9 Month Stats For Mace

So Mace is apparently a shrimp. Compared to others his age he is a little small. So much so that he has to gain a pound in 6 weeks to put him back on track. I don't really understand why he has to put on weight. He is not malnourished, and even his doc said that he looks great and she is not worried about his weight loss but per the charts he needs to be up a little. ARGH! so I will be feeding him healthy fats and try to up his weight and whatever happens happens. He has already tried hummus and enjoyed that, but I will need to feed that first because man he had really bad, bad, bad morning breath this morning. He didn't smell like him. It was weird. So here are his stats:

Height: 27 3/4 inches: 25%

Weight: 18.1 lbs: 25%

Head: 44.5: 25%

So my little guy is growing but his growth has definitely slowed down in the past few months. He is so healthy and I know he has his dad's metabolism because he eats all the time! We are going to be in big trouble when he is a teenager. So now on to fattening him up but the healthy way. I am learning! I thought I would include some random pix of him so here are they are!

~Someone is getting camera silly~

~Peek-a-boo, I see you~

 ~Whenever I pull out the camera he likes to charge it as fast as he can. I am lucky to get a good shot when he does that~

 ~He is still my little peanut!~

9 Months

My li'l man is 9 months old now. I am amazed by how fast the time really has gone. It seems though that time is going faster when I think about my friend's little girl than it has for Mace cause she is already 4 months and Mace is finally 9 months old. Weird. Mason's personality sure is coming through already. I am already wondering if the terrible 2's can come as early as 9 months with the way he throws a tantrum but I guess this is preparing me for what is to come soon. Wish me luck on that one cause this kid knows how to show attitude when he wants to.

~This is the ONLY pix I got of him with his legs extended all others looked like the one below~

Few things to note: Mason is standing up against things ALL THE TIME. If it is somewhat solid and will support him he will stand against it, and fall and get up again.

 

He now has 8 visible teeth. Amazing thinking about it because at 5.5 months he didn't have any and now he has 8. He enjoys biting everything he can get his mouth on, including my feet, ankle, hands and yes sometimes other areas too. OUCH! He also loves to bite Archer's tail, ears and wherever he gets his mouth on Archer. Of course Archer doesn't like it so he runs away and keeps his distance but sometimes Archer is very nice.

~I accidently bopped his cheek with the camera when I was moving him around.~

Mason is a people watcher. He loves to watch everyone around him. He will stare and just look and observe what everyone is doing. Very cute.

~All better now~

He is babbling a ton now. His fav words to say are "Ba-ba-ba-ba" and yep, "Ma-ma-ma-ma" and "Wa-wa". Especially when he is crying he just wails out his "Ma-ma-ma-ma". He likes to move his mouth a lot. And he loves to buzz his lips all the time. He started buzzing them while talking and found that to be fun too.

Mason is still pretty good with strangers too. He will let anyone hold him, except for when he is grumpy or hungry. They he reaches for me but he will go to almost anyone. He loves facial hair on men too which is interesting. (No Matt, this is not a clue to grow anything out, oh wait you can't cause you are there for the military. Clean shaven yea!)

Mason just loves to play with his toys. He has inherited my old blackberry to play with and loves to gnaw on it as much as possible. It has teeth marks on it now.

~He loves to turn and look at me to show off that he stood up! Silly boy!~ 

Mason is still sleeping pretty well at night. He does wake up in the middle of the night but I ignore him and let him fall back asleep. It only takes about 10 min of crying now for him to give up but thankfully he finally does. I am starting to feel like I am getting decent sleep at night. Not what I used to before the munchkin but better than it had been. I am very much looking forward to handing Mace to Matt and me go and take a nap.

~Full length shot~

Also his favorite game to play when someone is holding him is, lets get my hand in your mouth. He will stick his hands in everyone's mouth just for fun. Silly boy!!!

~Cool pix, mid fall!~

One more thing. This kid LOVES Wheel of Fortune! He will stop whatever he is doing and stare at the TV when it is on. When it goes to commercial break he goes back to his toy then, bam! Back to the TV when the show comes back on. This kid is something else! I love him so much and am so thankful he is finally here and part of our family! LOVE YOU MACE!

Our Trip To Arizona

Mason and I are recovering from our wonderful trip to Arizona. Man the time change, back 3 hours is a killer for a baby who just got into a pattern of sleeping really well at night. We have been back for a few days and I finally found some quiet time to do this. Actually Mason has been great today. I made 3 different batches of his food today which is a lot for me to do in one day so KUDO'S TO ME! Back to the trip details... We arrived just before Easter which allowed me to a) EAT TIA ROSA'S Supper Yummy REAL Mexican food and b) get a SUPER CUTE outfit for him for Easter.

We stayed at my parent's house and my mom loved rocking Mason to sleep at night. And Mason grew to love it too as I am now trying to break that habit and get him used to falling asleep in his crib without me touching or standing over him. We had a wonderful morning brunch with Matt's parents the morning of Easter where they got their "alone" time with the munchkin to get to know him without him being interested in all the kids around. Ivelen, Matt's mom, learned pretty quick how he likes to crawl and just do his own thing, but also he loves to be cuddled too. He let us eat brunch in quiet and just crawled and played at our feet under the table. VERY CUTE! We got some great pix but they are on my MIL's camera and I will add them when I can. Mason also loved his Grandpa Branum too. He just kept staring at him trying to figure him out and would sit so well on his lap. Gary is just a great guy that all the kids love!

~Cuddle time with Grandma and Grandpa Birchett~

~Mace playing at my parent's house. He loves playing with empty bottles.~

I got to show Mace off at my church that I grew up in. I loved being able to see all the people I grew up with and show them my cute little guy. Poor Mace was so tired but refused to sleep during church. Later that night my mom made an amazing dinner for us, my niece and nephew and Auntie Kathrine. Plus a little Paula Dean dessert to top off the night and we were just one happy bunch of people that evening.

~Mason and his cousins, Jordan and Cait~

~Mr. Stud Muffin himself~

Monday we spent all day with Auntie Kathrine which we loved! Mace got some cute outfits and so did Auntie K too! I got to eat some yummy pizza that is similar to the pizza that Matt and I love in NYC.

~Mason and Auntie K~

Tuesday I had lunch with AMAZING WOMEN in my fam. My Aunt Diane, Aunt Louann, Holly and my mom at one of my fav restaurants Cracker's and the dessert, yummo! (Yes I did indulge on my vacation because I only get the amazing food 1 or 2 times a year and darn it there are just some things in life that you need to have every now and then. There is nothing wrong with a little goodness in life, but since then, cold turkey on sweets and goodies!)

Wednesday was the day at the zoo with Matt's fam. Mace chilled in his car seat most of the day with his hat and sunglasses. Neither of us got burned which is a TOTAL SHOCKER. And we even got to ride the carousel at the end of the day and guess what animal Mace rode on... THE ALLIGATOR! I was bummed that there weren't any real ones at the zoo anymore. Apparently one of the alligators ate the other alligator and yeah the bad alligator got sent away because he was a little dangerous. I didn't want to drive to west PHX to see the albino or any other alligators. Too far away.

~Mason and his Aunt Marie and his cousins~

~Mason and his cousin De Sha~

~Mace chillin in his stroller. Check out his feet. He loves to put them up on the bar!~

~Mason, the amazing alligator rider!~

~The whole fam! Mason was too busy looking at the turtles and ducks in the water to be bothered with a pix.~

~Me and K~

~Mace and K~

Thursday was a chill day for me.  Mom and I went to Tia Rosa's Taqueria for lunch were we discovered Mason's love for rice. Later in the week we found out that he also loves beans too! A product of both Matt and I that is for sure!

~Mason's Rice Face~

I did go out that night without Mason. This was the first time that I left Mason with someone and went out and had fun. Other times I have left him I had to run errands and hurry back but not this time. I took my time. I enjoyed my time free of a child. And I kept forgetting that I didn't have a HUGE diaper bag to carry with me or to be worried about. I had a wonderful dinner with Auntie K and a friend of hers.

Friday I got to see my BFF Laura and another high school friend Kathy who I recently reconnected with over facebook and blogging. It was so great to see them and their kids! Then it was dinner with all of Matt's fam at my MIL house. It was great. We had quite the spread of Mex food and also homemade strawberry ice cream.

~BFF Laura~

~The kiddos~

~Kathy and her son who is 3 months younger~

Saturday was breakfast with my extended fam at Crackers again. Then my niece and nephew stayed at my parent's house all day and night and so did Auntie K. We played a fun game of Monopoly and then went out to dinner for Jordan's 14th b-day which was in a few days. After dinner the kids went to the church dance and Kat and I went to go see Hunger Games. Again baby free! I got to enjoy it quite a bit and there were some things that I apparently missed the first time through due to the drive in theater. I couldn't see some things in as good of detail as I did at the theater.

Sunday was another day at church and after church Matt's dad came to visit us at the house to meet Mace for the first time. I am kicking myself because about 10 min after Mark left I remembered I needed to take a pix of him and Mace and didn't get it darn it!  We will be back at the end f the year and will get a few then but still I am so mad that I forgot. Then Mace and I left early Monday morning and here we are that the end of the week. I am so far behind I have yet to take his 9 months pix still but I finally did his laundry and will get them tomorrow!

Anyhew I did a bunch of yard work yesterday and today and am beat. Gonna get these pix on here now and I am signing off for the time being. I am so glad that we got to see most of you guys while we were there. If we didn't see you, I will try to catch you next time but a week is a very short time to try and fit everyone in on 2 sides of the fam and fam come first.