Bran...9 Months

It has been a very busy and fun month for all of us! We have been watching lots of football, Joe and I ran a half marathon (Bran opted to stay home with Grandma Lude), and we did some traveling. Also, Mommy LOVES Halloween and luckily Bran seems to love it just as much. I absolutely love taking pictures of this kid, he makes it so easy!  Brannock is a ham and really enjoys the camera.  It has gotten more challenging to keep him still long enough to capture the photos.  I am sad my weekly first year photo project is slowly winding down.

"Mom, this is not my good angle! Put a shirt on me already!"

Smiling for Mommy, or smiling because he has a leaf?

Height: 28.3 inches (53rd percentile)

Weight: 22 lb. 9 oz. (80th percentile)

Bran had a get check up at the pediatrician.  He's a happy healthy boy. The doctor says he is very strong and catching onto things very quickly.

Sleeping Pattern: Still the same great sleeper, with one exception.  We spent a week visiting Asheville and Charleston.  Bran did great sleeping at our friends house in Asheville (we shared a room but the bed frame was large enough he could not see us which worked wonders).  Charleston was a complete nightmare.  Bran spent 3 nights screaming until we picked him up.  He spent the vast majority of the time "sleeping" in bed with us (which NEVER happens).  He'd wake up in the middle of the night wanting to talk and play. We all slept horrible! So apparently Bran is a terrible hotel sleeper.  Hopefully that changes! The first night back home Bran tried to scream like he had in the hotel, but we ignored him since there weren't hotel guests to disturb.  He fell asleep before we knew it and has been back to his great sleeping self every since. I am also always impressed at Bran's ability to sleep through almost all of Izzy's barking.

Feeding Schedule:  Bran is eating most anything we do at this point.  He's allowed to have everything except honey and milk.  He is a great eater.  A couple of his new favorites this month were lasagna and peanut butter. He absolutely loves finger foods.  We try to let him eat as much as he can on his own which gets very messy.

Changes This Month:
Bran is crawling way faster now.  He has taken many baths in the dog water because I haven't been quick enough to catch him. Bran is also climbing up on everything. He loves to stand and has been working on his balance.  He can easily stand barely holding on with one hand.  Sometimes he gets distracted and lets go, which always results in a look of surprise and falling back down on his butt.

Getting taller! He could suddenly reach everything on the second shelf when we got back from vacation.

I made the mistake of mentioning to our friends, the Ruscoes, in Asheville that we didn't have to worry about Bran getting into their cabinets because he didn't know how to open them yet.  Very shortly after he started opening their cabinets.  And now he loves to explore our cabinets at home too.  Time for more baby proofing!

Bran has also been working on walking with his toy.  He can easily zoom around the entire house if he is pushing it just standing on his knees.  He does a great job standing up and walking on the carpet.  We won't let him go on the tile by himself yet because it gets moving way too fast.  It is really fun to watch him start to coordinate the balance and movements required to walk.

Bran has also decided he really likes to help with house work.  Some of his favorites are loading/unloading the dishwasher (of which I have no photographic evidence but he has snuck onto the dishwasher door and stood up while I wasn't looking...he is fast!), folding laundry, and making beds.

Bran has also mastered making more house work for Mommy.  It is a constant game of pick up these days.

Not much has changed in terms of his love for his big furry brother and sister.  I often find them running around the house together.

What We Have Been Up To:
There is a little park not too far from the house.  We have taken a few walks there so Bran could play.  Most of the toys are for the bigger kids, but there is a great little area where Bran can crawl around and pull up on things.  He even made a little friend!

Great Grandpa and Lil made a day trip to come visit.  We went out to eat (twice) and they got to see how busy it is for Mommy to keep Bran fed and happy through a meal out now. We enjoyed their company, and they got a kick out of how much of a piggy Bran is!

We also made a trip to have lunch with a bunch of the family for Grandma Lude's birthday. Aunt Jenny and Uncle Ronny got a kick out of watching Bran the whole time.  Brannock and Greer were very cute in their Halloween attire, it wasn't even planned!

Grandma Lude came into town to watch Bran while Mommy and Daddy ran in the Columbus Half Marathon.  The next day we left for a week long trip to Asheville and Charleston for a perfusion meeting.  We had a really great time visiting Asheville.  We will always miss it.  We stayed with our friends, the Ruscoes, and Bran really enjoyed climbing on the dog crates at their house.  Although I am not quite sure Chip and Nola knew what to think of him. We spent an afternoon driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway and got some great pictures.  We also went up to Mission Hospital to visit with all of our old coworkers so they could meet Bran.  Our last evening in town we went to Highland Brewing Company and enjoyed a great night sitting outside with friends.  Bran loved it!  They had really long picnic tables and he spent most of the evening cruising along them.  Everyone was getting a good laugh. He kept wanting to play with our friends' daughters, but I think it will be a couple years before he can keep up! And yes I let Bran run around barefoot, it was really warm out! Plus I trust his footing better than in shoes.  Brannock also got to meet his new little friend, William.  They were the same weight at birth!

The second part of our trip we went to Charleston, SC so Mommy and Daddy could go to a perfusion meeting while Grandma Lude watched you in the hotel.  As I said earlier, the sleep situation was terrible.  But you apparently were very nice to nap with Grandma all morning while we were at the meeting.  You loved playing up on the bed with all of the pillows but we had to watch you like a hawk because you would crawl right off the bed in an instant.  We spent the afternoons just wandering around town.  We went to The Battery and Waterfront Park, and even saw a payphone! (Now that is a dinosaur you will probably never use Bran).  We had dinner with one of my old perfusion classmates, Christina, and her husband and two boys.  They are just a little bit older so it was fun to see what is to come.  We ate at Fleet Landing, which went amazingly well with three little boys at the table. Our last afternoon we grabbed brunch with the Marflaks.

Vacationing with a baby this time around was a little different than we expected.  Mommy and Daddy are used to constantly being on the go, which just can't happen with an 8-9 month old.  It took much longer to do anything, and it seemed like it was always time for the next nap or meal.  But all in all we at least got to enjoy some gorgeous views and nice weather. On our way back from Charleston we stopped at the Tamarack in WV since we had some time before Cade's birthday party.  We got some "planes, trains, and automobiles" which I think we are planning to do for Bran's first big boy bedroom.

We got to say hi to some of the Aunt, Uncles, and cousin's at Cade's 7th birthday party.  Bran always loves hanging out with the big kids!

After a month of anticipation, Bran got to experience his very first Halloween.  We have been reading him "EEK! Halloween!" every day and it is by far his favorite book right now.  He belly laughs and loves all of the silly animals.  Trick or treat was on Halloween this year. We got Bran in his giraffe costume, took some pictures, then headed out to visit a few of the neighbors.  He actually didn't seem to mind being in the costume and had no problem leaving the hood on.  We got to check out the fire truck and say hi to the firemen that came into the neighborhood to pass out candy.  Bran really enjoyed seeing the other little kids in their costumes.  A neighbor boy not too much older than Bran was dressed as Yoda and Bran really thought watching him run around was funny.  We were back at the house by 7 (when Bran likes to turn into a pumpkin).  Bran stayed up for a little bit longer because he was entertained by the trick or treaters coming to the door.  It was a fun night!

Photo Ops:

Bran loves playing on this box.