Baby Grayson is 9 months old! I can't believe how fast the last 3/4 of a year have gone by! This last month was another travel filled one for G and me. We started the month by trying to soak up as much daddy time as we could before J headed out into the field for the last time of his Marine Corps career. Once he left, G and I flew up to Utah to visit my family for a week and then we flew from Salt Lake to Sacramento to go to my Grandpa M's 80th birthday celebration. It was a great trip and now we are happy to be settled back in Southern California for what is likely to be our last few months here.
J will officially be getting out of the Marine Corps on July 1st so this month was his last field op that took him away from us. We have been very lucky to have him around so much since G was born but it will really be nice not to have to go multiple weeks without seeing him at a time. During the first four years that he was active duty, he was gone at least half of the time so it was truly a blessing to have him move to a job where he only had to go out once a quarter for a few weeks for the last year and a half. We are even more excited about the prospect of having him around even more and also never having a deployment looming over us ever again. The Marine Corps has been very good to us and we are so grateful for the opportunities and especially the friendships that we have made with this lifestyle but we are also looking forward to the move to civilian life. Since J was headed out to 29 Palms (the middle of nowhere), we tried to have a lot of family time including a few beach trips before he left. Unfortunately I ended up coming down with bronchitis that was pretty bad but J was great when he was home about taking G. My blonde boys spent a lot of time together until J had to leave. They are so adorable together, especially when J gets G laughing really hard!
The day that J left, G and I flew up to Salt Lake to spend time with my family. My parents will use any excuse to see their grandson so when they found out J was going to be gone for a few weeks, they bought me a ticket to come home. I was still struggling with bronchitis that lasted for almost three weeks so it was especially nice to have help with my little man. My mom saved a lot of toys from my brothers so she pulled out a cool train set that G really liked in addition to some of the baby toys. For some reason G really thinks my mom is hilarious so every time he sees her he gets a huge grin on his face and he will laugh at pretty much anything she says. It's pretty adorable to watch :) We had a great week and G was loving all of the attention he got from everyone! We were able to see my Grandma P again which was also great! I love how many times we have been able to visit my family this last year. I really want G to know his grandparents and his aunts and uncles. We had so much fun in Utah!
After a week in Salt Lake, we flew to Sacramento so that we could go to a big family celebration of my Grandpa M for his 80th birthday. We spent a night with my Aunt C and Uncle J and their family which was a lot of fun and then we drove up north to Paradise, California where my mom is from. It is a beautiful small town with a ton of tall trees that I always enjoyed visiting while I was growing up. All eight of my grandpa's kids and the majority of their spouses and children were there to spend time together. I don't get to see everyone very often especially my cousins so it was really great to catch up with people! My grandpa has eight children, thirty eight grandchildren, and one great grandchild so he definitely has a lot of people who really love him! We haven't all been together in years so this was a special occasion. I am so grateful that G and I were able to make the trip and spend a little more time with my family.
At 9 months G:
-is 19.8 lbs. This puts him in the 87th percentile for weight. Last month I was told he was in the 20th percentile at 19 lbs so someone messed up somewhere but he is a pretty big boy so I think the 87th sounds more likely.
-is 29 1/2 inches long which puts him in the 92nd percentile for height. He is a pretty tall little man!
- wears 6-9 month clothes. He finally grew out of all of his 3-6 month clothes just before hitting 9 months old. Since he is a tall chunk I don't really understand baby sizing :)
-sleeps pretty well most nights but during our trip he refused the pack n play and ended up sharing a bed with me pretty much the whole time we were gone.
-has crawled across the room on several occasions but he still really seems to prefer rolling and army crawling to get to what he wants. He has done this with a lot of skills where at first he only does them rarely and then eventually something clicks and he does them all the time. He is constantly moving now and always trying to get to something out of his reach.
-can push himself up to a sitting position when he is laying on his stomach.
-loves to eat! He now eats small pieces of chicken, turkey, cutie oranges, bananas, grapes, strawberries, bread, sweet potatoes, cheese and a few other foods. While we were at my parents house, he loved throwing some of his food over the side of the high chair to feed their dog. It was funny to watch :)
-likes to have some time to play by himself every day. I love that he enjoys playing alone because it let's me get more done :)
-pulls himself up on furniture or people. He really seems to love pulling himself up but sometimes he forgets to hold on once he is there so he topples over.
-still loves jumping in his jumperoo but will also try to jump on anyone who is holding him when it isn't available. At my parents house he spent a lot of time bouncing on all of our laps :)
-is able to pick up small things with his thumb and pointer finger. He can now pick up his little puffs and get them in his mouth.
-has no concept of self preservation. This kid will throw himself off any piece of furniture that he can get himself on. He is just lucky that I never let him out of my reach!
-is a very laid back baby who adapts to most situations pretty well. He did really well with my family and especially at my grandpa's party when there were a ton of people around. We are so blessed to have such a smiley little cutie in our lives!
