Ander's Ninth Month

We'll just pop right out of the gate and get to the "interesting" stuff.
Some may remember my facebook/instagram post about Ander's little head tilt that started a couple weeks ago. I wish blogger would be compatible with my videos so I could put it here, but alas, I am not that tech savvy.

I took him in to his regular doctor to get his opinion on the phenomenon, and from the video he determined that it didn't look like seizures. Whew! But he did want to refer us to a neurologist for a second, more specialized, opinion. On a side note, I had to chuckle when I heard Ander's regular doctor enter another exam room and ask, "Okay, how long have they been having diarrhea?" And then when he came into our room he opened with, "This is the most interesting complaint on the list today!" An intriguing brain issue must be a sweet reprieve from all the poop and vomit and other various bodily fluids.
And so we waited to hear from scheduling to make our appointment with the neurologist. After a few days of miscommunication and bad phone numbers, we finally got in touch and they had an opening the next day for 9 am! They asked, "would you like to come in as soon as tomorrow morning? The next I have available would be the end of May or beginning of June."
Um. Yes. Tomorrow plz.
It was probably the smoothest doctor's visit we've ever had. He was calm and pleasant, he let them measure all the bits and parts that they needed to, and he set off into a long story the minute the doctor asked, "is he babbling?"
Her temporary diagnosis is Transient Torticollis. Which is great, because that means it'll just go away on it's own. But she's ordering an EEG and we just have to wait to hear from their scheduling. It makes me feel much better about my mommy-radar that I initiated the doctor's visits in the same amount of time it's taken to schedule all of them. For awhile, it felt like I'd been letting it go on for too long, that he was going to have permanent brain damage, that because of my own "laziness" and "ineptitude" my poor baby was suffering. But then I took him in for that first visit with his regular doc and realized as I showed him the instagram video that it had been barely over a week.
Time must pass differently in parent brains. It simply must.
But anyway. That's our current drama. Ander's most likely fine, we're mostly doing precautionary tests. I'm kind of excited to see how the EEG will go and the amazing technology that it uses. Gimme 21st century over the Black Plague any day.

Otherwise, he's just rocketing along, smothering us with adorable experiences to make up for all the reflux and sleepless nights.
He weighs right around 24.5 pounds, which he's held for about the past month, so we're definitely seeing his percentiles drop. But nothing worrisome, it's obviously because of how active he has become. If he's not napping, he wants to be everywhere at once. He's curious about everything and has his daddy's propensity for examining things. He's slightly over 29 inches long, which has made it very difficult to wrangle him into his old carseat when we try to ride in other people's cars. Mommy's gonna have to let that one go.
Not to mention his head has ballooned to 50 centimeters. There must be quite the brain stowed away in there. (#typicalmombrag)
99th percentiles for weight and head circumference, 75th for height.

It was a pretty normal month. Just day to day living, visits to and from Grandma's, and eating ALL OF THE THINGS EVER. Basically if I don't give him a full bowl of oatmeal mixed with applesauce, yogurt, or fruit puree immediately before going down with an 8 oz bottle for bed he will only sleep a maximum of 5 or so hours. One food pouch is a mere snack to this hubba-bubba. He loves anything edible and will chow down on inedible stuff as well, if left to his own devices.
His 7th and 8th teeth are poking their heads through his gums, he's trying to (and often succeeding in) take steps on his own, and I'm pretty sure his favorite color is yellow.

A tiny blurb on mom: I got hired to play piano at a scholarship fundraising event hosted by the AAUW (American Association of University Women) at Leisure World. It was the perfect kind of gig for me. I got to sit at a baby grand in the lobby and plunk out all the Handel, and Bach, and Mozart that I wanted, and there was no huge crowd sitting there STARING and obviously waiting for me to screw up.
Although, one of the catering employees totally snuck up behind me, albeit to give me a compliment, and startled me to the point of spasming. So that was embarrassing.
The sustaining pedal may have been completely broken, the tune perhaps falling short of "on pitch", but I had fun, the elderly patrons enjoyed it, and I got paid. All the win.

Ander is still the biggest people person, although he does seem to be increasing his separation anxiety levels to "Mom Hold Me Always". If I can sneak out of his room and leave him with his toys he still does fine, but if he watches me walk away or if he gets set down on the floor with no obvious form of entertainment awaiting him, it's time for wailing.
But the times where I give in and lay on the floor and play with him are some of the best times I have lately. So I'm not too mad about it. My house doesn't hold the same opinion.
Regardless, he's always happy to go out in public and see the humans; strange and familiar alike.

From here on out, you'll be able to find us at the Andersen Grandparents' house swimming to our hearts content every Tuesday. He always takes the best naps after floating around, and momma loves it.

We all went and voted! Kind of. Mark and I cast our ballots, Ander just came along for the ride in his wrap. The poll attendants were in love with him as he blasted them with his charm. Flirting fiend that he is.
Without delving too deep in my own opinions on the current election, I will say that I am grateful to live in a place that allows me to go out with my family and publicly make an effort to make my voice heard. Even though it may feel like my voice isn't necessarily contributing much.

Here's the problem with Blogging-As-You-Go, there is zero continuity or flow, and I keep skipping back and forth between Ander facts and life blurbs. Sorry. Trying to get my blogging mojo back and it's a major struggle.
Just some amazingly adorable and cute things Ander has been doing lately:
--He's learned the ever so lovely game of "I throw things on the ground and Mom picks it up!" But he's added one little component that makes it that much more bearable. If I'm sitting near him and don't immediately pick up the thing he just threw, he grabs my hand and lifts it over to where the thing is and then drops it like, "Okay Mom, here, you do it." And then I die.
--He thinks Dad is the funniest and when Mom tries to do the funny things it's not nearly as funny but Mom doesn't mind because seeing her two lifelong loves become best buddies is the most incredible thing in the world.
--He's almost too good at playing on his own. Usually when things get "too quiet" you know it's time to panic cuz the baby is head down in the toilet, or enjoying a lovely mid-morning snack of petroleum jelly, or some other horrific mischief, but this one time I scurried to the nursery door and simply found this heart-melting sight...(sorry for the crossover Snapchat friends)



So basically he's the best part of everything and I just want to love and squeeze him all the time always and here's all our nine month shots that we were probably loitering on church property in order to get. The grass is just so soft and green, mama couldn't resist. #sorryjesus

If you look closely you can see his little "gap-tooth grin" and it slays me. I honestly hope it sticks around when all his teeth are finally in.

Friends came walking by! Izzy the dog was so excited to meet Andy and Ander, of course, couldn't get enough. Of both the puppy loves and the attention.

And just because I'm seriously obsessed, here are some of the "outtakes" that are still adorable, just maybe not the loveliest or most perfectly angled of shots. 

I love that it looks as if he's reaching back to check on his little buddy here.

Me trying so hard to get that proportional shot with the stuffed lamb toy.

Ander decided that it became too cold with the setting of the sun. Thus ended our photo shoot, as well as this blog post. Thank you for enduring my parental obsessing.