Dear Jack: 9 months

Dear Jack,

Today you are 9 months old. As I am typing this, you are screaming with laughter at your sister who is spitting pacifiers at you. I have never heard you laugh quite so hard. I love the relationship the two of you have despite the difference in age. Whenever you see her, your face splits open in the biggest grin. Even when she is wrestling with you or dragging you around, you are just so thrilled to be with her.

This past month has been a big one for you. Your top two teeth came in (whew, was that awful for all of us!) and now you have two more on top pushing through. You started crawling (army crawl with a bum leg) and now you are able to get around pretty quickly. Just today you learned to go from laying down to sitting. You also recently learned to pull yourself up on objects. This past week we walked into your room to find you had pulled yourself up on the crib rail...time to lower your mattress. You still love to eat (as is obvious from the rolls on your thighs) and we have started giving you more and more finger foods. Cheerios are our staple, but you like to sample everything we eat. If we are eating and not sharing, you start screeching. My once quiet child, you are now so loud! You chant "dadada" the most, but will also throw in the "mamas" occasionally.

You are still a snuggler and sturdy enough to withstand your sister's hardest squeezes. You have no problem giving loves to anyone who picks you up (and you love to be picked up), but you are still a Mama's Boy. No matter how happily you are playing, you will start fussing and reaching for me if I walk into your line of sight.

I love seeing the world through your eyes. You find everything around you fascinating. I write these letters to you partially so you have some sort of baby book. But mostly I write them for me. Because someday you will be a grown man with your own family, but I will still be able to look back and remember my roly-poly little boy who loved to bury his face in my shoulder or grab my chin and pull it towards him to make sure he has my full attention. You are a gift, little man, and I love you so very much.

Love you forever,

Mama

A little wicked

A year ago, I went with my mom and sister-in-laws to see Mamma Mia. We had so much fun that we decided to see a play once a year...girls only. This year we went to see Wicked and Dianna and Leilani were able to join us. I LOVED it! Loved the music, loved the story-line, loved everything. I am thinking we should change this tradition from once a year to four times a year.

Sisters, Sisters

"There were never such devoted sisters..."

My little sis lives all the way in North Carolina. Although I talk to her on the phone almost every day, it just isn't the same. I was so excited when she came into town this past week. I had so many plans for us. We did about half of them.

Ellie went with me to pick up Dianna and her two kids (Levi and Kinleigh) from the airport. Ellie and Kinleigh have a very intense relationship. Their personalities are so similar and they are just like sisters. One minute they are the best of friends and a split second later they are bickering. As soon as Ellie saw Kinleigh at the airport, they ran to each other and wrapped their arms around each other in the tightest hug. All the passerbys started "awww"ing and one man ordered Dianna to take a pic.

The week went by way too fast, but it was so fun to see our kids playing together.

Kinleigh is 7 months older than Ellie, but Ellie is still significantly larger in size. Levi is a year older than Jack and Jack is already bigger than he is! But I guess it makes sense...I mean, look how I dwarf my sister.

Circus!

Aargh, no matter what I do, blogger uploads this picture sideways! Which is irritating because it is such a cute pic!

Oh well. This sideways picture was taken last Wednesday night at the circus. We went opening night where every seat costs $10. Guess where we sat? 2nd row, right in the middle. Ellie was riveted the entire time. My mother-in-law was sweet enough to watch Jack so we could focus all of our attention on Ellie. My MIL also gave Ellie money and told her to buy herself something nice. Ellie picked out this horse and has slept with it every night since.

Weekend recap: July 4th edition

We had such a fun 4th of July weekend! On Saturday, we went canoeing with my dad and 4 of my siblings' families! We fit 11 adults and 10 kids into 6 canoes. Out of those 6 canoes, Tom, Ellie, and I are the only ones who managed to 1. tip over and 2. get marooned on top of a log and require rescuing. Still, it was a lot of fun meandering down the river and stopping at the beaches to play. After we finished canoeing, we went back to my parents' house to grill out and swim in the pool. I didn't bring my camera so all I have is this one picture of Tom, Ellie, and I when we stopped for a break on the canoe trip.

Whew, what a rough looking group!

On the 4th, we went to church and then over to my mother-in-laws for more grilling out.

Tom and Ellie enjoyed fishing from the dock. Um, notice Tom's fishing pole? Heehee. We were able to enjoy a good fireworks show and Tom and Ellie had fun lighting Roman Candles. When it comes to fireworks, I prefer to enjoy from a safe distance...like inside the house.

It was such a busy weekend and we haven't stopped! My little sister is visiting from North Carolina this week. Tonight we are going to Eclipse, tomorrow the circus, and Thursday all the ladies are going to see Wicked. Plus, in the midst of all this, Tom and I are trying to get our house ready to put on the market by August 1st. We bought this house when I was pregnant with Ellie and its 3 bedrooms and 2 baths seemed plenty big for our little family. But now that we have Jack and all 4 of us are home for the summer, we are feeling pretty cramped. We found a great community up the road that we want to build in, so keeping our fingers crossed that our house sells fast!