11 Months

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• Our struggle this month is food. We are working with you to get you to eat more table food. If we take you to the park and let you crawl in the grass, you will eat the grass. If I put food on your tray at home, you will most likely not put it in your mouth.
• You are very curious about the fridge and freezer. Even if you are across the room, you make a mad dash whenever you hear the fridge open.
• You have starting playing shy with strangers. You will smile at them and then bury your face in my shoulder.
• We have gone from nursing 5 times a day to twice a day. You are so distracted when you nurse that it’s been stressful trying to make you eat. So it’s a relief to be nursing less. You nurse better with just two feeds.  You dropped your early morning feed all by yourself just a week ago. I miss the snuggles but don’t mind the improved sleep.
• You started drinking milk since you are getting less breast milk.
• We had your baby dedication at church this month. It was an encouraging time for us to commit to raising you in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
• We have been having this conversation a lot: Mommy says “Mamamamama”. Judah says “Dadadada”
• You like throwing your ball back and forth.
• You’ve learned how to turn light switches on.
• You are wearing 18 month size clothes.
• You weigh 20 lb 9oz.
• When you hear the door open when Daddy comes home, you crawl excitedly toward the door. You love your daddy so much!

10 Months

Time is flying by!

• Crawling…. You are so happy now that you can crawl. It is amazing to watch you learn to do new things. It did not take you long to figure it out and now you are so fast.  
• You are getting into everything… cabinets and drawers and closets. You pull everything out and move on to the next one. You are dying to get into the fridge. As soon as it is open, you hustle over but Momma closes it before you get there.
• You are pulling up to your knees and a few times to standing. We had to lower your crib and have to keep a close eye on you since you can reach things that you couldn’t before.
• Up until now, your hair has been stick straight like Daddy’s. But just recently it’s started getting curly in the back. So precious! Now it will be hard to cut it.
• You’ve been sick for much of this month. It started as a cold and then became a sinus infection. We had to go to the doctor twice and get antibiotics and an inhaler before it got better. You were very very fussy and did not have an appetite at all. You are feeling much better now and are back to your happy self.
• Some of your favorite things to play with are cords and strings. Cords to the computer, lamps, monitor, sweatshirt strings, jacket strings, crib bummer strings.
• You have become quite an opinionated little boy. You have very particular preferences and you definitely let us know if we don’t get it right.
• One day on a walk around the neighborhood, a boy about 5 years old came over and said “What a cute little baby you have there?... Can I pet him?”
• You love to sleep on your side in a “L” shape. This is how Momma likes to sleep too!
• At your 9 month checkup you weighed 19lb 8 oz. Only one pound gained since your 6 month visit. You are definitely not quite so chubby. Don’t worry though, you still have plenty of rolls.
• You took your longest car ride to Kansas City to meet Grandpa Ralph. You really liked Grandpa because he would act very silly to get you to smile.
• Daddy was off work for a whole week and we had a great time together as a family. 

9 Month

 

• The most fun thing about this month is watching you grow to be mobile.  You’ve been rolling around everywhere for a while now. You go from one end of the room to the other. You can push yourself backwards on the hardwood floors. You can get yourself stuck in corners and can’t get out. You’ve gone from your tummy to sitting up a few times. You get on your knees a lot and just in the last few days have managed to learn how to inch yourself forward. You throw your head down and dig your toes in like an army crawl. We are loving putting things in front of you and watching you launch yourself forward to get it.
• One of your favorite toys is the cord to the laptop. Most of the time when I set you on the floor you head straight for it.
• You are becoming a bottomless pit when it comes to eating. You especially love your carbs –puffs, mum-mums and crackers!
• You are starting to say distinct sounds. We’ve heard “da-da”, “ba-ba” and “ma-ma” so far. It’s usually in the midst of lots of gibber-gabber and you won’t do it on command. But it’s very cute!
• For every nap and at night, you sleep with your stuffed Mickey Mouse and in your fleece sleep sack.  And you always sleep on your tummy now.
• You have started arching your back when things don’t go your way. Uh-oh! Are you going to be a strong-willed child?
• You have learned to fake gag. Since in the past you sometimes gag on your food, you have learned that I will stop feeding you if you gag. So when you are eating something you don’t like, you fake gag to try to get me to stop feeding it to you.
• You still love bath time. It’s funny to give you three toys and watch you try to hold all of them in your hands.
• You are growing up way too fast!  

8 months

• Rolling, rolling rolling… now that you can roll both directions, you do not stay in one place when we play on the floor. You roll from one side of the living room to the other, regardless of what obstacles might be in your way like couches or brick fireplaces.
• You spend much more time on your belly now. You even have rolled over in your crib and slept on your tummy at naptime. You are getting up on your hands and knees some. So we know that it’s only a matter of time before you start to crawl.
• You are growing to like eating table food and when it’s one of your favorites like yogurt or peaches you get very impatient with me when I don’t feed you fast enough.
• You are sleeping better these days… finally. You take a morning nap and an afternoon nap, each about an hour. Then you are in bed around 6pm, wake up between 4-5am to nurse and go back to sleep until 7:30am. Some nights you wake up at other times and may be up for an hour or so, other nights we don’t hear a single peep out of you until you’re hungry.
• Your 6 month clothes are getting tight so we are full swing into 9-12 months sizes.
• I am trying to teach you the sign for milk when we nurse. I have seen you make the sign with your hand, but I don’t think you’ve connecting it yet with what it means.
• There have been a few times that it looks like you are trying to wave bye-bye.
• No distinct words yet, but lots of gibber-gabber.
• The drool continues! All day, all the time.
• Still no teeth and I am fine with that since we are still breastfeeding.
• Right now you have a head cold with a very runny nose. You absolutely hate having your nose wiped.
• You get anxious when strangers come around and cry the most pitiful tears.
• You gave me a big wet slobbery kiss with your mouth a few days ago. 
• Before naptime, we read a book or two and then rock and sing in your room. You always lay your head on my shoulder and quietly listen to me singing. So sweet!
• Big event of the month: I trimmed your hair! There was one long strand growing down into your eyes in the front and lots of hair growing over your ears. So snip snip! Your hair is stick straight, no curl at all, so it wasn't sentimental or hard for me to do it. 

7 months

 

•  At your 6 month check-up you weighed 18lb  10oz. That puts you in the 88% in the height to weight ratio chart.
• You are quickly growing out of your 6 month clothes and into 9 month
• You’ve started eating solid food. For a few weeks, we really struggled. Everything made you gag. So we slowed down for several days. Then we tried a mesh feeder. You loved that!  And now you are starting to take things from a spoon.  You’re just taking your time on this.
• Things you’ve tried so far: carrots, peas, squash, pears, banana, zucchini, peaches
• Things you like so far: anything sweet!
• You’ve been a terrible sleeper this month! We had grown into the habit of nursing 3 times a night. Momma was NOT doing that anymore. As soon as Thanksgiving was over, we cut the middle feeding and so started many sleepless nights. Some nights you have been up four to five different times, some nights you have been up for three hour stretches, some nights you have only gotten up to nurse (those are rare though). We’re still trying figure things out!
• You are the main attraction when we go grocery shopping. There are usually at least 2-3 people who stop me to oooh and ahhhh over you. At one point last week, you had two older ladies at one time both talking to you.
• You  had your first snow a couple of weeks ago. Daddy took you out in your stroller for a little bit in the morning before it all melted. He let you touch the snow with your bare hand, which you didn’t seem to mind at all.
• You’ve started leaning over our booster seat and watching your toy drop to the floor. What a fun game!
• After months of only rolling tummy to back, you finally rolled back to tummy. Mommy put a puzzle just out of your reach and you wanted it sooo badly. You worked and worked and finally rolled to grab it. Now you are rolling both ways all the time. Now we know how to motivate you to crawl.
• Seems like people have been telling me since you were two months old that you are teething because of your drooling, chewing on your hand and crankiness. I always nod my head and agree but silently disagree. No teeth yet!
• Your crazy hair continues!  Momma loves it! It sticks straight up in the back and is starting to get long in the front and over your ears. When the light catches it just right, you look like a mad scientist.
• We just celebrated your first Christmas. Your favorite part of the gifts was the bows. We had so much fun watching you open gifts and tear the paper. Even though you don’t understand, we enjoyed telling you the Christmas story about God’s greatest gift to us, His Son.

Baptism

About 4 weeks ago, I had the blessing to be baptized and share my testimony about how the Lord has worked in my heart. My father-in-law, who baptized me, introduced me as Naomi Girard! :) Here is my testimony for anyone who wasn't able to be there:

Good morning! My name is Naomi Hamline. I have the great privilege this morning to boast in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the work He has done in my heart. I grew up here in this church and in a home that taught me that the Bible is true and that Jesus died for my sins. I prayed with my mom at a young age to accept Jesus into my heart and was shortly after baptized. While I believe the Lord was working in my life, I do not think I understood what salvation meant. I was a good kid who knew all the Sunday school answers and was outwardly obedient to gain the approval of my parents. In junior high, I again had what I thought at the time was a conversion experience and started spending time reading the Bible on my own. However, there was not a true heart change or sorrow over my sin. I did not have assurance and found myself praying often that God would save me. Looking back, this was not salvation, but the Lord was clearly working in my heart as I started reading the Word consistently. Because my sin up to that point from my perspective was internal and hardly ever affected the people around me, I deceived myself into thinking that I was a good person who was right with God. I participated in events at church, going on mission trips and service projects. There was an appearance of godliness but my heart was not right with God. I entered my college years and in 2003 found myself in a situation where I made sinful decisions that hurt my family and friends. I was living for myself and did not care who I hurt in the process. That which was in my heart was coming out in my actions.  I was lovingly confronted by two of the pastors here at the church and left that meeting completely and totally humiliated and humbled. But the Lord used this for my good! He opened my eyes to see my sin for what it was -disobedience against God. My appearance of godliness was really filthy rags in God’s sight. I found myself on my knees weeping over my sin. How could God ever love me or forgive my sins? It was here that God used all those years of teaching in church and reading the Bible to open my eyes to the truth. Jesus Christ had died in my place, for my sins! And because of this, God was offering me forgiveness and eternal life. What a sweet relief to know that my sins were forgiven, that God did love me and that it was not dependent on anything I had done or ever would do.  Titus 3:3-7 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.  But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,  He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,  whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”  Since that day so many years ago, I have seen great growth in godliness through my relationship with Christ. I am still a sinner, but I’ve been saved by grace! Because I twice thought I was saved before truly coming to know the Lord, I have struggled greatly with assurance, often doubting that I really believed. This has led me to put off getting baptized. But the Holy Spirit has worked to convict my heart that I need to obey and to show me that my heart has truly changed. Today I know that Christ lives in me and I stand before you in obedience to God’s Word to be baptized and proclaim Him as my Savior and Lord.