WEIGHT/SIZE

Oh, absolutely no idea at all! He was around 18Ibs at 8 months but I haven't had him weighed since; I'd hazard a guess that he's following his line though as his appetite for solids has increased this month and he's still having more booby than ever (more on that below).

SLEEP

Oh sleep, sleep, wherefore art thou, sleep? I won't sugarcoat it, the last few weeks have been pretty awful and I've probably felt more tired than I have since he was born. After discussing Jesse's sleep habits (or lack thereof) last month, things took a turn for the worse and I've been gradually losing my mind. Thankfully, I'm pretty sure there's some god awful sleep regression at 9 months that finally seems to be passing as the last couple of nights have been much better. JB started to wake more often and it felt as if he was literally glued to my boobs all night long, sometimes not able to settle for longer than a few minutes at a time. He also started to wake 40 minutes after bedtime every single night, and would wake hourly after that, meaning we weren't even getting an evening to wind down and honestly, it sucked. I've always said the night-time wake-ups really don't bother me as long as I get a few hours each night to relax kid-free (preferably with wine).→

I started to doubt myself and wonder whether it was because I was nursing him to sleep and bed-sharing and falling into 'bad habits' after all and we tried a few different sleep training methods but nothing worked. We do appear to have turned a corner though as the past couple of nights, he's been going to bed at 7 and not waking until we've gone to bed ourselves which is bliss. There are a few steps we took which I think may have helped; I've started a relaxed 2-3-4 nap schedule (first nap 2 hours after waking, second nap 3 hours after that and bedtime no sooner than 4 hours after the last nap) and it's made bedtimes so much easier. I've also stopped baths before bed as, like A, they seem to excite rather than relax him. I'm not sure this has contributed, but we've been filling him up a little more at dinner (not massive amounts, but he does seem like a hungry baby) and I've been placing his cuddly toy (with my t-shirt on) pressed next to him when I leave the room so he's comforted by a presence; I've noticed he does seem to wake the minute he realises there's no one beside him.

Thanks to all of the above, we're starting to see a longer stretch in the evenings again and a few wake-ups that are quickly settled by nursing through the night, and that's 100 times better for me than what we were experiencing. It's really not the multiple wake-up's that bother me, but the difficult bedtimes and lack of wind down time each evening; it's the only time I ask for to re-coop from the day (and do all of the jobs I can't with two little munchkins racing circles around me).

FOOD

After a few weeks of illness and being off solids completely, he's back on track and eating more than ever. Amazingly, he eats more than his big brother most meal times and is getting better at actually eating finger foods (as opposed to gumming & throwing). He loves savoury but isn't fussed by sweet and loves drinking water from his sippy cup (I've never seen a baby so happy to drink water from a cup, little weirdo). He's still breastfed and tends to have a morning, afternoon and bedtime feed (as well as pretty much all of the night)

THINGS I DON'T WANT TO FORGET

Your beautiful baby face! I appreciate it so much more the second time round because I know how quickly it will disappear. I love how inquisitive you are and how you will entertain yourself for hours on end exploring the confines of one room, everything fascinates you. The impatient way you shout at me when you're excited for dinner. The way you're instantly settled by my presence. The way you've finally got the hang of eating and enjoying yourself at nursery, yay!

DEVELOPMENT

He's now very adept at pulling himself to stand and does it on almost everything; the sofa, stairgates, tables, boxes. He loves standing and has even been pulling himself up and taking a few small steps with his walker. He's also been crawling for a while now but doesn't do it properly, pulling his left leg up as he does it as if he's ready to plop his bum down at any second.

He's started to mimic our actions and has recently learned to clap! He also says dada and nana (which I'm pretty sure is his name for boob) as well as some other sounds.