9 months already!?!?!

I feel like I just posted Asher's 8 month update yesterday. This month has really flown bye!

I have only a rough idea of his weight....over 16.5pds. I weighed him on the luggage scales at the airport when I was dropping my brother off and that was 2 weeks ago. (Can you believe I forgot to take a pictures of him on there?!?! It was so cute!) We haven't been to the Dr. for a checkup since June, and I am not really planning on taking him anytime soon, if I can help it. (I really don't like the Peds Dr.'s on base and we are not giving him vaccinations anytime soon!) Asher struggled with an annoying cough for several weeks this month because of the LA fires. They were so close that you could see them from parts of base and we had ash raining down on us for several days, and a smoke smell in the air for almost a week. His cough has cleared up, but it has reminded us that his lungs are still sensitive from being a preemie.

The biggest milestone this month was crawling. He has taken off! He started with the boot camp/belly crawl and he still does a combo of that and regular crawling and is much, much faster these days. If you leave flip-flops out anywhere that he can see them, he will take off for them and promptly stick them in his mouth..Grosses me out! He also adores all paper, electrical cords and the dog's chuck-it...i.e., everything germy and hazardous! He has also just begun pulling up on things. We had to lower his mattress finally, which made me sad because my back doesn't like bending over so low all the time. Time to anchor the furniture to the walls!
He continues to be incredibly social and loves to hit on (i.e., pull on their arms, chew their fingers, anything he can reach out and touch) all the other girl babies around the neighborhood! He flirts even better with the mommies! Talk sweet to him and ask him for a smile and he will grin from ear to ear! If he is at all whiny, going outside and finding someone else other than me to talk to him and he is a happy camper. Most of our friends here think he is never crabby, whiny or cries because he always looks so happy around people! And generally I must say he is an incredibly happy baby. Though last week, he threw his first "fit" over taking a nap! I was completely shocked because he goes down so easily and rarely gets really mad about anything. Thankfully it has not happened again and I hope it never happens again (wishful thinking I know!)
We go swimming almost every weekday. He starts full body happy shaking as soon as he sees the pool. Last week, we started using a kick-board with him and he can float everything but his head by himself! Future Michael Phelps??? :) We have also noticed that he seems to have an ear for music. Anytime he is upset, if you sing to him, he will calm down almost instantly. He also loves to dance with me to music and reaches out for the piano every time we go past it! I am thrilled by this, since I have almost no musical ability and really wish I did!

We have added eggplant, yellow squash, black beans, chick peas, watermelon, grapes, coconut milk and fish oil to his diet...... So far we still haven't found anything he really doesn't like. He either wants to eat or doesn't, but what he eats, he is chill about...Even fish oil...He will take it straight up no problems! (though it is citrus flavored, which helps a lot!) He continues to like nursing best and sees nothing wrong with his 2 feedings a night. I am hoping to work on that this next month!

And as this last picture shows Andrew continues to work on making him a Crossfit baby before he can even walk! :)