To Owen, at 9 Months

Dear Owen,

I have been walking around with this blog post in my head for almost 2 months now. I tried to cement in my mind what you were like at 8 months, since at the time that I write this, you are already almost 10 months.

This month of life was very busy for you and us. Our house was finally done, and it was time for holiday celebrations. It seemed like we had something going on every night and every weekend!

Here's just a little list:

• Taking a picture with Santa at Bass Pro Shop
• First St. Nicks day (he left your presents in your little red chucks)
• Baking with Gramma
• going with Mama to her class' holiday party
• Having a kitchen reveal/holiday party
• getting to go to the Grow's for a Gingerbread Man decorating party
• having our 3rd annual elf party with the Blades and the Browns
• going to see Grammy and Grandpa's new house in Sanger, and having "christmas morning" there with your cousins
• Spending lots of time with Aunt "Winkyface" Kate
• Your first Christmas morning at our house, Christmas Day at Gramma and Pops with Aunt Kate
• going on a real vacation with Gramma, Pops, Aunt Kate and Isabelle to San Diego

You did SO well for all of these events. You continued to be your relaxed and easy going self. You loved being around people and going new places. You crawled around and tried to get into everything, and are starting to understanding the word "no." We were smart to put our Christmas tree behind the couch, so it was out of your sight most of the time. :)

Our slumber party at Grammy's house was interesting to say the least. You and Cousin John seemed to want to spend as much time together as possible, so even though you both normally sleep through the night, you wanted to be awake more than usual that night. We all look forward to the days when all of the kids can sleep in sleeping bags in the living room on their own and the parents can be oblivious to how much they are actually sleeping. Miller did a great job at handling having little hands getting into his toys, and it was all to get him ready for his little brother or sister coming soon! Grammy and Grandpa got us some great gifts, and you seem to love your beaded wooden activity thing. It was nice to spend time with lots of family, and to also get to relax.

Christmas morning at our house was nice. You opened all of your presents and seemed to actually inspect and look over all of them. You really love your Woody doll, and that makes me happy. You won't keep your hat on your head, but we are working on that.

Going to San Diego was the nicest, most relaxing time. You loved going on walks in the morning with Pops and Gramma, and it was nice for you to get to spend lots of time with Aunt Kate. You did a great job at getting in and out of the car, and still slept great at night. You got to go to Sea World and look at all the fishes, and we all look forward to getting to go back this year.

Probably your biggest accomplishment of the month was pulling up to a standing position. We noticed that you were trying to do it in your crib, so Daddy decided to lower it. Good thing he did, because one day we walked into your room and found that you could stand up holding on to the side of your crib. Once you discovered you could do that, you started trying it wherever you were. No longer could we lay you down in your crib to go to sleep, because you would decide to tell us how unhappy you were to be there by standing up, and "telling us" facing the door. :) You pulled up on furniture, your toy box and pretty much anything you could reach. Your balance was still not the greatest, and if you let go, you would fall.

You also had your first cough this month, and Mama was proud that she didn't freak out about it. :)

I think in this month I realized that you are not a little baby anymore, and that my focus has shifted. I am now raising and training you, and that takes up a lot more of my brain than I expected. It has been really hard for me to focus on anything other than if you are sleeping, if there is food in the house, and if you are getting into something you shouldn't. This makes focusing on this blog, on housework, or pretty much anything else pretty difficult...

I hope I get better about using my brain and my time more effectively!

Love,
Mama