Nine Months

I can't believe he's nine months old. I know, parents always say these things, but it's completely true.

I've tried really hard to savor all of the baby-ness this time around, but now that it's almost gone, I feel like I missed it somehow. I know I didn't, it's just that overnight my baby turned into an-almost toddler.

 

He tries to communicate. I swear he can say "hi mama." Which, if I'm really being honest with you, really sounds like:  "ahhh, ma ma ma" but he waves at me while he's doing it, so therefore it goes in the baby book* as "hi mama." Same with "baby," "brother," "bottle" = "ba ba ba ba ba ba." Although he did crawl over to Justin in bed the other morning and say, "da da."

Basically, he's a genius.

He started crawling about 6 weeks ago, started pulling himself up on stuff a few days ago, and took his first steps cruising around furniture while holding on last night. We lowered the crib this weekend. Whoa. Rome wasn't built in a day my friend. Let's take this physical development down a couple notches, 'kay?

He cried when I closed the bathroom door and wouldn't let him go in. Then he tried to find another way.

 

I guess Luke was around the same age when he started doing this stuff, it just seems so...fast.

He has seven teeth. SEVEN! And eats pretty much everything, including small pieces of steak, chicken, rice, pancake and any number of other things we happen to be eating that pass the "can I give my baby ____" Google search. Actually, I finally looked up "what CAN'T my baby eat?" The list was much shorter.  I've heard tales of these children. Children who eat. He's taken to eating the food that we buy for Luke when we go out to eat. This is a good thing, because Luke only eats about 15% of it, leaving a lot left for little brother to enjoy.

He weighs a little over 18 pounds.

 

He's a sweet little love who likes to fall asleep holding my hand. He holds onto your arm, shoulder, back, or hair when you carry him on your hip. He's a thumb sucker. He has the biggest smiles, especially for his big brother. He loves the bathtub and the swimming pool. He is generally a content, easygoing, flexible and happy baby...until he doesn't get what he wants. Then he lets us know.

Trying to make out with Uncle Mike.

I can't believe we'll be coming up on a year old soon. One. This is crazy.

* This statement implies that I have one and that I actually update it. I do, but it's still in the packaging. Luke's baby book wasn't filled out until a couple of weeks before Austin was born. What I do have is a five-year"one-line a day journal" that serves as a running log of our days and as a stand-in baby book for milestone moments. Just to clarify. :)