in the world!!!!!


Despite, lack of a normal schedule, the little one was in a great mood for the night!!!

Group shot...

Somebody was getting sleepy...

All of the kiddos, minus Crosby, Carson and Kiley...

I gave Crosby a bath and put him to bed like "normal". Once the game ended, we packed back up and headed to Sea Island, GA... We got there around 4:15 am EST. Whew...long night but Crosby did well so we can't complain!

Jessica and Wes joined us Sunday evening. They had not seen Crosby since the day he came home from the hospital. It was GREAT to be together again! The rest of the week was pretty relaxing. The boys played a lot of golf, shuffleboard and tennis. Jessica and I did a little shopping on St. Simon's Island and hung out at the house or the Beach Club. We ate out. We cooked in. We took naps. We read books. We took a break from the Internet!!! We took a few pictures here and there. We played Bingo, and SOMEONE won for the first time in 20+ years of playing at the Cloister!!!!! So here are the pictures I was talking about...

First time at the beach...

Hanging out by the pool at the Beach Club...

Shuffleboard...

Does he look relaxed or what!!!

Playing...with a cup...in the pool...

"Is this safe???"

Utter cuteness...

We played Bingo Thursday night. We had a sitter come stay with Crosby while we headed to the Cloister for some old fashioned fun!

Jessica and Wes sporting their cards...

Me and Blake...sporting...I'm not sure what...

Me and Jessica...

The big winner!!!!!

So excited over the big win!!! 50 whole dollars!!!! It didn't quite cover the sitter and the cost to play Bingo. But it sure helped!!!

The family beside us had to leave early so they gave us their cards. We still didn't win the final round!! Not sure how that happened because the odds should have been in our favor for sure!!!

Jessica, Wes and their 16 week gestation "Baby E"!!!

Me and Blake...

We were so bummed when Saturday rolled around. I was not ready to leave. I was NOT ready to stuff the little one back in the car seat either! But we had to do it. The second weekend was a lot like the first. Except this time, he met his dad, and I hung out with Samantha during the game. When Crosby fell asleep, I hit the road to Nashville and got back home at 12:30 am on Sunday morning!!! Blake and his dad had a really late night because rain delayed the game which delayed their getting back home as well!!! 4:30am!!! Can you tell they LOVE Auburn football???? :)

So that was our week! TN to GA to AL to GA to AL to TN!!!! Did you get all that? Stay tuned for footage of some of the highlights!!! Crosby has learned a few new tricks that I must share...