10 months

Matthew Jay you are 10 months old!

What have you been up to these days??

Weight: 19 pounds (40th percentile....you are SO busy that you burn about every calorie you take in!)

Length: 28.5 inches (60th percentile)

Head Circumference: I can't remember, but it's big and in the 95th percentile!

Grandma Sherry says that Daddy was a skinny boy like you...and had a big head too!

You are saying "dada!" This is defiantly your new favorite word, because you love to say it all.the.time! You say it when you see or want Daddy. But you also say it when he's gone, when we are at the grocery store, when we are looking at pictures, or walking down the stairs in the morning! It melts my heart to see how much you love your Daddy!

Lately, you have been such a Daddy's boy!

You get so excited when he comes home from work, and love to follow him around the house!

You started standing on your own!

You visited your Uncle Adam and Aunt Willow in Colorado to celebrate your First Thanksgiving!

While we were in Colorado, Uncle Adam taught you how to use your fingers (you use the back of your hand), and move it over your lips saying bbbbb! So cute!

You have always been such a smiley baby, and had such an infectious smile. Lately, you have a new smile where instead of just smiling with your mouth, you wrinkle up your entire face, and give a big cheesy grin!

You have discovered the stairs, and love to climb them. Thank goodness for baby gates! You get SO excited and giddy when we pretend to chase you up the stairs, and you try to climb them just as fast as you can.

As a baby, we always used to run the vacuum around you or when you were napping, and it never bothered you....until a few weeks ago! All of a sudden you have become scared of the vacuum and loud noises! One day Daddy was vacuuming our bonus room while you were eating lunch. He even closed the door so it wouldn't be loud. But, as soon as the vacuum turned on, you got a quivery chin, and started to cry until Daddy was all done....we couldn't help but laugh!

You love to play peek-a-boo! You will hold just about anything up over your face while we say "Where's Matthew?" Then you get a kick out of yourself when you pull it down and we say "Peek-a-Boo!".

We end up doing this over and over again!

I always planned on breastfeeding until you were 1 year old. However, just after 9 months old, I lost my milk supply, and had to start supplementing with formula. I cried the whole way through giving you your first formula bottle. Ha! To my surprise, you absolutely LOVE taking a bottle. I thought the taste of formula might be hard to get used to, but you love it! I was still producing milk, so I was planning on nursing you morning and night, but supplementing with formula during the day. However, after doing this for a week or so, you completely gave up nursing, had absolutely no interest in it, and only wanted bottles! I never thought that weaning you would be so easy! So we are officially finished breastfeeding, and even though I didn't nurse for a full year, I am so proud that I was able to do it for 9 months!

You now take 3-4, 6 ounce bottles during the day, and are one happy little boy!

We got your first Christmas Tree and are preparing for Christmas!

You are absolutely fascinated with opening the kitchen cabinets, and exploring and removing whatever is inside! I think it's officially time for some locks!

We have learned through experience that we have to keep the bathroom door closed too! You also love the toilet and pulling toilet paper off the roll! One day you snuck off, and I found you in the bathroom with a big pile of toilet paper on the ground, dangling you fingers in the toilet, while playing with the water! GROSS!

I'm constantly amazed at how much you learn from just watching us day to day! We never taught you, but you obviously saw Mommy and Daddy do it enough, that you learned how to hold a cell phone up to the side of your head! We usually don't let you have our cell phones, but one day you found mine on the floor. I looked at you and realized that you were really holding it up like you were trying to talk on it! Now all we have to do is say "Say Hello!" and you put a cell phone, remote control, toy car...whatever is in your hand, up to your ear to "talk!" Too cute!

You learned how to give the best high fives!

Daddy taught you what a monkey says! You make the funniest "aahh" sound when we ask you what a monkey says.

Matthew Jay, I can hardly believe that your FIRST birthday is right around the corner. You are the absolute joy of our lives, and I couldn't be more blessed to be called your Mommy!