Jalen Snoring

Jalen has had a stuffy nose for a while because of a cold. Last Saturday, we discovered him sleeping on his tummy and snoring away. You wouldn't think that all that snoring comes from such a little person!

Jalen is 9 Months Old!

We took Jalen to his 9 month check up today. The doctor says that he's doing great. He has a case of mild eczema on his face and his body. We have to continue to avoid using soap when we give him a bath except for his diaper area. He still has a rash on his face from all of the drooling. The doctor says to try to keep his face dry and put Vaseline on it to act as a barrier. I asked the doctor what kind of food we can give him and she said other than red fruits and vegetables, nuts and milk, we can pretty much give him anything else. Of course we should avoid salt and sugar but I'm looking forward to getting him to get used to the taste of all kinds of food. I especially want him to eat lots of veggies and whole grain breads.

Jalen weighed in at 22lbs (75%) and 30.5in (97%). His weight gain has slowed down a bit probably because of all the crawling and cruising that he's been doing!

Jalen Makes Razzies

We've been trying to get Jalen to copy things we do, like saying "mama" and "dada" or waving good bye. We haven't been very successful at getting him to copy, but one thing that he has learned is making "razzies". Here's a video of him doing that for a good while.

Jalen's Play Date with Logan

Jalen finally got to meet Logan last weekend. Logan was born just 6 days before Jalen. These two babies weren't very interested in each other. They didn't talk or fight or anything like that. Jalen did like playing with Logan's toys. Aaron and Jenny's cat Zeus was just hanging out on the floor and Jalen wasn't at all interested in grabbing him. Logan, on the other hand, was pulling at Zeus's hair and grabbing his face. Zeus is a sweet cat and happily took the abuse.

Jalen Eats Lemon

Lately, we've been letting Jalen get a taste of what we eat at the dinner table. He's good at grabbing onto food and gnawing on it with his gums. He's also pretty adventurous and doesn't shy away from strange tastes. Here's him eating lemon!

Jalen is Upright

Another new skill Jalen has now is that he can stand by holding on to something. We let him practice standing by holding on to the couch. Ever since he learned to crawl, we put him in the playpen more so that he's confined. Next thing you know, he can pull himself up to a standing position by holding on to the sides of the playpen. He can also "walk" all around the playpen by holding onto the sides. When he gets tired of standing he has learned to fall down in a controlled way so that he doesn't get hurt. It's so amazing to watch how quickly he has picked up these new skills. Can't wait to see what's next.

Jalen is on the Move

For the longest time, Jalen was trying to crawl. He knew how to drag himself around, he knew how to get on his hands and knees but he didn't really know how to move forward. He also knew how to turn in circles on his tummy. We thought maybe it'd be a while before he mastered crawling but next thing you know, he was on the move! At first, he wasn't very coordinated but he could move. But he sure gained speed quickly. Now he can make it across the room in the blink of an eye. We can't let him loose without keeping a really close eye on him because he usually makes a beeline for the DVD player or the stair case.

Superbowl Sunday

For Jalen's first Superbowl Sunday, we went to Tammy's baby shower. There were babies everywhere. Jalen's buddy Trenton didn't show up until we were leaving so Jalen was the only baby that was crawling at the party. We tried to get him to play with Matthew, who's about 2.5 months younger than Jalen but Jalen wasn't really interested. He was finding all sorts of new things to put in his mouth.

Here's Jalen discovering a Sit 'n' Spin. He wasn't sure how to sit on it so he put his mouth on it instead.

One of the baby shower games was to stuff as many balloons in your shirt as possible. Afterwards, all of the babies enjoyed sucking on the balloons. Here's Audrey, Jalen and Matthew.


Jalen found a little chair with a picture of a piggy on it. Of course he loves piggies so he had a lot of fun pushing up and standing next to it.

Here's Jalen and Matthew. Matthew is almost 6 months and he is already 20lbs just like Jalen was when he was 6 months. These two are big boys!

Jalen Does Laundry

Jalen Eats Finger Food

We started giving Jalen baby cereal puffs a few weeks back to keep him busy when we eat out. At first, it took him a while to get the cereal in his mouth. He would grab it but the puff would get caught in the palm of his hand and he wouldn't know how to get it in his mouth. But he got the hang of it quickly. Now if you put two puffs in front of him, he'd grab both and put them in his mouth.