9 Months

I can't believe my baby boy is 9 months old! I know I say this every month, by time seriously flies!
He had his 9 month appointment before we went to Utah for Thanksgiving and here are his stats:
Weight: 19 lbs. 45th percentile
Height: 28.5 inches 65th percentile
Head: 85th percentile (can't remember the exact measurement)

A few things about Ethan at 9 months:
- Crawls like a champ. Everywhere. All day long. Keeps me on my toes and I love it!
- Is starting to stand up to everything. Started with kneeling up to everything and in the past couple of days started standing more.
- Is only a mamma's boy when he's super tired, otherwise he's happy to play with anyone.
- Loves other kids.
- Loves the park.
- Loves dogs, to my dismay...and Chris's delight. 
- Can play catch and loves it and loves to watch others play catch.
- Is 100% boy. Loves balls, wheels, and has continued his fascination with cords/outlets.
- Bonks his head a least 3 times a day.  I promise I keep a good eye on him
- Great eater. Will eat anything. I haven't been able to distinguish a clear favorite because he eats and seems to like whatever I give him
- Still nurses 5-6 times a day (2 of those times are during the night...)
- Still waking up anywhere from 2 - 4 times during the night....I know I know I need to start sleep training
- Isn't a huge fan of napping, although I think he's setting a record right now (2 hours and still going!)
- Has four teeth and two more coming through

He brings so much joy into our little family. I am so lucky and grateful to be his mom.

Croup plus Ear Infection

Our little Mr. Ethan has been so sick. Thank goodness he is back to his happy healthy self! It all started last Wednesday night. He woke up with a horrible barking cough. And when I say "barking" I mean he literally sounded exactly like a barking seal. It scared me. I looked online and immediately knew he had croup. I called the nurse and she confirmed my research and told me to take him into the bathroom with the hot shower on for 15 minutes - so in we went and let me just say at the end of 15 minutes I was sweating up a storm. I was rocking/bouncing him the entire time and wow, it was a sauna in there! Needless to say, we had a rough night. Rough couple of nights actually. On Friday night, Chris and I found ourselves standing in the dark, one of us on each side of his car seat, swinging him back and forth. Unfortunately, after we realized he was just staring at us, we couldn't stop laughing, which didn't help him fall asleep. Let's just say we were all exhausted. He was so sad. We felt horrible for him and wished so badly we could take away his suffering. On Saturday, he was just miserable, so we took him in to urgent care. I had called the nurse a couple of times and she told me it was virus and to just wait it out at home. Well we were done waiting it out, so we took him in, and thank goodness we did! Turns out on top of croup he had an ear infection and his tonsils were so swollen they gave him steroids to help him breath. We saw drastic improvement after Saturday and he is now...finally...back. YAY!