Gabe at 9 months

So baby Gabe is 9 months, so hard to believe... man it won't slow down!

This is a picture my friend Christina took of him...she has just gotten into photography and offered to come to pics of the boys at our house! She is SUPER! IT was the most enjoyable photo session I've ever had... you know how they can be mommies! Anyhow, she is great, I love her work and I LOVE this picture of Gabe because it shows how beautiful Gabriel's blue eyes are! I could stare at them for hours! I would KILL to have his curly eyelashes too, not fair!

Here is what he's up to...still nurses 4-5 times a day... could probably do with less, but I am always afraid he will not nap and then sleep as well if I drop one of those, so I've been hesitant to do that... Does anyone know at one point it should be that I stop feeding him as often? I only nursed Jayce for 4 1/2 months, so I'm kind of clueless in this area... I know for my milk supply he probably still needs at least 4... any suggestions?

eating solids like crazy... usually 2-3 jars a sitting... I do a lot of easy fresh foods with him too like bananas and sweet potatoes, and he is a big fan of these too... I've tried avocados but he literally gags... so I'm not sure he'll be like mommy with those, I love them! He loves pretty much all veggies and fruit so far, except for the avocados and he's not a big fan of green beans or mashed potatoes (which we tried at Red Bone one day when I'd forgotten baby food... does not like them at all)

Gabe is very demanding when it comes to dinner time... when he is in his chair... he will bang his fists on his tray until the next bite comes and say "ahh, ahh, ahh" until it is in his mouth or he becomes full... and this can take a while! I just heard about a great idea from my sister in law, who told me they make special feeders that you can put solids in or that you can put them even in a playtex nurser and cut slits in them so they can suck the food through them...She couldn't believe I had never tried this, I'd never heard of such... but this morning, I did let him have his applesauce this way while I was putting on my makeup for church, and it worked great! So, a new trick that I think will definitely come in handy... tonight, we tried it in his sippy cup and he liked that too, but just had a harder time getting it to come out...

Gabe is SO CLOSE to crawling... he gets up on hands and knees and just rocks and then rolls... he will scoot across the floor on his back really well... it looks so funny!

He rolls like crazy when I'm trying to change him and is so strong, it is getting really hard!

Jay and I weighed him the other day and he was 22.5 lbs, and Jayce was 20 lbs at 1 year, so you can see Gabe is trying to outgrow big bubba!

He STILL won't say mama... the more I say, say mama Gabe... the more he says dada...

My favorite thing Gabe is starting to do is to rest his head on my shoulder, put his thumb in his mouth, and cuddle! I know alot of babies probably do this from the start... but neither of my boys have been rocked to sleep... sounds harsh I know... but I wanted them both to be able to get themselves to sleep, which is SO wonderful... yet I think you then have to miss out on some of that wonderful cuddling... it's a trade off I guess...every time I'd hold him before, he was either eating, or whipping around, trying to see what was going on like a little turtle,or wanting to get down and in his crib, to get himself to sleep...but now, he will be content when he's tired to just rest his head on my shoulder for a few moments and it is the sweetest thing, I love it! And, LOVE being Gabe's mommy!