9 Months

Maxwell hit the 9 month mark on Friday, August 9. His appointment was set for that Monday which was 5 days away from when we (me and Maxwell) were leaving on our trip to Florida (more on that trip in a different post). I was looking forward to this appointment to see what his weight was. I thought for sure he had gone up in %. I also wanted to talk to the doctor about his sleep habits (he sleeps a lot), the dark circles under his eyes (related to him needing a lot of sleep?) and his finger sucking (is he just always tired?). I had worked myself up a bit about all of this thinking maybe something was wrong. But the doctor assured me right away that nothing was wrong. His sleeping schedule is fine. We shouldn't worry about the finger sucking at this point (we had transitioned to a new day care a month earlier and I think the change made him rely on the sucking for comfort). And the dark circles are due to allergies. Even though everyone says babies don't have "allergies," they all also put it in quotes to say that he really could have allergies. 

Below are his stats:

Weight: 16 lbs., 3 oz. - 2% (Dr. still isn't concerned since he's eating just fine) 
Height: 28 in. - 69% (he's long and lean - not sure where he got that from!)
Head Circumference: 46 cm - 86% (nice and average on this one)















Sleep 
I mentioned sleep above. Right before his appointment, Maxwell must have gone through a growth spurt because there were a couple weekends where he would take a 1.5 hour morning nap and a 3 hour afternoon nap on Saturday AND Sunday. He would also go to bed around 6:30 p.m. and sleep until 6:00 a.m. I wondered if it was possible for a baby to sleep too much. But I guess not. He still takes two naps during the weekend and usually two at school but they are only for about an hour or so. 

Ever since he started sleeping on his tummy back in May, he has become a stomach - butt in air - sleeper. It's too cute!

Eat

Maxwell is eating so many different things right now and loving most of everything. Except for cantaloupe. For some reason he doesn't like it. But we'll try again the next time we have melon. It was around 8 months or so that we started to have daycare give him some of the soft menu items a few times a week. Then one weekend Mike and I went out for lunch at our favorite Mexican joint. Maxwell was chilling in his car seat next to me. When the food came and I took my first bite, Maxwell opened his mouth for a bite. So I gave him some refried beans. I realized at that time that we could start giving him food we were eating instead of just giving him pureed food that I made at home. At that time we started experimenting more and letting him feed himself all sorts of things. At daycare, I gave them the go ahead to give him anything they deemed appropriate. 

At Maxwell's 9 month appointment, his doctor also gave him the go ahead for all foods except honey, including eggs. Well, that Wednesday Maxwell ended up staying home because of pink eye. Mike stayed home with him and I suggested we meet at Kerbey Lane Cafe for lunch. We decided to order a scrambled egg for Maxwell to try. He starts eating and the area around his mouth gets red. His face has broken out before when trying new things (yogurt and cinnamon) and the redness went away fairly soon after. He's had both items again with no problem so I thought this was the same thing. Well after he had eaten about three-quarters of it we start to get concerned because not only is it red and splotchy, it's also raised bumps (see pics below). We watched closely to make sure he wasn't having any breathing difficulties. It appeared he didn't so we gave him Benadryl and called his doctor. His doctor recommended we see an allergist. After a couple hours it went away so I decided we could wait to see the allergist until after our trip. In the meantime we avoided eggs! 

Hard to see the welts in this picture.

I just noticed how watery his eyes are in this pic.
He was still in good spirits, despite the reaction.

When we got back from FL I called the allergist and told them what happened and asked if they thought I should come in for an appointment. They did think I should come in and after talking to the doctor he recommended doing an allergy test for eggs right then and there. At this, I'm still not convinced he'll be allergic but he tested positive immediately! I couldn't believe it as I'd never heard of anyone with an egg allergy. The doctor is pretty sure it will go away in a couple years and recommends we avoid eggs if all possible. At this point, he has had eaten baked goods with eggs and hasn't had a reaction that I've noticed. However, his face tends to breakout every once in awhile, which is probably related to the allergy. The doctor also recommended we get an epi pen to keep with us. Most likely his reaction will just be hives but it's possible it could be worse so we now have an epi pen at school and home. Mike and I both love eggs so it's too bad we can't give them to Maxwell, but we realize there could be far worse allergies he could have!


Play
Maxwell has been sitting up for about 2 months at this time and it has really changed the way he plays. He actually plays with his toys. I love to watch him play. I just wonder what's going on in his head. What is he thinking? He also loves to stand up at this point with assistance. At 9 months, he isn't crawling yet but doing more of an army crawl, which I described in another post. If you put him down to play with toys he will stay put and play with those toys. This is a nice stage that I'm sure won't last long. As far as baby proofing, we have put plugs in the sockets, but that is about all. 

Boxes make the best toys!

Still loves his bouncy!

Maxwell loves his puppy, Samson! And Samson loves Maxwell. Maxwell will try to "pet" him and Samson is so patient and doesn't try to nip, bite or rough play with him. We had seen Samson around kids before and he has always been gentle, but we were a little worried about how he'd be with a baby. I don't think we have anything to worry about because they are best buds!