9 Months

Little Andrew,

Or not so little, I should say! I'm clinging on to these last few months of you being a "baby". Of course, you will always be my baby, but soon you will technically be a toddler and I just can't wrap my head around that fact. How is it even possible? You don't even look like a baby to me anymore. You look like a (very adorable) little boy with all of your hair (your daddy thinks you need a haircut, but I'm not allowing it yet) and 5 *almost 6* teeth! You have two bottom teeth and three top teeth with one more on the way!

You are so much fun these days! I sat down to do a post earlier in the week about all of the funny little things you do, but then realized how close it was to your 9 month post and thought I'd wait. You do things every day that just make me laugh so much!
- A lot of the times when you find yourself on your back and get too excited, your legs just kick a mile a minute. Up and down, over and over again.. and with such force! It's crazy. I know that once you figure out how to do that when you are on you belly.. there will be no stopping you! I think that I'm in trouble when I have to keep up with you!
- My goodness.. in the bathtub.. you are a spazz! You LOVE being in the water more than anything (well maybe not more than eating dirt!) You can't get enough of splashing. You kick your legs up as high as you can reach them, hold them there for a second, then kick them down as hard as you can. I'm a sopping wet mess by the end of your bath. That's while I'm washing you. When you sit up to play you do the same thing with your hands and then wait and watch all of the bubbles you make.
- You think it's the funniest thing when I tilt my head to the side real far to look at you. You have the sweetest little laugh!
- You also love to look at pictures of your family. You look at them and smile and giggle. You love even more to look at pictures of babies. Your whole face lights up.. with real babies too. You LOVE little kids!
- I had Ellen on the other day and at the end there were a few people waving at the camera saying "bye Ellen". You about lost it. Laughed and laughed and laughed!
- You have this look where you tilt your chin down and look up at us with your eyes cut upwards. I've been perplexed as to where you learned this, until I caught myself giving you that very same look when you were acting up in your high chair. Woopsie! I better start being more aware of the things I do around you!
- You love to play "catch" with the foam ball Daddy bought for you or one of those colorful rings you stack up. We sit across from each other.. I roll it to you, which delights you.. and you kinda of fling it back. It's your favorite game.
- You've started to play with your toys a little differently. Instead of just holding them, switching them from hand to hand and shaking them around excitedly (well you still do all of this), but now it's like you're starting to realize they actually have a purpose. You'll take almost any of them (rattles, plush football, plastic planes, boats, cars.. whatever) and slowly move them along on the floor back and forth. Sometimes you make that classic, little boy brrrrrrrr sound like you're driving them. It's too cute. You're also realizing that you can make them touch. If we are holding one, you like to take your toy and touch it to ours. This may not sound like a big deal, but it's definitely a big difference I've noticed this month.

playing with his super heroes

- You're into sharing now. You want me to try your bottle a lot. I really appreciate that buddy. You also want me to chew on your toys. It's a lot of fun.
- You are very interested in mommy and daddy's mouths. You're amazed that we too have a tongue and teeth and you always want to find them. I have to remind you a lot that it's not okay to pick mama's nose.

You are still wearing size 4 diapers, although they are getting a little tight on you (how far do those things go up?? He has a long time left in diapers and we are already up to almost a 5!). Definitely 12-month PJ's. Mostly 12-month clothes as well but I can fit a few 9-month outfits on you. We went to the doc with you about 3 weeks ago and you were 20.5 lbs.. you have to be at least 22 now. You are SO heavy!

You still aren't crawling. I'm thinking you are going to skip right over that phase. You roll around everywhere. You can sometimes go from laying down to sitting up. You can definitely go from sitting up to laying down. You'll get on all fours, in crawling position, rock back and forth, then lay down and roll to where you want to go. You're trying to pull yourself up now. I've turned into a jungle gym over the last 2 days. Ohhh boy is that fun! Needless to say, today we bought you little musical table today for you to climb all over that.

You are such a noisy little baby. But mostly happy noises. You are so very happy. Except if I leave your sight. Ohh Drew.. you do not like me to leave your general vicinity and I'm waiting patiently (for 3 months now) for you to get over this stage. It seems to be getting worse though. I need to enjoy this time.. one day you won't want to be anywhere near me!

We love you more and more and more by the day, sweet boy! We thank God for you every chance we get. You've brought more joy into our lives than you will ever know. I'm enjoying every second with you and really look forward to the future. Before we know it you are going to be walking around and talking... I can't wait!

We love you sweet Drew baby!