Nine Months

Don't you just want to squeeze that boy and attack him with kisses??! Brady is the happiest baby I have ever come across. He is just always smiling. And not little half smiles. The best smile you have ever seen. Anytime we are out and about I am guaranteed to get at least one comment on what a smiley happy boy he is. I seriously don't know how its possible Brady is already 9 months old! In a blink of an eye I'll have a 1 year old and both my babies will no longer be babies. *sniff sniff*
Brady has blossomed so incredibly much in the last month. He went from being the smiley cute pretty much non interactive baby to the smiley cute mobile standing up on his own playing with his brother boy. Brady has mastered the crawling business and gets from one room to another faster than Brad and I would really like for him to be able to! He has started pulling himself up to standing and is insanely proud of this new accomplishment, always turning to give you the world's best smile after he's done so. My favorite change in Brady I think over the last month is his interactions with Blake. If I ever figure out how to post video I need to do so because the two of them playing is one of the cutest things you will ever see, and I'm not just saying that because I'm their mom! Because Brady is now mobile, he chases after Blake around the house and Blake will get down on the floor rolling around with him, both just belly laughing away. The sound of laughter fills our house on a daily basis from both boys. I really have to say this is the life I've always dreamed of. I am most certainly blessed.
The 9 months have been filled with so much happiness since Brady entered the world, but he has also brought us a lot of worry and has gone through so much himself. The last 6 months have been rough. RSV, needing an ER trip for IV, swallow issues and therefore not eating, multiple breathing treatments every day, chronic ear infections. The most concerning issue has been Brady's inability to swallow correctly. We have been having to add a special gel thickener to his bottles in order for him to swallow his formula without it entering his lungs. We were given until July 1st for Brady to really start showing improvement, otherwise we would have to do a scope down his throat. This terrified me and I prayed and prayed he would outgrow this on his own. We had our appointment with the pulmonologist on the 1st and he was in agreement that Brady really seems to be outgrowing this. Hallelujah! No scope needed. We will continue to monitor him and continue to gradually take him off the thickener. We are also on a plan to work him off the breathing treatments. Those can't end soon enough!
The pulmonologist looked in his ears and both of them were infected. This was about the 6th infection in the last 6 months so we now have an appointment scheduled next week with an ENT to discuss tubes. Of course I hate for Brady to go through any medical procedure he doesn't have to, but I am all for tubes. He has been on an antibiotic every month for the last 6 months, sometimes more than one round of antibiotics, and I just want a healthy baby and for him to stay healthy. If Brady is this happy when he's constantly sick I can't imagine how he'll be when he feels 100%! Brady is on the very low end of the spectrum for weight, but what do you expect when he has had so many issues with eating?! I am confident he'll start fattening up as he continues to eat more and more solids. It seems we are on the road to having a healthy Brady and I will try to stop being sad my baby is growing up so fast and just continue to smile and take in all of his amazing milestones.