Thanksgiving weekend adventures with Grandma & Grandpa

JJ got all kinds of love this weekend with Mom & Dad on vacation from work and Grandma and Grandpa visiting from Michigan.  We had a wonderful time!  Here are some favorite photos from the long weekend.

Grandma kept JJ entertained on our numerous car rides.

 Lunch on Friday at Z Tejas.  Great queso, but the cornbread omission needs to be addressed!  I will write my congressman.

JJ feeds Grandpa a Cheerio at breakfast on Saturday.

 Somebody better refill this or I'm gonna get cranky.

JJ confronts his fear of the block tower.

Lunch at the Gristmill in historic Gruene on Saturday.

 Playtime with Grandma and Grandpa

 Sunday brunch at Eastside Cafe

 Visit to the Capitol on Sunday afternoon:

 JJ gets in a little more Grandma time on Monday

 He was scared of the tree at first (weird!) but quickly came around and donned his Santa hat.

 Enjoying one of his favorite pastimes: climbing the stairs

Bye bye, Grandma and Grandpa!  Come back to Austin soon!

Gobble Gobble

We had fun celebrating JJ's first Thanksgiving yesterday!  Grandma and Grandpa flew in from Michigan to join us :)

Here's JJ hanging out while the food was being prepared. His cute big boy shirt didn't make it until dinner time due to a spit-up incident.

Da bird.

Ready to eat!

JJ tries some turkey (and mashed potatoes).  He didn't eat much of either, but you can see he was happy to sample them.

Trying to break the wishbone...

 ... but it proved too strong to break.

Posing with Grandma & Grandpa:

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We sure did.  Look for another post in a few days with more pictures of JJ and his grandparents.

9-month check-up

JJ saw the pediatrician today for his 9-month well check.  Here are his stats:

Height - 28.25 inches (50th percentile)
Weight - 19 lbs 6.5 oz (25th percentile)
Head circumference - 45.8 cm (75th percentile)

Our little bobblehead doll is healthy and on track with his milestones.  We need to keep working on the whole sleeping through the night thing and continue to introduce new foods.

JJ was a good boy during the exam.  He kept reaching for the stethoscope around the doctor's neck - obviously exhibiting early interest in a career in the medical field.  There are no vaccines recommended at the 9-month visit, BUT it is flu season so JJ was not off the hook because he needed his second flu shot.  He took it like a champ.  He was also brave when they pricked his finger to draw blood.  He was fascinated by the bandaids and gauze the nurse applied to his finger afterward.  She recommended we leave the bandage on for at least 20 minutes.  Challenge accepted, said JJ!  He messed with it continuously until it fell off - it might have lasted 25 minutes.

We don't have any great new pictures since the last post, but here's JJ at the doctor's office today.  Pants schmants.

Happy 9-month birthday!

JJ turned 9-months old today. His 8th month saw a bunch of milestones. He has two teeth (one on top, one on bottom) and luckily they line up! He has been eating scraps of bread and had his first Cheerios yesterday. He is crawling up every person and object he can find that will allow him to stand. He has progressed from saying "dah-dah-dah-dah" to "mah-mah-mah-mah". He can climb stairs (under close observation). And he learned the multiplication table. OK, that last one is not true, but it was a big month nonetheless. Let's go to the videotape!

1) JJ does this new thing during mealtimes when he's in a really good mood.

2) JJ likes to tell us about his dining experience after each meal. You can see he keeps his face pretty tidy during dinner.

3) JJ likes to chase the cats around from time to time, particularly Kater. You can see his crawlspeed has really improved.

4) JJ likes to dance his various musical toys. He usually just hits the first couple notes and then chills out. His dancing usually consists of head-bopping, hand-waving, stomach-convulsing, or a combination thereof. Here we see demonstrations of all three techniques.