9 months

Just so that people don't worry, yes Owen stole my lip balm for this picture and yes don't worry I was sure to replace it with a more appropriate toy after the picture was taken.

Our baby boy is now 9 months old! And with that so much has changed. I was for warned by many that 9-12 months would be quite challenging if not the most challenging of the first year and didn't listen to a word. I thought less diaper changes, less nursing sessions, finally moving about independently, what could be so hard about that?? What I didn't understand was that this stage also brings on separation anxiety and teething. Oh and as for moving about independently I was definitely right about that but just couldn't see all the chaos it would also bring. As it is now a struggle to change a diaper or to get him dressed. But with every new stage of development comes new challenges and they may be hard to adapt to at first but you find ways of working along with them and of course there are always the sweet beautiful smiles, giggles and new achievements that your baby makes that always brighten up the most challenging of days. One of the new things that Owen is now working on is scaling the furniture in our home. This consists of him grabbing on to any near by objects (including Bella!) and pushing himself up to standing position. Once standing he gets the largest grin across his face expressing how proud and amazed he is of himself, and as he should be. He will then begin to explore his new point of view and soon begins looking for other near by objects to propel himself on to to continue his adventure. This last part is the scary part as he will just let go and launch himself at whatever else is near by. May the bumps and bruises begin!!

and he's off!

This post is a bit late as Owen has been crawling for awhile now but I wanted to post some videos of him crawling and his progression for all of you who don't get a chance to see our little bug too often. This first video was taken when Owen was still just getting a hang of crawling and still finding it a bit frustrating.

Owen still loves to be in Mummy's arms best but when he's not he's off exploring the world and he's getting to be quite the lil' mover! In this video you can see his progression as he is becoming quite the lil' professional crawler lol. Also you will notice he is crawling after his shoe.....Owen is obsessed with teething on shoes!!

8 months

Our lil guacamole lover

Our lil O bear just turned 8 months!! Can you believe it?!? I sure can't! I think the bigest reason why it feels as though he is growing so fast is because he's been achieving so many milestones all at once that its been pretty overwhelming. First we noticed four teeth coming in on top but actually we just realized that he has two more bottom teeth coming in next to the ones he already has. So very soon our little boy will have eight teeth!! Other than teeth Owen has started crawling, as mentioned in the previous post, and just in time for Christmas and for my parents to bear witness to his very first "steps" across the floor. Owen is also getting much better at communicating his needs to us. He will now reach his arms up for us if he wants to be picked up or will direct them down to the floor if he wants to be put down. He has also started pointing, which has now led to everything on his bedroom shelves to be on the floor. I didn't even think he had really noticed the books and teddy bears high up on his shelves but obviously I was wrong because all shelves are now bare and the floors are now cluttered and messy. But most exciting of all Owen has now learnt his very first baby sign!! Waving bye-bye!!! And all thanks to my Mum. While she was here visiting for Christmas she would wave bye-bye to him every time she left the room and he soon caught on and it just melts my heart every time he does it. I was going to post a video of Owen crawling but just realized all my videos are of him at 7 months when he is just learning to crawl. I will have to make a posting later on with some more recent videos of his crawling now. Wish me luck as getting our lil O bear on camera isn't always the easiest thing!!

This Months Stats:

Weight: 20.5 lbs.

Length: Hasn't been measured since his 6 month

appointment where he measured 29 inches long.