9 Months Old!

• We have two little “Cruisers” on our hands!!! Did you know “cruising” is when they can walk around furniture holding on to it? Now you do.
• They are both pretty fast crawlers
• They can pull up to standing from just about anything.
• Eat fruits, vegetables, Gerber puffs, yogurt bites, and bread.
• Like to drink ice water out of a big cup – they sort of lap at it like a dog and then it goes all over them
• Can hold their own bottles with one hand
• Drink less formula throughout the day than they had been
• They are more aware of each other – they talk and play in their cribs in the mornings and babble some
• We have been working on the signs for “More” and “All Done”. They haven’t gotten it yet but I think they are close.
• Can sit in high chairs at restaurants
• Fight over toys
• They do this thing where they put their fist up to their mouth and turn their head back and forth and make this funny sound – if one starts, the other will follow and it is pretty cute.
• Have started getting baths together without their baby bathtub.
• Tori observed that Stephen is the more vocal baby and Annabelle is the more physical baby which I think is a great observation. I am curious to see what that will mean for their development in the future.

Annabelle

• Waves Bye-Bye – and a lot of times waves bye-bye backwards
• Plays Peek-A-Boo and it is super cute
• Smiles so much
• Gets separation anxiety from me more than Stephen
• Can walk really fast when you hold her hands
• Can stand on her own for about 7 seconds until she realizes that she is not being helped and loses her balance
• Has two little budding teeth on the bottom front (first sighting was May 16)
• Sleeps on her stomach with her bottom straight up in the air
• Can say, “mommomomomom” but I don’t know that it counts as “Mom” yet
• Crawls into my lap a lot and likes to be held.
• Is wearing 9 month clothes and has so many insanely cute dresses it overwhelms me and I rejoice at poop explosions b/c it means she gets more use out of her clothes
• Loves to be chased around. I say, “I’m gonna get you!!” and crawl after her and she just squeals with delight.

Stephen

• Looks just like Brian’s dad when he was a baby – it is creepy
• Still has crazy scientist hair and we think he has the unfortunate Armstrong hair pattern (i.e. it grows in a circle)
• Can crawl, pull up, and sit up
• Claps his hands and loves to play Paddycake
• Has taken to screaming at the top of his lungs when he is not getting attention and we are trying to figure out how to handle this
• Wakes up in the middle of the night less than he used to but it is still pretty regular
• No teeth in sight yet.
• If you put your hand over his mouth and pat it, he makes the Indian call sound thing (I don’t know a better way to describe it)
• Is wearing 9 month and 12 month clothe
• Can also say “Momomomom” and sometimes will say “Daddadadadad”. We are also trying to get him to say, “T T T T” for Tori, their babysitter, but he usually just laughs and shakes his head.

Mom

I really love this stage of the babies a lot. They are just so cute and so much fun. I literally can’t wait to wake them up in the morning or get home from work to see them. They have just become so interactive and I love it a lot.

I am feeling more and more anxious to get to be a Stay-At-Home-Mom which, at this point, cannot be a reality for at least another year and a half or so. I am praying that God will continue to provide for us. He already has provided in so many crazy ways so I don’t doubt that, if we are faithful with our money and are good stewards with what He has given us, He will provide a way for me to stay home with our kiddos.

I am going to run a half marathon next weekend -13.1 miles. It doesn’t feel like that big of a deal until I look back to January and see that I was running 4 minutes at a time and then walking. So 13.1 miles is pretty far. I am having a love hate relationship with running so I don’t know if how much further I will go with it. But still, 13.1 miles, 9 months after having 2 kids isn’t too shabby.