9 Months

Can you believe it? Makael is 9 months old! He actually turned 9 months last Saturday but his nine month check up wasn't until today so I wanted to wait and be able to add all of his stats.  Little man is now 16 lbs 7 oz, and 27 inches tall.  Out of the 2 percentile and into the 10th percentile!!! There was definitely some celebrating going on at the doctor's office today.  What a relief! He really does love to eat these days. He's still puts up a good fight when it comes to his bottles, but put some real food in front of him and he's a happy kid.  There are only a few things that he will absolutely NOT eat, two of them being carrots and cottage cheese...no way no how! Everything else he's pretty much okay with, and if there's something he's not wild about, I can usually get him to eat it by mixing it with yogurt or apple sauce.  You would be grossed out by some of the concoctions I've had to come up with, but hey, a mom has to do what a mom has to do.  It's obviously working right? He's growing!

He's a little climber for sure! He hadn't showed any interest in our stairs, and then one day last week he just decided he was going to give them a try and climbed all the way up to the top.  He was half way up by the time I realized it. Now...there's just no stopping him.  We tried a variety of barricades but he outsmarted us every time.  Where there's a will, there's a way I guess.  The baby gate has to be up at all times now, either upstairs to keep him from falling down, or downstairs to keep him from climbing up. Even that has gotten to be problematic though, he likes to climb that too, which of course leads to him falling and getting hurt...better than falling down the stairs I guess. Gemma's little pink chair is another issue. It sits next her bed and she uses it to help her climb up. I guess Makael figured if she could do it, than he could too. After finding him hanging from Gemma's bed rail with only one foot on the chair's arm rest, we now have to flip it over if he's playing in there. Gemma really likes that arrangement though, she can use it as a slide that way :)

Now for the most exciting news...he took his first unassisted step! Recently he has wanted to do nothing but hold my hand and walk around. He's getting pretty steady and can stand on his own for quite a while now, but until today he hadn't tried taking a step on his own.  And wouldn't you know...it was at the pool. His least favorite place hahaha.  He was holding onto my leg, let go, took a step, realized what he had done, and quickly sat down.  That was just a little too much work for one day...he'll try again tomorrow ;)

He is one sweet little blessing that boy. He has the funniest personality...and recently, quite the little attitude. There is no denying he has a strong stubborn streak. Lucky for us, he was preceded by his older sister, the queen of Stubborn Land, so there's not much he can do that will really shock us...I hope ;)

Gemma showing Makael how to properly drive a shopping cart.

Sweet little guy

Taken on his 9 month birthday.

Had to take this with my phone. No way I was going to take my eyes off of him to go get the camera.

 

 

He really does have a very cute giggle...but I find this "fake laugh" just histerical!

My little helpers

For a long time now, Gemma has been helping me make my bed in the mornings.  I straighten out the sheets and comforter, then she hands me all the pillows. She now also wants to help me unload the dishwasher, vacuum, mop, dust and fold laundry.  She loves it. And I love that she loves it.  More often than not her "help" creates a little more work for me (or at least makes it take twice as long) but I don't mind. There's nothing cuter than watching her concentrate intently as she tries folding one of her shirts, then break out into a smile full of pride as she hands me a jumbled up mess.

Last week while her friend Makinley was over for the morning, they decided to take almost every single toy out of the toy closet.  Our basement was a total disaster! I was thankful that they were playing so well together and giving me a chance to do all the cleaning upstairs, but I have to admit, the idea of going downstairs and picking up all those toys was a little overwhelming.  As usual, I told them to start picking up while I prepared lunch, fully expecting to have to go down later and pick it up myself (at least most of it). They cheerfully began singing their clean up song which lasted the whole 15 minutes I was upstairs. I don't know what got into them, but those girls managed to pick up every single toy! They had every piece to Mr. Potato Head back in the appropriate box, the many MANY key rings back in their bucket which was placed  on the shelf where it belonges, and even the toy basket they had pulled out was dragged back into the closet.  I was speechless...and oh so proud!  I tested them again the next day to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. Sure enough, they had the whole basement picked up before they came up for lunch. I wish you could have seen their faces...they were so proud of themselves. Guess who is going to start picking up her own room now? :) I know the time will come when Gemma will hate doing any type of chores, and we will have countless arguments in regards to the mess in her room, so I'm going to enjoy this "clean" phase of hers to the fullest!

Helping me clean the windows :) I promise her shoes do typically match her outfit.

Makael still can't help me obviously, but he does a great job of including himself. He fully enjoys climbing on the opened dishwasher door (bad boy), or pulling out every piece of silverware... Calm down...I don't let him touch the forks or knives! His favorite thing however, is the vacuuming.  He is fascinated! He will stop whatever he's doing if he hears or sees me get the vacuum cleaner out and chase it wherever it goes.  Sometimes it can be a little annoying trying to vacuum around a moving object, but because of that, I am now a much quicker vacuumer (is that that right word?). 

Busted!

 In other news...we now have a kitten! I'll have you know, I am NOT a cat person...honestly I'm not much of a pet person in general.  I like other people's pets...I just don't like having them. However, David has mentioned a few times how fun it would be for Gemma to have a pet, so when Elly finds a 6 week old kitten in the middle of Providence road, it only makes sense for us to keep him...right? So now we have a cat...and I have to admit I really like it. It doesn't hurt that he's pretty dang cute and loves me more than anyone else.  It was hard picking out a name though.  I thought Gemma would appreciate being included in that process, but instead, she hated anything we suggested and insisted his name needed to be "kitty cat".  She finally agreed to "Samson", with the stipulation that she could still call him "kitty cat". Opinionated much are we?

Meet Samson! Sorry about the poor picture...it was the best I could do.

Noodles

I could be wrong, but I think he likes it.