Our rolling, growing Owen! 9 month update

Again, another month gone. A nine month old! WoW! A nine month old. It was nearly one year ago when my World (and my families) was turned upside down for the Owen roller-coaster ride. I'd relive it all (including the tears, dread, worry and weekly trips to Chicago) for this Miracle baby-our Owen. But, more on that in a later post.

Owen is doing so wonderfully! He weighs 14 pounds 3 ounces. He is 14 5/8 inches long. His head circumference is in the 50% for 9 mos and 25% for age adjusted 7 months. His height and weight continue to hang under the 3rd percentile on the growth charts even age adjusted, but I am so at peace with our lil' guy! I mean-can you imagine a bigger, cuter Owen-not possible.

In case you wonder what this means practically, if he were 7 months old, he should weigh almost 19 pounds and be over 27 inches long if he were in the ave range of normal (50%).

I was in the church nursery with him today and it was really eye opening to compare him with the other 6-8 month olds. He was so "petite" while the other babies were-well 'hosses' (said with love as they were all adorable, just ginormous!). He was the smallest, oldest baby. He has a great disposition and loved the different exersaucers and such. The other crying babies didn't even bother him. He was so easy going. I wasn't though-as I couldn't leave him in the end and stayed to "help" out. Pathetic, I know-but I'm admitting it.

Here's one excuse. So, the super cute pics above show a slight red mark on his forehead...ugh. Band troubles. We have been "graduated" to 2 week checks but at just 9 days, his head has just grown too much and it needs another adjustment-so we have to wait for the redness to go away and get an adjustment and so on. Point here is, my "on-the-move" genius baby is VERY used to having "head protection" and he knocks his head around like nuts with the band on. But now, with it off, he doesn't quite know how to finesse his movements to protect his precious noggin and a hard floor in the church nursery isn't the place for him to discover "finesse". Ok, so it's an excuse.

Anyway, he is SOOOO on the move! He rolls, scoots, 'swims' on the carpet to inch along, spins, and does the spectacular Olympic champion baby "super roll"-yes, it's the one where he's been playing and catches me watching him. He smiles and starts rolling one after another as many as space permits with an obvious look of "Hey, my mom was watchin' me, I'll give her something to 'watch'." He also is a crazy play baby in his exersaucer, spinning, jumping, etc. He can sit pretty well. He's almost figured out how to escape his bumbo seat.

As for eating: He's still pretty much a newborn (I say this with much displeasure and grumbling). He could easily eat 4 ounces of rice cereal thickened formula every 3 hours around the clock. The pediatrician said we can start withholding nighttime feedings if we can endure the crying. We'll see. He isn't really 'into' baby food and chokes, sputs and sputters-so he is going to need a feeding evaluation. That's TBD.

He coos, giggles, LOVES peek a boo! I believe he is a Nascar fan too. He's a master binkie boy-as he can manipulate his binkie and chew it, 'talk' and smile around it, etc.

He's pretty much outgrown his swing and is exclusive to floor time. He also sleeps (when he sleeps) on his belly or side. It's so cute how he nestles in with a blankie and his binkie or bottle.

Anyway, enough going on about his 9 month accomplishments. Keep watching for upcoming posts on our story a "year in the making" and the dieting woes.