9 Months...Whoa!

I honestly can't believe Noah is 9 months already - I'm already starting to think about their upcoming birthday party in the back of mind...it's going to be here before I know it! The two boys continue to just love each other more and more every day, which is such a blessing to see and experience. I remember before Noah was born worrying that I was going to break Drew's heart, having to share him with another child (as I'm sure every mother does), but a wonderful friend told me how the siblings would fill each other's hearts like no one else could, that there would be another person to love Drew and for Drew to love back...I knew she knew what she was talking about, but now I see it and am so blessed by it! At times of stress, I have seen both of them cry out for each other, as if they know there is an unconditional connection between them both! God's love continues to pour itself out on us as a family - we are so blessed!

Sweet Noah is really starting to be a fun little individual. It was about this time with Drew that Mommy and Daddy both just loved how much the personality begins to shine as we are able to interact more and more! The funniest, and one of our favorite things to do with Noah, is get him to shake his head back and forth at us...he started doing it one night at dinner with we were trying to get him to say "Da-da", and instead of repeating, he shook his head side to side, kind of like he was saying no...all 3 of us started to laugh, encouraging Noah to just keep it up. It doesn't sound that cute or funny, but it is kind of the combination of the Jackie Chan/Chris Rock head move and the Saturday Night Live Will Ferrell/Chris Kattan Night at the Rockbury head move - so pretty hilarious really, we promise. So now we all try to get him to do it as much as we can. At times he'll do his little head move and then end with his head leaning to one side, resting on a shoulder and just give us the sweetest angelic look with his eyes - it's killer! So, by now, he knows he's being funny when he does it, and he'll do it quite a bit when he wants attention or wants to play - he even does while nursing sometimes - I think he just loves to make us smile and laugh, and that he does! He also will make funny faces, our favorite being a squinty face, almost like a mouse or such...so cute!

Noah is also on the move...though not as we necessarily expected. He still doesn't like being on his tummy, so he's not really crawling. Instead he now wants to pull up and stand up wherever and whenever he can. If we are sitting next to him to play, it's not long before he spins around, finds our hands and insists we help him stand. As far as lateral movement, the most we see is him moving himself when he's on his back, arching his back and pushing with his legs, moving his body in the direction of his head. This gets him in trouble some at nap and bedtime - when he's fighting his sleep, he can really get upset and push himself up into the walls of the crib, but then not know how to get out of it! Goodness! He is starting to scoot a bit on his bottom to get things just out of reach - he knows what he wants, that's for sure!

He continues to love the outside, and especially the swing of course, which is a wonderful break for Mommy, because he's definitely to the stage where he shows a HUGE preference for Mommy. Days he goes to school, it feels like Mommy holds him almost from the time he gets home to the time he goes to bed - not even letting Daddy help to feed him at dinner or much else. He cries when he knows I'm leaving, and even when he THINKS I'm leaving, just passing him off to a visitor or such, he'll start to fuss, oh my! While I love that he loves me, it will be nice for him to share his love with others again soon!

He is growing in all the ways he should - he's up to 5 teeth, eating lots of solid foods, and we are getting in as much variety as we can as fast as we can (I HATE the 3 day rule, I get it, but it seems to take forever to get him to be able to eat anything, ugh!). He did say his first word - granted he says it alot in babbling, but there are times it truly seems to mean something...it was "Ma-ma!", and shortly after, he did say "Da-da" too! He turns to us most of the time when we say his name also. He has started to dance/bounce/move to music, which is adorable of course. And is sitting is just stellar, able to ride in the shopping carts all by himself, etc. His growth stats were as such at his 9 month check up: Height: 29.5 in (90%), Weight: 18 lb. 3 oz. (20%).

Drew, Drew, Drew...our little firecracker, always keeping us on our toes about something. Some of you may have seen a post on Facebook this month ("Dear Mom and Dad, Please stop wishing for payback. Your prayers have been answered and I'm hopeless and at my wit's end...I've had the worst day at being a mother today. For the sake of your grandchildren, please tell God you want to take it back...I'm not fit to be a mother of a son just like me. Thanks! Love, Drew's Mom!") it was written out of sincerity, desperation and humor. But this boy that God has blessed me with is so much like me, that we just get under each other's skin in an instant sometimes. I thought that would come later, MUCH later, but apparently not! We'll just say I have plenty of opportunity to practice restraint and creativity with him in moments of disobedience!

But, the good thing is that it doesn't last long in those moments of despair - before I know it, Drew is back to the sweetest, funniest little boy I know! Whew! This month he has had some pretty hilarious moments. Alot of them revolve around Drew not wanting to go to sleep for nap or bed time...the excuses we've heard have literally made us lose our stone wall face to get him to sleep and just crack up laughing...some examples: "I don't like my bed; I don't like to sleep; I just don't feel good...my whole body hurts; My eyebrows hurt." And those are just the ones I remember, the kid can crack us up! There were a few nights where he would just sing himself to sleep after we left the room, singing those classic bedtime songs, you know the ones, "Take me out to the ballgame" and "There are no cats in America" (from Fievel, an American Tale), but also "Jesus Loves Me"! He has also started making up and telling us stories, which we both LOVE! They are hilarious of course, since they never make sense, but we are so excited about his imagination, creativity, and individuality beginning to grow even more!

He is learning to do so many things on his own...we hear, "No, lemme show you!" ALOT these days! He can be a great helper for us at times, and loves to be a part of what we are doing, whether it's cleaning, cooking, or fixing something - anyone with kids knows this is exciting, but also cumbersome at times when you are really in a rush! He is starting to dress and undress himself, though there's still alot of help involved, we are working on potty training, but nothing is real consistent just yet (and we are following the advice of our pediatrician to NOT force the issue!), he loves to help with Noah when we let him - he likes to push him on the swing and feed him - both are closely supervised as you can imagine! He is able to go up and down the stairs all by himself, well enough that we don't have to be right there supervising (though we still do most of the time), which is nice for the most part. He's also learned to open doors - I refused to teach him as I knew that could only lead to more trouble, but he's been ok with it for the most part, but a whole new level of supervision is now required because he can escape into a room without me knowing it if I don't watch it!

He is still a physical little boy - climbing and jumping all over the place! He's great at the parks and playgrounds climbing up things I thought I wouldn't have to worry about for another year or two! But for all that non-fear, he still shows his restraint with certain situations. His school has Pony Pictures every year, where the kids get to sit on a real pony. Drew was all about it, until he was 7 feet away, and then wouldn't get any closer! I think he was the only one that refused - what a goof ball! But we had a major break through this month - we had a non-catastrophic haircut! It was amazing! We started a brushing program thanks to a pediatric OT friend of ours, and we only slightly flinched once! Amazing! We are hoping and praying the brushing will continue to help and some of his little 'oddities' can slowly disappear.

Oh, and one more thing...we were able to go to one of Matthew's indoor soccer games this month as a family. The time of the game worked out well and some of the Palmer family was able to come to help control my children and Drew was SO excited! He gets all sorts of pumped up every time Matthew starts getting ready for his games. Drew talks all the time about "when I get older, I play soccer like Daddy!" He can not wait! And yes, of course I went out and bought a soccer jersey for Drew to wear! We certainly turned heads when we walked in - because they were so cute! :)