The 9th Month Approaches...

On Friday, my sweet baby boy, The Dude, will be 9 months old. He's already passed the mark of being out longer than he was in my belly. But the 9 month mark means that 3/4 of his first year of life have already passed. I think the time this first year goes so fast because the changes happen so fast. It's amazing seeing the small accomplishments and thinking back over the last nine months. He went from being a bean who couldn't move on his own and only ate, slept and occasionally pooped (seriously, the kid never pooped.) Now he's a little boy, who can baby, inchworm, pull himself up, clap, wave, high 5, laugh, stand assisted. The kid is a wiggleworm of epic proportions now. The only way to get him to sit still is to feed him. Methinks I might have a fat baby soon!

Speaking of the wiggleworm, his pension for exploring is quite tiresome, so last night I created a baby fort. I proclaimed it as the best idea I've ever had. John replied with "it's up there, but not the best. you've had some good ideas." I've trained him well.













It was great, because The Dude got to crawl around safely and play with his toys, and I wasn't constantly freaking out. I got to sit, read magazines and watch TV. Fantastic night.

I also started my Halloween crafting. I want to do it big this year! I'm so making a wreath (how badass of me.)

Both a Halloween and Lady Gaga reference. Love.

We've had a weekend of eating out. Not great for our bodies, but a lot of fun. Saturday I went to Aspen Creek with my mom so she could see The Dude and I could fill my belly before my tattoo appointment. We got a special treat at Aspen Creek...

POOP FACE!!!

Then I got to get my tattoo that commemorated my love of pinups and my 2 girls, and pits in general. John got Jude's footprint (from his birth certificate) underneath our wedding tattoo. I'll take a picture later. I love how mine turned out.

In the last update of The Dude, he is now saying Dada. However, it's never directed to John. It's just his new random monosyllabic noise coming out of his mouth. He'll eventually get it. And I'll definitely take dadadadada over uh uh uh uh uh. And nanananana. That sounds too much like "no." And he's too young to tell me "no!"

The rest of the weekend:

Health

 I've never been one to wish life away. I totally want to live to be 150. I want to be on the Smuckers birthday list on the today show. Last week, I was informed that I had elevated blood pressure readings at the doctors. I've never had any issues before until I was 32 weeks pregnant. I was put on bed rest, they gave me meds after I delivered for the couple of days I was in the hospital. We monitored it for the next several weeks, and everything seemed fine. I don't know if it was the nerves at the doctor last week or what, by my BP was at Stage 1 hypertension level. That's not okay. Especially not at 25. That means my heart has to work harder for longer than someone older who develops it, which means it could wear out quicker (!). Again, not good things to hear. He put me on a diuretic because I had edema all over. Hopefully this will help and will lower my blood pressure.

In the meantime (and for the rest of my life) I have to watch my sodium intake. Considering everything frozen and prepackaged and coming from a drive thru window is laden with sodium, I will not be eating tasty for awhile. I'm going to try really, really hard but my taste buds never developed past age 3. Actually, I ate better when I was three, so I kind of wish my taste buds really hadn't developed past age 3. But I'll live. It's better than looking like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (see: pictures from zoo)

Seriously, try to put a pea in my mouth. I will gag until it comes back up. This experiment has been tried and proven many, many times. The Dude does the same thing. He pretty much loves everything, but zucchini. Every time I put that spoon in his mouth and he starts to swallow, he starts gagging. Hey, it gives me a bit more credibility. People think I gag on purpose, but it's for real, an immediate body reaction that I have no control over.

Chew on this overload of cuteness (and other pictures from our life in the last week):

                                         

     

  

     

     

                

        

By the way, does anybody else have issues posting pictures without doing them in one single column? There is no easy way to format this. So stupid. If I try to caption, it won't let me line them up right either. So, the picture of him eating ice cream is from the state fair. Yay! We didn't do anything but consume mass amounts of (vastly unhealthy) food, make our yearly trip to the Fairness Booth and buy some random shit. That's pretty much our fair routine. I'd be disappointed if there was any more to it. Yeah, we spent $28 to enter and park in order to eat funnel cakes, the world's tiniest corn dog and a milkshake. All of which cost us more than the entrance fee. What was I saying again about eating healthy?

Pictures from the zoo...

Those baby blues kill me everytime

Daddy, look at it! (I didn't think about it til my mom pointed it out, but The Dude is totally barefoot on that gross stuff)

Yeah, it's not as cool sitting on it, as it is looking at it.

Polar bear! (and puffy mommy)

Baby giraffe! I think him and The Dude should become BFFs.

All he wanted to do was gnaw on that damn elephant. Stupid teeth.

One of the few decent recent pictures of me...and moments before The Dude threw that bottle to the ground and broke it in half. It's plastic. How does that happen?

Yeah, this fence is way cooler than the monkey.

I called him a good boy for posing and he smiled and clapped for himself. Narcissism isn't bad, right?

A little daddy/The Dude baby bjorn dance break

Still dancing at the tiger exhibit

Seriously Baby Bjorn- can I get paid for this please? I found your newest model.

...and it didn't even take me a week!