Colton is 9 months!

Dear Precious Colton,

You are now 9 months. I am still in shock when people ask me how old you are because I feel like just yesterday we were coming home from the hospital with you. This was a big month for you. You are now crawling EVERYWHERE!! Well...we call it the inch-worm. You get on your knees rock back and forth and then lunge forward. It is the funniest thing! You are pulling yourself up on whatever you can get your hands on...us, toys, the diaper chest. You can go from the family room to the playroom in the blink of an eye. I don't know how ready I am for this! You have also learned how to clap!! You get so excited and your face lights up and you start clapping. Just this week you have started waving!! Which to me was a surprise because Kara was waving at you and you just started waving right back. We just kind of all sat there and laughed! You are eating like a champ and love your cereal and fruit the most. You also LOVE table food, with your favorite being breadsticks...and yes...it is quite messy but you don't mind one bit. You are taking naps like a champ now...2, sometimes 3 a day. You are also doing quite better at night. You sleep from about 8pm-5am and then until 7:30-8am. What a good little boy! The only downside to this new sleeping pattern is you have stopped snuggling with your mommy. You still like to nurse at night and in the morning but don't really want to snuggle like you used to. This has been hard for me. You admire your sister very much. You love to watch her wherever she goes. Your eyes are always on her. I don't know if that is because you are scared she might be throwing something at you or sitting on you, or if you just think she is all that. You laugh at her all the time. You want to play with everything she plays with (even though she gets aggravated). I love this about you. I hope that you always love her. You also have a strong love for the bath. You LOVE LOVE LOVE playing in the bathtub. You just sit and splash, splash, splash the whole time. You don't care that the water is going everywhere or you can't see through the water covering your face. You did have your first ear infection this month but with the help of some antibiotics you were back to yourself in no time. You have had 4 teeth come in on top this month which has been very difficult for you! Bless your heart...all at the same time. You have 2 more wanting to break through right now.

You are an amazing, precious gift. Your daddy and mommy thank God EVERYDAY for giving us such a special baby boy. You have a contagious smile and the way your little eyebrow goes up has us giggling every time. Your smile is so beautiful...it lights up your whole face. Your giggle is the best sound in the world. Every day with you is such a blessing. You are content and love to be around people. You love to watch people. I have a feeling that you are going to be a behind-the-scenes kinda guy when you grow up. Now that I can leave you for longer amounts of time since you finally started taking a bottle, you have been able to bond with Papi and Grammie and your other Grandma more. You are definitely Papi's little boy. However, your Grammie has started singing her famous "Little Bunny Foo Foo" song which you have fallen in love with. Every time the song gets to the part about bopping the little mice you get the biggest smile on your face. You still love mommy to sing "Jesus Loves Me" every night and when you just don't feel good. You take in everything around you and I can tell you are going to be smart little boy.

At your 9 month appointment, you weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds 4 ounces (1%ile) and are 27 3/4 inches long (34%ile). Needless to say, you are a little fella. The doctor is a little nervous about your weight so you had to have blood drawn (which was the worst thing for me to watch) to check lead and iron. But...you are healthy, happy, and just small.

I love you, Colton. You are precious, amazing, handsome, sweet, fun, and a wonderful blessing. We continue to pray that God will use you in a special way. We are thankful that God has allowed us to have you as our son.

Love you with all my heart,

Mommy