Um, yeah.  I just put a pivot table in an Excel file I use to track my Target expenses by category... (in a workbook that also details my CVS deals, health expenses, and other fiscal data). 

Does that solidify my PC-fueled dorkness to a new degree, or simply illustrate a subtle merging of my corporate report-centric workdays with my personal financial management? 

Either way .... I still get a warm, fuzzy feeling when the computer calculates things for me...and makes the data look pretty....and ESPECIALLY so when it does it automatically!  Go pivot tables!  (and to think I was almost reduced to tears of frustration when first working with them back in my Quality & Productivity MBF days in '04..... )

Jackson is 9 months old today!  Our at-home measurements bring him in at 22.5 lbs and 30 in.  Here’s a comparison:

7 months old 
19 lbs (63%) 
28.75 in (96%)

9 months old  
22.5 lbs (89%)
30 in (97%)

The naked diaper pictures started looking odd, so we'll have to figure out our new baseline photo op, at least until he can stand next to the growth chart.

Growth Charts: 

Current Developmental Milestones:

• Still very little stranger anxiety; occasionally plays "shy" with people he knows 
• Gets in "moods" where he talks a lot, usually a few times a day.  Says "mahmah," "bahbah," "dahdah," and other variations.  Starting to have meaning; eg, he always says the same thing at books, his daddy, etc  (they are all dah-dah-dah-dah-dah)
• Starting to display frustration and anger through other means than crying; does a variation of the "hulk" where he'll stiffen up and make a grunt noise
• Crawling all over the place!  Most of the time he uses his upper body to drag along his legs, but sometimes will move on all fours for a few paces
• LOVES to walk and stand, holding our hands, with the wagon, or leaning against couch/door/table
• Pulling up on everything!  Doors, stairs, wagon, tables, us...and even in the crib (from the lowest mattress setting)...found him standing a few days ago in the morning, and he's been doing it ever since (and is now having trouble napping because he's more focused on standing up)
• Drinking one serving of formula per day, as well as water/juice, from cup.  Next step is to add one more formula serving from cup, so he's at 2 out of 4 per day via cup. 
• Eating cereal, vegetables, meat/protein and fruit daily; Self-feeding on many things (puffs, crackers, meat cubes).  Also just started self feeding with spoon at dinner (with help from us)
• Very minimal spitting up now --- even with rice cereal removed from bottles.  Next step is to stop Prevacid and see if acid reflux is still an issue.
• Teething – two bottom teeth up; Top 4 center ones soon to come
• Pretty good pincer grasp at this point
• Loves to explore the house -- opening cabinets, checking out things up on higher surfaces, like tables, playing with door stoppers, etc.
• Wearing size 12 or 18 mos clothes, and (still) in size 3 diapers   

And just for fun..... 9 months ago, I was 9 months pregnant.  Here's what Jackson & I looked like the day before he was born.  Wow...I forgot how big he/I was!!

Pulling Up
J has been pulling up a lot more this week -- on to tables, the wagon, chairs, us...anything he can grab on to!  He's cute the way he pulls up to the wagon...he gets on his knees first, and then kind of scoots forward on his knees one leg at a time to get closer to it before standing up.  But on a less appealing note, he's also pulling up onto the stairs, so even though I thought it would be a bit longer before we would have to gate off the bottom, it looks like we'll be putting up that gate next weekend.  He made it up 2 stairs (with us standing there guard....just curious how far he would actually go on his first attempt!).

He also likes to hang his head down low when he's standing ... guess he's experimenting with balance and body weight distribution....but it's cute!

Cruising around, from the wagon to the side table with the ever-tempting Kleenex box & ceramic coaster!

Eating with a spoon

We've started giving J a toddler spoon at dinner time now, to begin to experiment with feeding himself.  He already uses his fingers to eat pieces of meats, crackers, and other finger-foods.  So yesterday, I put some baby food veggies on the spoon, handed it to him, and he just knew what to do and put it in his mouth, with surprising accuracy and agility for never having done it before...I was quite impressed!  Here's a video of him feeding himself with a spoon tonight: 

In other news, still giving kisses (smack noise) at all kinds of random times (like when we were watching an SNL skit with the "affectionate" kissy family).  Still teething with upper ones...who knows when they will start fully coming in, but you can definitely seem them pushing at the front of the gums.  Had fun in swim class on Saturday....and put his whole face/head under water; but luckily, it didn't even phase him, and there was no crying. 

Up next week -- he turns 9 months tomorrow!  Other than that, just the swim class...and probably all kinds of adventures with crawling, cruising, and walking. 

Teething
Still having some teething going on.... can kinda see some at the top, but still not sure which ones are going to break through first.  Some days are better than others, but overall, hasn't been too bad.

Kisses
Jackson can make the kiss smack noise now, and we can prompt him to do it.  It started with reading one of his favorite books, Baby Faces, and we always kiss the baby on each page. I would do it and then hold the page up to his face, and it didn't take long for him to copy me.  It's too cute.  And about the same time, he randomly started making the noise one day, and so we'll "kiss" smack back and forth.  He even did the kiss noise in music class today after the teacher had us copy her "resting tone" kiss at the end of a song :)  So exciting to see him learning more and more!

Walking
We got Jackson a walker wagon last week, since he's been so enamored with walking for so long....we figured it might give our hunched backs and tightly gripped fingers a break!  After just a little bit of practicing, Jackson had it all figured out and is a wagon walking machine!  But...he still doesn't know how to pull up to it (so we have to stand him up behind it) and he can't really steer/turn it because the wheels are not swiveling (which is a good thing, because that would probably make it easier to fall / lose control). 

The wagon is really cool, and I decided on this specific one after a good bit of research.  It has a bit of resistance, so it won't just fly out in front with pushing.  Also, it has a rubber bumper in front to protect furniture and walls from collisions :)  AND It's nice-looking (compared to lots of the other plastic walkers) and a classic kind of toy, so it'll last for a long time!

This is Jackson walking with it shortly after we got it

Park
It was so nice over the weekend, so we decided to take Jackson to the park so he could have his first ride in the swing.  There were lots of kids out, but luckily one of the baby swings was free.  So we loaded Jackson in, got the camera ready, and started to swing him.  Random boy, about 8 yrs old, runs over and just starts talking a mile-a-minute to us.  And once he realizes I'm using a camera, he then proceeds to throw his hands in front of it!  Argghhh!  So the video of Jackson's "real" first swinging experience was really just this kid's hand and his loud voice yelling right at the camera.  Thankfully, he ran off pretty quickly, and I was able to get another video:

He was a bit cautious about the whole experience, and seemed to want to watch everybody more than anything.  He had a few slide rides, and then sat in the stroller and watched all the kids playing.  Here are a couple of other pics from the park:

He smiled a few times in the swing :)

Watching the other kids play!

He was very intrigued by the water fountain...

Other Pictures:

    
Now that Jackson isn't shoving things down his throat (for the most part), we've brought out the pots and spoon again!  He's had a pretty good time banging them.

And -- not related to Jackson's week, but a super big shout out for my Josh -- he did LOTS of babyproofing projects this weekend, AND cleaned up the garage on his day off!  I've got a good one :)

This is long overdue on the blog, but better late than never!  My bestest and former roomie, Amy, got me the coolest birthday present (yes, in August!... to quantify my un-timeliness with this blog post).  It was a very simple silver necklace with cute overlapping discs with Jackson's name and birth date.  I loved it!!  And have gotten so many compliments and inquiries on where she got it.

She found it at Etsy.com by a hand stamping jewelry maker.  Actually, the seller only displayed necklaces intended for wedding / anniversary gifts, with both names and date.  So Amy asked if she could get it designed for a mother/baby info instead.

I went on Etsy the other day, and was searching for the necklaces so I could show them to my manager.  Lo and behold, I stumbled on the picture of MY necklace!  The seller must have decided it was a good example for a mother gift, and posted it as a new item :)

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_10&listing_id=15719698

.... I'm not the only one that loves the necklace though.  Jackson often wants to grab it, and unfortunately, he successfully broke the discs off from the chain a week ago.  BUT -- it looks like it will be easily reattached with some petite pliers :)  Yay!

Ok...a bit of time has passed on this other fun news as well.  I've started reading a good number of blogs related to parenthood, baby product reviews,  and good deals (kudos to Google Reader for keeping it all neat and organized for me!).  Many of the blogs review products and partner with the manufacturers to do contests and giveaways.  I've entered a few (maybe 10-12 total so far), and they're as easy as leaving a blog comment, sending an email, or filling out a quick form.  And I actually WON something!!!  Pretty cool :)

This is what I won:  http://sunshineisfree.blogspot.com/2008/10/yoplait-giveaway.html 

(this isn't one of the blogs I regularly read, but rather was directed to the giveaway via another blog)

...this turned into a really long post. :)

Swim Class
Our 2nd swim class was fun -- this time Josh went in the water.  We did miss little Caleb and his parents though; and Euan and Jackson both seemed to be a little "blah" about the whole experience.

Jackson gets into "swimming" modes where he almost looks like he's doing something!

Jackson & Euan saying hello to each other ... all smiley!

Eating
A lot of new adventures with eating!  Jackson now gets his 4th (last) serving of formula in the cup, as we begin our transition away from the bottle.  We'll slowly replace the other bottles with a cup over the next several months, with a goal of being off the bottle by 1 year old :)  He doesn't seem to be attached to the bottle (switched to cup with no problems), so I'm confident it will be a smooth transition :)

He's also eating a lot of finger foods now -- turkey,chicken, and ham bits, crackers, puffs, cheese (although I think I'm going to stay away from this until 1 year old, since we have family history of allergies, eczema, and asthma..... and he was a little rashy this weekend, and cheese is the only thing I can pinpoint).  At first I was breaking up the crackers to small bits, but now he can just take bites off of it himself!

Cracker snack! 

Jackson with some of his new eating skills

We are also dealing with some behavioral issues around eating.  Jackson has always been very impatient with getting his bottle or food, and it's gotten progressively worse over the last month or so.  He can be a pretty fussy baby when hungry, but as soon as you put him in the high chair, or give him a cue that you're preparing his food, he immediately erupts into tantrum-ish crying.  So we've instituted some new methods of trying to curb those behaviors and teach him patience.  We'll see how it goes......

He was also pretty fussy this weekend.  Not sure what to attribute it to, but have a couple of ideas.  First -- he could be teething again.  Heard from another mom that the teeth up top can be seen on the front of the gums instead of the very bottom, and I had to fight to lift his upper lip good enough to tell, but it does look like there are a couple there.  And he's been refusing to eat the meat/veggie baby foods with a spoon at dinner (which could be a sign of teething....but could also be an eating strike after all the turkey gagging/vomiting).

But, he's also been downing his bottles super fast, and acting hungry for more over the last several days.  So now we've upped from 6 oz to 8 oz (4 times per day).  It's not as easy to fix these bottles because they fill up to the very top....and it doesn't fit in my 7 oz cups either, so I have to make it in a bottle, and then pour most of it in the cup.  Acck... Just when I get done working over all that rice cereal mixing stuff..... always somethin' right ? :)

Crawling Around
Jackson goes through phases now where he's pretty mobile, and other times where he refuses to move (he still always wants to walk around with our hands guiding). But we did get a lot done on the babyproofing front this weekend (and had a lot of frustrations too..... will any of this baby crap ever come with decent instructions and correct parts?!).  The kitchen is good to go -- chemicals moved to the laundry room up high, and one cabinet locked up.  Will lock a couple of drawers once he can get up to open them.  I also decided not to gate it off...too much of a hassle, and it's pretty easily baby-proofed.  I do have some standby pressure gates I can throw up if I'm doing some hardcore cooking or something.  We haven't gotten the big office gate up yet (our doorway was 1-inch too wide...so we've had to mod the gate and cut/paint two extension blocks).  We also attempted to put up the top-of-the-stairs gate, but it didn't have the right parts.... and we need to mod it as well with something at the bottom since we have to put it above our molding.  So I guess it's more babyproofing this weekend....

Jackson has, however, already discovered many things that we have to steer him away from --- cords plugged in, remote control, Mocha's feeding area.  We've tried to create an environment conducive to exploration and learning by removing most things that he's not allowed to get into.... but it's also good for him to learn "no" occasionally too :)

Discovering water in Mocha's bowl .... he made a complete mess all over the floor! 

Standing Up
He loves it... and is getting a lot better.  Starting to cruise, and even shifted in a 180 from sofa to coffee table (no hands!) a few times.

Halloween

Jackson's first Halloween was not much of an event. He did wear his fresh bones BabyLegs during the day...but the aforementioned fussiness kicked in around 6:15, and he was not easy to please.  So even attempting to put on the monkey costume caused an uproar.  I did manage to get it on... and took it off within 60 seconds due to the crying:

Luckily, we did get pictures in his costume earlier in the month for the photo card we sent out, so here's a respectable shot:
 

Other Pictures from this week:

 
Being super cheesy

Teething on the coffee table .... I'm glad it's inexpensive furniture!!

Josh thought this picture was hilarious... I think he titled it "Puffs Binge" or something.  Jackson often lays down like this when on his stomach (just for a few seconds at a time).  It looks staged.... too funny.

Riding in the car while Josh drives

We like to confuse our neighbors with our opposing party side-by-side yard endorsements (thanks Christy for snagging us a McGov sign!). :)

We had a photographer come a couple of weekends ago to do some pictures of Jackson and the family.  I intended to get pictures made at 6 months, so I did end up a couple of months late, but August and September were so busy for us.  And we had to reschedule once due to Jackson having a cold --- runny red nose and rashy face would not have made for good pics!

Here's a link to a sneek peak on the photographer's blog --- http://catsblog.catherinekeene.com/?p=204 

I love Catherine's style --- awesome photography!!!  I think I am smitten :)  We've seen the full gallery, and will definitely have a difficult time choosing (although we are hoping to get a web copy of all the images, so they can be posted on the blog at some point).

On the move!
At the beginning of last week, Jackson was still barely scooting around on his belly.  Now, he's in full-blown all-over-the-place-getting-into-everything crawling!  It's amazing how quickly he learned and advanced in his "technique."  Within a day or so, he already seemed like a pro.  He still doesn't do it on hands and knees, but mostly uses his arms to pull himself forward; it does seem like he's learning to use his legs more and more though. 

This is a video of Jackson first practicing some crawling:

And here he is just a short time later, already getting better at crawling (and this was several days ago....he's already improved his form even more)!

The stacking cups came in handy for luring him to crawl :)

So we quickly advanced to babyproof planning mode.  We've removed anything within the reach of little hands on side tables and the floor.  And I promptly did some online shopping for baby gates...definitely planning to gate off the office, kitchen, and top of stairs (for now ... bottom of stairs to come later). Our open floor plan downstairs is causing us to have to drop a lot of $$$ to put up baby barriers...

And, sadly enough, he's already pinched his fingers twice in the drawer of the side table.  So lesson learned...at first I tried to think of a way to prevent them from opening...but then I just decided to take them out!  So we have a coffee table and a side table with missing drawers.  And the sofa table may be next to lose its drawers...  He's also fascinated with opening the drawers in the office, so it will be nice to have that area gated off!

Here's a video of him exploring/opening/pulling up on the office drawers.... such an active little boy!

Swim Class
We had our first swim class at the YMCA this past weekend.  We planned to sign up with some of my "Moms in Motion" friends -- the other 2 boys are very close to Jackson's age.  When we got there, we found out there was one more person in the class -- and it turned out she was from our Moms in Motion class too!  J especially enjoyed getting to interact with the other little guys (they're all boys!). 

Jackson is such a water lover -- drinking it, choking on it, playing in it, splashing...he loves it all!  And swim class was no different.  He was thrilled with being in the water, and splashed all over the place.  The class is geared towards a very basic introduction to water / swimming with just getting the babies used to being in water, in different positions, jumping/splashing, etc.  It was very low-key and progress at your own pace.  None of the push-your-baby's-face-under-water craziness that I've heard some others mention!  But...the only part he didn't particularly enjoy was "floating" on his back, but I think it was just because he couldn't see anything/anyone in that position.

Here's a video of Jackson "chasing" the ball in the water:

 
Boys getting ready for the swim (Jackson is top right)

I was like "simmah dahnow with the splashing!"....but his enthusiasm was just too cute :)

He loves the water ... .and the boat... and the ball... and Daddy behind the camera!

 
We played a couple of games -- a popping up out of the water to "Pop Goes the Weasel" and jumping in to Humpty Dumpty (above).   

Up this week:  flu vaccination, Halloween fun, and another swim class.  And hopefully getting used to the new Taggie transitional object so as to not get so upset when Josh and I leave him for nap and bedtime (it's usually just a few minutes of crying, but it's progressed to gut-wrenching pitiful tear-filled crying.... :(    )  Taggie -- work your magic!!