My little lover, Stevie, is 9 months old today! I just want to squeeze him all day because I love him so much! He is my cuddle buddy and I cant get enough of it. He lays his head on my shoulder or chest and will just chill with me even if he's not tired! It makes me so happy!  I hope he never ever stops.

At 9 months old, Stevie is eating all real food (except nuts and honey) and he eats whatever we are eating for any given meal. Not only does he eat with us, he eats more than Ty! I will make them the same amount of food and Stevie will eat all of his and sometimes some of Ty's. It is so funny to me the love he already has for food! (I don't understand it at all... ;) ) He screams and waves his arms up and down until I give him whatever I'm eating. I kid you not, I will be in the kitchen and he will be in the living room and he will hear me unwrap a starburst and will come charging in to beg for some! He says "mm mmm mm!" and licks his lips til it is in his mouth. It is so hilarious! I love it. Good thing he's got a fast metabolism. Well, for now :) He has been able to gum anything I give him and has never had a hard time figuring out how to eat whatever is in his mouth.

He never has enough. He's obsessed with food! He also has this death grip. I can't get anything out of his hands and he always has left over food in them when I get him out of his high chair. Funny thing is, he never chokes on food. But any time I try to give him a sippy cup, he sucks until he is out of breath then takes a huge gasp of air when he is done. I always figured liquids would be easier to swallow! The good news is, yesterday he drank 3 WHOLE bottles!

Learning how to hold his own bottle, this kills me! He is so funny

 I couldn't believe it. I was seriously giddy all day! I can't tell you the amount of relief this gives me. I wouldn't normally push a bottle on a baby but if you read this post: may contain TMI, then you will remember that I have been bit so hard that I was dripping blood and had slits in my nipple! (yikes!)  He would not drink any kind of bottle or formula whatsoever. So for the last 4 months I have been trying bottles, sippy cups, cups with straws, and regular cups (you know, just incase he bit my nipple off and I needed to be done nursing on a whim) and he would never drink more than a couple of gulps of anything. He stopped biting me after that one post but recently he got 2 new teeth on top (how cute are they??)

 Unfortunately, he wanted to test out his new chompers and he bit me a few times. It was nothing too bad until one night he bit hard enough for me to bleed again! It was so painful and I just wanted the freedom of a bottle. The sad thing is, when he bit me, I screamed and jumped and he was so scared and sad that he just bawled and tears streamed down his face. It was almost as if I had hurt his feelings or that he was trying to tell me he didn't mean to. It broke my heart! If he had been biting me and laughing I would have cut him off long ago. But he just didn't really understand. I have loved nursing him but I also don't mind having the option of someone else feeding him. It's also a bonus that I don't have to live in fear every time I feed him! So this was a HUGE milestone! I am really excited about it but there is a part of me that is sad that I'm going to be done nursing again! I can't believe how fast time is passing by.

Stevie is a Super fast crawler and is standing up on everything. Every once in a while he will let me balance him and he'll stand alone for a few seconds.

 workin' it

He has started finding his binky and putting it in all by himself. I LOVE when this happens! It is the cutest thing to watch him do and plus he has become a good self soother. It took a while for me to figure out Stevie's routine; but as a 9 month old, he likes to wake up, eat, play for a while, and then go to sleep on his own.  I never thought Id have a baby that would just lay down and go to sleep on his own (without a bottle or nursing first.)  He also falls sleep in his carseat at church, in the stroller, or on my lap. The only bad part is, if he falls asleep somewhere besides his crib, then when you move him he wakes right up and there's no going back down!

He is finally getting a little peach fuzz on top of his head but from afar he still looks pretty bald. I love it though. He is happy to be held by anyone and looks at you like you're the coolest person in the world! He has a gift. Sometimes he will be playing and will just start laughing. It is my favorite thing. He likes being thrown in the air and tickled and tackled onto the bed by John. He dances when he hears music and loves when we are singing. I get comments from people all the time saying what a happy baby he is. I got the same comments when Ty was a baby. Im so blessed to have happy kids!

silly boy

exploring:

Just chillin at the grocery store

Love you baby boy!