9 months

Our little boy is now a little over 9 months.  His adjusted age is 7 1/2 months and yes subtracting that month and a half makes me feel better!  I am having a hard time realizing that his first year is almost over.  The first few months were such a blur of post-partum yuck, fear of the unknown and just trying to survive, that it seems impossible to be at 9 months already.

Looking like a big boy!

At his 9 month appt. he weighed in at 17lbs. 4oz.  (Those chunky cheeks can be deceiving!!)  He was 26 3/4in.  He is growing, but is still on the shorter and smaller side.  His head circumference has gone from the 80% to the 50%!  Now that is  a huge...HUGE..praise!

Eli has picked up some new tricks this month of which we are very proud of.  He learned to wave the cutest little pudgy hand wave.  The first time he did it all four of us squealed with excitement.  So much so that we caused Eli to be a bit frightened.  It didn't take long and he was a waving machine!  He also learned how to do, "how big is Eli...so big!"  It is really so cute and he loves to do it over and over.  Oh, and he is really good at clapping his feet together!  Go figure!!  We are still working on clapping our hands together.

How big is Eli...so big!

This past month Eli has become much more content on his tummy...thank goodness!   He is quite the rolling machine!  He likes playing with his toys and watching his big sisters.  We are working so so hard on learning to army crawl and then hopefully crawl.   He has just learned how to get up his knees and rock some!  I am so so proud of him!  He has started pivoting some and can scoot backwards.  He can also scoot on his bottom pretty far. Thankfully, I know these are beginning steps to crawling.  It is just hard and slow progress! We are also working on standing with braces.  We are using some splints to isolate the glutes to "try" to make them stronger. 

What are we doing now, Mom?

Hey, I might can get outside this door now!

Working

So

HARD!

Eli has begun babbling more.  The only recognizable sounds are baba and wawa. I am so ready to hear mama or dada.  He's been a very quiet baby so far, so we are glad to hear some new sounds.

We have added in OT each week along with our weekly PT.  Some weeks we are in appointment overload.  Every week we have at least two appointments.  That is if no one is sick or there aren't any extras.  This week we have OT, PT, E.I. and Spina Bifida Clinic.  I feel like that is pretty much what I do some weeks...appointments.  I am so thankful that we love all our doctors and therapist!  

Last week Kevin came to PT with us.  I knew he was going to ask the questions that my mommy heart is far to afraid to ask.  The, do you think he will and the what should we expect kind of questions.  Of course, no one will or can say at this point what Eli is capable of, but I left that appointment not feeling as certain.  Some days I wish I could just get a peek into the next five years and just know...if he will be a walker or not!  Maybe if I knew I could find some rest! 

Oh sweet feet!

Peek-a-boo!

Eli loves to laugh at Ella!

I spend most of my days working with Eli and taking care of the girls of course.  When I say working with him I mean down on the floor playing, practicing standing, practicing sitting, e-stim therapy 3x a day and everything else we are supposed to be working on.  I often feel like the burden of him gaining strength and progressing is dependant upon me working with him. Some days the weight of this is really hard.  Most days, I feel like there are not near enough hours in my day for everything.

I knew these months and milestones would be long and hard...and they are proving to be.  And just because this mama needs to be reminded tonight of how far we have come....