BROOKS GRANT | NINE MONTHS

nine months in, nine months out.

weight 20 lbs 4 oz (50th%)

height 28.5" (75th%)
we went in for our 9 month well check, which was kind of crazy on my part to try to do that in the midst of a wild flu season but Brooks hasn't slept through the night in a month and we needed to catch up on vaccines. I'm glad we did go, because during the routine exam, we found (the 3rd) double ear infection, yikes. Explains the waking 2-3 times a day and general grumpiness. He also has busted all 4 top teeth recently so I was blaming that, but i'm glad we have more of a diagnosis. So, back on antibiotics we go!

food 
when he reached 8 months old he finally started eating!!! he pretty much eats our table food. he doesn't like baby food or pouches, so he eats what we eat! No yogurt or milk yet, but we may have to give him some yogurt after all these antibiotics! He loves steamed broccoli, crackers, and fruit. He has iffy feelings about avocado and bananas which is funny to me.

breastfeeding
as far as milk goes, he is still exclusively breastfed. nine months is such a big goal so I'm glad I've made it, even though I hope to make it to a year!! He still nurses every few hours, either right before or right after a meal and before a nap/bed time. I leave 4 or 5-5oz bottles when I'm at work. Somedays we have a surplus of pumped bottles in the fridge and other days we're pulling a frozen bag or 2 out of the freezer but I'm hoping we can make it 3 more months!

sleep
teething and ear infection x2 have really troubled us in the sleep department! We put him in his crib awake but know that he is tired/clean/fed and he may cry a few minutes before going down. He takes 2 naps a day usually, at 10am and 2pm. Bedtime is at 7:30/8pm. We do bath/jammies (which he still screams about), then I nurse him. He sometimes falls asleep nursing and I carry him to his crib but mostly he is up and fighting the urge to doze off.

play/development
he crawls so well and so fast!
pulling up on EVERYTHING and maybeeee thinking about cruising along the couch?!
currently getting wrestled by sister several times a day
hasn't said a word yet but more babbly than before.
he loves boy stuff-trucks, loud noises, messes, etc. we can tell he is a boy-his plan is always destruction, ha!!
loves patty cake and peek-a-boo
LOVES splashing in the bath and crawling around sister

loves: pulling up-perferably on the brick fireplace or the bathtub (insert stressed out mom), finding crumbs off the floor (usually the scraps he threw down from the previous meal)

dislikes: putting on pjs after his bath-every.single.night., getting strapped in his car seat, having things taken away from him

Christmas

Christmas 2017 was so great! Especially in-comparison to Christmas 2016 when a stomach virus hit the entire McMurray family and all 7 adults and 3 babies were sick.... thanks to Evynn for bringing that bug! Not going to lie, I was still paranoid and during the holidays if E was wandering off by herself I was so worried she was up to something!

Since I haven't blogged in forever (which I am wanting to do more of this year. I love looking back at memories. In fact, this blog is the only way I would ever be able to fill out the kids baby books months at a time, ha!) I'll catch up with the whole Christmas season.

I had never had a real tree before but we figured why not?! So we heard about Double Shovel Christmas Tree farm in Post. About a 30 minute drive. It was precious and a lot of fun. They have candy canes planted throughout with a bucket, assigned number and a stamp. Ev had a card to fill out with the stamps from all of the candy canes, she loved looking for them and running to go get them all. They also had popcorn, hot chocolate, treats and more. We ended up totally cheating and buying a real tree, but one that was imported from up north. Definitely shed some pine needles through our house but overall I loved it!

In between Christmas parties and all kinds of activities, I had also signed us up for a small santa setting at the Science Spectrum. It wasn't quite applicable for Evynn's age but still had fun. We're not big santa people but I did tell Evynn "he's going to ask you what you want for Christmas, so what do you want?" and her reply: "fruit snacks". She held to that and asked every santa from then on out for fruit snacks.

We baked cookies at home and ate wayyyy too many sprinkles.

We decorated, see the real tree? I wanted a 3rd pom garland for the tree but couldn't find one all season so, simple is best, right!?

Our Christmas morning:

We celebrated on December 21st. We woke up, turned on the lights and then started getting the babies up. I've learned to not set expectations for these moments because they will most likely get broken down. Ev was alittle shy, as she is in most "new" situations. Brooks loved climbing on the boxes. We kept it simple, they got stocking stuffers and 1-2 gifts each.

I was pretty excited about this gift I got for Cody-since we have a plan to go to a different state every year/anniversary, I thought it would be fun to have a map for all of it! I'd thought about making one myself but I am so glad I bought one that looks much crisper than I could! I love remembering the trips we've made but we have plenty more adventures ahead together!

Right after gifts we made cinnamon raisin french toast, ate, loaded up the car and headed out to Codys family! We first stopped at his grandparents and enjoyed the afternoon with extended family then to Codys parents that night. The next morning was "Christmas morning"

Like I mentioned above, no one was vomiting this year (praise the LORD!!). We had fun opening gifts with the kids and the big kids (us ;)) 

For days we took lots of pictures, baked cookies, played with cousins, the adults played exploding kittens and heads up a hundred times and we hardly changed out of pj's. It was great except trying to get a toddler to sleep in a new setting.

On Christmas Eve morning we loaded up again and went to my parents! We went to their house, got dressed then immediately went to Christmas eve service at my home church, which is always nice. Since we're in ministry, we're hardly ever able to go anywhere on a Sunday! I got to see my best friend Claire at church, and they had a live nativity scene so Evynn enjoyed that!

The next morning really was, Christmas morning. Brooks, my mom, and I were up first so he got to preview his new whip ;) but everyone else wasn't far behind! Evynn personally loved brothers car, her new (pretend) makeup kit, her dollhouse, and her caterpillar pillow which she calls "lady bug". This visit we also baked cookies and took naps! 

When it was all done we were sooooo thankful for a wonderful holiday with family but ready to unpack our weeks worth of clothes and settle into our overly full playroom.