I was pregnant with Tommy for 41 weeks plus 3 days. Tomorrow he will be 41 weeks old aka 9 1/2 months.

The picture on the left shows what I looked like after carrying him for 9 months in my belly. The picture on the right is what Tommy looks like after carrying him around for 9 months on the outside.

I haven’t done a good Tommy update since he was six months. A lot has changed since then. He is crawling fast, walking along furniture, eating lots of food and very talkative even though we have no idea what he is saying.

Favorite Foods

His favorite foods are string cheese, egg yolks, broccoli, peanut butter toast and peas. However, this will probably change next week. He is not the biggest fan of being spoon fed so I usually just over cook vegetables or pasta and let him eat with his own hands.

Other foods he has had include various pasta variations from a brown rice/quinoa fusilli from Trader Joe’s, black bean pasta and whole wheat elbows, watermelon, squash, carrots, sweet potato, mum mums, puffs, Ezekiel bread with peanut butter, chicken, ground turkey, salmon, cod and whatever else Nick gives to him behind my back.

I am still nursing my big boy. Usually about 4 times a day, first thing in the morning, twice during the day and then right before bed. My goal is to reach one year. Once we get there, I’ll decide if I want to continue.

Size

He weighs 23.5 lbs and is 29 inches tall. This puts him in the 95+ percentile. It also makes it a challenge to find clothes that fit. Many pants are either too long in the legs or too tight in the waist.

Walking yet?

As I mentioned earlier, he is a crawling and climbing champ. We bought him his first pair of shoes from Stride Rite. They are so stinking cute. We got them because he is an animal at the playground. He crawls everywhere and stands up on everything, even trying to climb up to hang out with the big kids. He only wears them at the playground. He isn’t walking but will take steps holding our hands.

Talking and Words

Tommy loves to babble. We hear sounds that resemble mama, dada, up and done but I really don’t think he has any idea what he is saying. I try to use sign language for more and all done. I swear he did the sign for more last night, but since he also just learned how to clap, I could have been making things up. I need to learn more signs and would love to take a baby sign language class. Already, we can tell Tommy is trying to communicate and I feel like it would be helpful for our family.

Sleep

If you thought I was trying to be perfect parent, here is the paragraph that shows I’m a rookie. Tommy goes down easily at 7pm… but he still wakes up usually around 4 or 5 am. I nurse him and then he sleeps until 7 usually.

We are transitioning from 3 to 2 naps still because he does not want to take longer naps during the day. Some days, he does two 45-minute long naps and then a 30 minute power nap between 4 and 5 pm. Other times, he does take two good long naps and we have no need for the late afternoon cat nap. He still only naps in his stroller. I’ve tried to get him to sleep in his crib during the day but he fights me and cries for 30-45 minutes before I give up and put him in the stroller. He then immediately falls asleep.

This is not ideal according to the sleep experts but it does allow me to not be tied down to my house. He is a super happy, easy going baby. If he was cranky and always in a bad mood, maybe I would try to change this but it’s working for our family so I’m just running with it.

Favorite Toys

His favorite toy is without a doubt his ball pit. They have one at the Little Lovage Club and since Tommy was obsessed, I bought one for our house. He also loves any sort of box he can get his hands on that comes in the mail as well as our coasters and a set of wooden bowls that stack on top of each other that I use for cooking.

Personality

I’m his mom so of course this may sound biased but he is a silly little boy who loves to blow raspberries, stick his tongue out and make fart noises, and dogs. The kid LOVES dogs. If you even say the word puppy he laughs. He doesn’t have much fear, climbing up stairs, going through those little tunnels, trying to crawl off the bed, wrestling his dad and smiling at strangers. I’m joking about the last one, but he has no stranger danger.

He also loves music. Just last night, he learned a new dance where he shakes his head back and forth. Another random trick he enjoys is to eat his mom and dad’s ears and noses. With 4 teeth, you can guess how enjoyable this is for us both.

He’s just a super smiley kid that is easily entertained by himself but loves to play with other kids, especially the older ones.

Thoughts and Feelings

I love this age. Tommy is not the most cuddly right now, but he is fun to play with. I hated the first 4 weeks as a first time parent. They went by so stinking slow. Since then, the past 8 months have gone by in a blur. I had to look back at pictures to remember when he started growing his golden retriever like flow. They say it goes by fast and I wanted to punch everyone that said that in the first month but after that, they were right. It really does!

I can’t wait to celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Christmas with him. After that, it will already be his first birthday. It’s really incredible at how much can change in just 9 months.

*Monday is reserved for Mommy Monday posts. I’ll be back with more fitness/health tomorrow! Check out more Mommy Monday posts:

• Mommy Monday: How I Got Back To My Pre Baby Weight
• Your car seat safety questions
• 10 Things That Surprised New Moms Most
• Tommy’s 7 Month update