9 Months

My baby is 9 months! I can not believe he has been a part of our family for a year and a half (the 9 months I carried him). He has been out longer than in! I also can not imagine our family without him. He is such a happy little guy and has such an easy smile.

Some facts on J.:

He still has his blond, blond hair and it is getting kind of long but I can't even think about cutting it.

He still has piercing blue eyes. We hope he keeps them like Daddy's since the other 2 have Mommy's green eyes.

He is probably about 17 pounds-he is small but mighty!(we see the Dr. tomorrow). He is growing out of some of his 9 month clothing because he is so long!

He is a pain on the changing table he does not like to sit still or be on his back so you have to be really quick.

He has been babbling Da-Da for just a little while now. I was worried because he was so quiet but he has now come out of his shell. I can't say that I blame in sometimes you can't get a word in around here!

He sleeps really well. He goes down about 8:15 and sleeps until 7 or later. He also takes 2 hour and a half naps if we are not out and about. He goes down without fussing and it is as if he says-"thanks, mom, I needed to stop and I just could not by myself."

He has just cut his 3rd tooth. He has his two front bottom teeth and one top-we call him Fang.

He loves his brothers as long as they are not in his face for too long and then he lets them know he is done.

He is a great eater-when he feels like eating. We have not found anything he does not like, but he has let it be known that he would rather feed himself. So we are cutting up everything I can think of that he can mash and grate with his 3 teeth.

He has many nicknames : J. J-baby, J-man, and the big boys just call him Baby.

I think the biggest thing is that he can crawl for real now but reverts to the belly crawl when he wants to get there quickly or when he is on the hardwood. He doesn't crawl very much because he would rather be walking around things and cruising from furniture to furniture or along the walls.

He has also discovered our steps. He goes up all of them without even batting an eye.

He loves the walker and knows how to use it! I can no longer keep a gate up because he crashes into it to knock it down so he can get through-he is going to be a handful.

We are working on some sign language because he has started mimicking us.

He we finished with the pictures this morning. I had to keep telling him no because he kept biting the woodwork on the window sill. I guess I hurt his feelings because look at those crocodile tears!

He is a beautiful baby boy and so many people-total strangers- tell us how cute he is. We love him so much and are so blessed to get to know him more and more every day!

Happy Belated St. Patty's Day!

We are just getting over the stomach flu-fun fun! The boys seemed to bounce back quicker than I did. I thought I would show off some shots I took the other day. I said I would post some after pictures of their haircuts so here we go.

I was looking back at pictures of the boys in this same shirt (thanks Mark and Linda). They were having trouble just sitting up. J. is a lot smaller than they were, but he is now cruising around the coffee table and couch and pulling up on everything so much that he doesn't crawl very much any more he just stands up and hangs out. I am sure that it helps that he has 2 big brothers to watch get into everything. By the looks of this picture, he may need his haircut soon too.

Last but not least is Harper on St. Patty's day. He is on the couch he is not allowed on and on the pillows he is not allowed on. He is also not wearing green. I should have pinched him. He has such a rough life!

Speaking of rough life, I have to admit it I have it pretty sweet. Classes are going well and I am having fun and starting to relax and Andrew is sitting here rubbing my back. I think the hardest thing I had on my task list today was to work with the boys on learning "Rocky Top". I found M& Ms work well. It is a hard life. Don't get me wrong I got a lot accomplished today (changed sheets for the 6th time this week; 3 loads of laundry; cleaned a bathroom; meals nad snacks; unloaded the dishwasher with clean dishes twice; so many diapers I lost count; a trip to Target and Costco; 2 times playing outside, once with friends down the street; and plenty of hugs and kisses along the way-and several disciplinary moments) but I must say that is my crowning achievement for the day. Good 'ol Rocky Top-whoo!

Hair Cuts and Pulling Up

The older boys finally got their haircut yesterday. This was before:

This was during. They loved it! You never would have guess that the last time they got their hair cut it was a horrible, horrible mess-both them and us. They are still talking about the Jeeps they got to drive while they got their haircut. It was hard to see those pretty red curls fall, but the tangles were more than I could handle in the mornings when trying to get them ready. I will have to take a picture of the after, they are asleep right now. It is such a hassle to take all 3 of them anywhere that I was just ready to go and they wanted their suckers.
As for the standing up, that is all the little man wants to do. Yesterday I picked him up from the nursery and he was standing there at the gate like a big boy. No desire to let go and we are so okay with that! He also figured out his walker so he is all over the place and has figured out if he rams into the gate he can knock it over and be on his way. He is into everything and I thought 2 were bad! The bad thing is he has two examples to show him everything. In fact, he is standing here beside me playing with Harp's collar. Now if he could only just sit down without screaming or falling. I can't believe he is almost 9 months. He is on his way to the laundry room so I better go catch him.

Started my first official class today with a partner (I am still working on the rest of the choreography but after doing it 3 times -yes all 3 hours 3 times Mon.- it should not be as tricky as I thought). We had 8 wonderful people there this morning at 5:15. I still can't believe they are going to pay me for this. He is back in the laundry room so I guess I need to sign off.

Working World

So, I am back in the working world. A friend told me about a position available for Body Pump at a local gym. It is really close to our house and the only reason I did not join when I was looking for a gym was that it didn't have classes. They are now adding classes in their new aerobics room and were looking for teachers. So, the boys and I packed up with a few days notice to a Les Mills Module to get trained in Body Pump. J. will not take a bottle so everyone had to come with me. It was a physically demanding weekend as well as a mentally demanding weekend with family in tow and learning the choreography. We all survived and will definitely remember the weekend- right, sweetheart?

There is not a much to do in Stanwood, in fact there wasn't even a hotel to stay in there. So, the boys spent a lot of time hanging out in the car. It did not help that our instructor was not the best at time management. We worked about 8-9 hours those three days with a half an hour breaks and 10 minute breaks here and there. J. learned to crawl just the week before so he got a lot of practice and learned to pull up onto things.

They (the big boys) got to throw rocks in the water (as well as getting their feet wet). They spent some quality Daddy time.

Needless to say Andrew did not have a very good weekend, but I passed and now the work begins (for me). I will be doing a 5:30 a.m. class with a friend on Mon. and Wed. and then we are alternating Saturdays between all of us. It has always been a little dream of mine to do this and the opportunity kind of fell into my lap. I can't believe they are going to pay me to work out. Andrew gets a free membership too so he will now be able to reap the benefits from his challenging weekend. It is just awesome to know that God is in even the details of our lives. He knows are hopes and dreams and most of the time he fulfills them in ways that we could not even imagine. Thank you, Andrew, for enduring the weekend and believing in me. Thank you, God, for being my everything.