Dear Gage,
This is the 1st letter I have not written on time. Last night I was SO sick that I went to bed at 830pm and just couldn't put enough thought into this letter b/c I felt so bad. I hope you will understand but I wanted to give it as much effort as possible. Our big change in the last month is of course day care, and the reason why I am sick. You have now been sick for 2 weeks and were diagnosed w/ your 1st real illness on Saturday, a little ear infection. The dr. said it wasn't too bad and you actually never complained too much so we hope you aren't/weren't in too much pain. You still have to take the 'pink stuff' 'til Monday and you absolutely HATE it. I have to fight w/ you every morning to get it in your mouth w/o you spitting it out and gagging.
So much in the last month, wow! You have just recently hit a new milestone! You are now able to go from your belly to sitting up and back and forth to get where you want to be. I found you sitting up in your crib peeking over the side, so we have finally lowered it to the lowest setting. You are getting to be a BIG boy!
You haven't improved your crawling style, but again, why would you? It works for you. You have recently begun to pull up, but only to your knees, you aren't quite strong enough to get to your feet just yet. You do love it when we stand you up against furniture or the window though. Also, just a month go, you were still a little inconsistent in feeding yourself. Now you are an expert and can eat just about anything we put in front of you. You recently have begun to LOVE turkey and cheese and you would much prefer to feed yourself instead of us feeding you. You have tried many new foods and we try to feed you off our plate as much as possible. It's hard sometimes b/c we still don't eat until you have gone to bed. Tonight you tried pizza and you really seemed to love it. You still aren't good w/ your sippy cup, I was hoping they'd help you out at daycare, but I'm not sure they offer it to you enough. You will drink it lying down but rarely any other time.
You are still a little guy and wear 9 month clothes mostly. You have a few 12 month clothes you can fit into, but most are too big. I estimate you weigh right around 19lbs. You do seem to have grown a little in length but most pants are still too long for you. You still have ZERO teeth, it's crazy! You seem to do just fine eating w/o them though. We were supposed to have your 9 month pictures right before we went to the beach, but you were sick, so we rescheduled for this past weekend and were going to make them your 10 month pictures.....but you were STILL sick. Are you kidding me? We have scheduled professional pictures 5 times now and you have been sick and we have had to cancel 3 out of the 5 times. I think you just don't want your picture taken....after the experience at Picture People, I don't blame you!
You get around pretty fast these days and are into everything. You say 'Daddy' but we're not quite sure you know exactly what it means yet. You wave when people say hi and you still LOVE dancing and swaying to music. You have also started copying noises and facial expressions that Daddy makes. This is your 3rd week at daycare and other than being sick and not wanting to nap b/c so much is going on, you seem to like it pretty well. You don't cry when I leave in you the morning and you are always reported to be happy. I wish you would sleep more since you don't get too much at night. You HATE it when I drag you out of bed every am at 545am.
You still LOVE books and could flip through them for hours. You love to play in your tunnel and still love your piano. You have started to play more and more with your blocks, putting them in and out of the box. You are even trying to stack them, but aren't quite able to do so yet. You also love your 'shaky' ball that Grandma bought you and you love to 'shake' just about anything you can get your hands on.
We love you more and more every day. Unfortunately, with us both being back to work, we don't get to spend as much time with you as we would want, but we cherish every minute we have. We are lucky to have such a good natured baby and are so blessed to watch you grow and learn every day. We are looking forward to taking you to the Pumpkin Patch in a few weeks and to celebrate your 1st Halloween. The Winter months will be awesome when we can snuggle with you inside and share more holiday memories. We are trying ONE more time this weekend to get pictures of you, if not now, we'll wait 'til you're 1. We love you soo soo much and it's been really hard to see you sick these past few weeks. Don't tell anyone, but I love it when you are a little cranky and you get to snuggle b/w Daddy and I in bed. Only 8.5 more weeks 'til my baby is a BIG boy and will be more independent than I can imagine! I can't believe it. Until then, I will enjoy all the cuddles, snuggles, smiles and giggles I can get! Love you sweetie pie.
Love, Momma