9 months

Life must be slowing down a little bit - the last time I blogged was a month ago when Harvey was 8 months. Oops. I probably need to be better about documenting the little things that are still fun and important to remember. I'll try. But for now - let's talk about the most exciting thing in life still. Here are some pics I took on his 9 month birthday :) Happy baby!

 

Harvey is learning so fast. It's crazy to me how much new stuff he can do. It's so much fun. I keep talking about his sleeping so I feel like I have to make mention of it. But I'm only going to mention I'm not going to mention it. Because it is the same and it is still so very hard for me.
That's the only bad thing. All other things are awesome. This month he has figured out how to get from his belly to his bum. I think that has made sleeping more tricky because instead of staying laid down in bed, he sits up and cries and then doesn't fall back asleep. He also has figured out how to pull himself to standing (and does that in the crib too with the same effects on sleep). He crawls so fast everywhere and is pulling himself up against everything.

Finally starting to pull his own weight around here.

We didn't do much for Halloween this year. He went to bed way early the night of the ward trunk or treat so we missed that and I worked on Halloween. So his first Halloween was kind of a bust. Tanner took him to a birthday costume party earlier in the month and I requested he take some pictures but he left his phone in the car and didn't get any. Luckily my friend Emily always is on the ball and gets great pictures all the time so I have one picture of him in a costume (she let us borrow that costume too).

On Halloween I wanted to get a picture of him in an outfit I bought from Old Navy so I stood him against the wall ready to snap one quick before he fell.  But he never fell. He just stood there forever balancing and being all big and stuff.

Then I made the babysitter take one of us so I'd at least have one of us together. I realize I have VERY few pictures of us together and that is saddening me. So I need to get better at that. Unfortunately this one isn't great of either of us. Oh well - we are festive :)

He has taken some small steps along the furniture as well recently. I bet he's walking by the time we go home for Christmas. I am going to miss has army crawl but I won't miss his chest and belly being a constant reminder of how dirty our floors are no matter how many times I vacuum and mop :)

He ate some salmon and asparagus the other night and he was LOVING this jalapeno chili I made a couple weeks ago. He ate a ton of that. And he even had a few bites of a chicken tikka masala indian curry dish I made that was kind of spicy. It made me proud. I'm not holding my breath, but I still hope that he's a good, healthy and adventurous eater. I still love watching him eat.

 And the after eating is fun too...

He's figured out how to throw now too. It's not great but he swings his arms and lets go somewhere in there.  That's throwing, right? Well, it works for food too. When he's done eating he lets all the rest of his pieces go. The dogs love it. He knows the dogs love it so sometimes he doesn't even make them work for it. He is definitely in that phase of dropping all things, not just food, just for the heck of it. He finds it quite entertaining. Wonder why babies find that so fascinating!

Dad bought him a new hat and gloves because he didn't have a good winter one that fit and winter is definitely here. I could take a thousand pictures of him in this hat. Oh my gosh. THE cutest.

I love his eyes in this picture. So intense.

This is one of our new favorite pics of him of all time.

Tanner sent me this picture while I was at work. He was crawling all around and then the dogs flopped down and blocked his way and he got mad. Tanner said it was kind of funny. I just think it's a cool picture. 

We went and visited my friend Larissa one day. Her kids love him and he was having lots of fun watching and playing with them too. So cute.

I was making dinner or something one afternoon and he was crawling around on the kitchen floor and he made a break for our bedroom and as I looked down at him passing by me I noticed something awry...

He likes to be upside down. A lot. He giggles and flops himself in that position often.

Checking out the fish tank.

One word. Handsome. Actually it should be two. Freakin' handsome!

We had a family date night to Sidney a couple weeks ago. We stopped at a grocery store there and Harvey was in heaven. He was jibber jabbering the WHOLE time we were in there. And loud too. I have to include these 3 pictures because I am obsessed with all 3.

At my friend Lindy's the other day, her daughter Lilly pushed and pulled Harvey around on that thing for awhile and he was in heaven again. Needless to say - I think he's getting some form of riding car something for Christmas and or birthday. Speaking of cars - he's starting to show a lot of interest in them. Dad bought him a few new hotwheels and he has been "driving" them across the table and floor recently. He is fascinated by wheels on anything too. He just spins and spins them. I love it.

He still is a water boy. Loves the bath and is all over the place in it. That makes it a little more interesting/tricky for me. And I've taken him to the pool a few times this last month and he starts trying to jump out of my arms as soon as we walk into the pool area. He gets so excited and shows no trepidation by deep water or water splashing his head or face. I hope he continues to love the water. .

Baby bums are the best

He figured out how to use his sippy cup like 2 days ago. I've offered it to him a few times over the last couple weeks but he hadn't quite figured out how to drink from it and only would do it if I was holding it. He handles it like a pro now.  One other thing that I don't have pictures of is he is all about destruction. Is that a baby thing or a boy thing or a Harvey thing? I pulled out the jenga blocks to play with and he was interested for a little while. Mostly when I would build a tower - he'd just want to smash it down. And then he'd get bored and crawl away. But if he saw me stacking - he'd race back over just to knock it. He's been doing that with quite a few things lately and it's pretty funny. He also learns to wave this month. It's awesome saying things to him and knowing he understands. He opens and closes his fist when you say "wave" or "say hi/bye". If he's being shy the fingers barely move, otherwise he gets pretty excited about it.

Here's some other pictures that have randomly been taken this last month.

Not cooperating for photos at the park during play group.

Nice outfit, huh?

He loves hanging out on the vanity while I get ready. He makes complete havoc of all of my stuff. So funny. Somehow, one day he ended up in the sink and he loved it. And so did I until he figured out how to turn on the water. Another thing he loves is our sonicare toothbrushes. I made the mistake awhile back of letting him hold onto the bottom of mine while brushing and he loves the vibration. Whenever he hears that sound he starts smiling really big and giggling and just wants to hold on and "help" me brush. Not entirely helpful.

Intimidating football face.

 I found this pic on Tanner's phone. And I just like both of their faces a lot. I'm a lucky lady.

And we started off with the bad note of sleep - I'll end with the good part of sleep. Because even though it doesn't feel like it sometimes, he does actually sleep. And it's adorable and precious.

This is my favorite.

Well, and this one.

I need to not focus on what he's not doing (like sleeping) and focus on the grossly larger amount of things he is doing and all the wonderful things that are Harvey. He's so happy and fun and giggly and stubborn and determined and smart. He can be challenging at times and I always worry about him for one reason or another but the indescribable amount of joy he brings to our lives far and away makes up for any challenges! 

It's a couple of weeks later and I found some pics on my phone and iPad that I didn't include. I know - you were wondering where those were ;) Hopefully I'm getting them in the right month.