Warm!

Starting to feel a little warm out there:)

 

Penguin Parade

Well we made the trek out into the cold again this year to go see the penguins! Noah still hates being cold so he wanted to be held or tucked into the stroller the whole time.

 My sweet Mary was very excited! Probably because we haven't left the house much.

 Thomas spent his time in the stroller and then tucked in with mommy when he got fussy...

 I LOVE how cuddly he still is! I just zipped him up in my jacket and he cuddled/slept while we were there. And then the penguins came a marchin!

Thomas 9 months

 

Education
It seems silly to call this education but it's how Thomas' mind is growing:) Since he is mobile we are teaching him what he can and can't touch and where he can and can't go. It's an interesting process for sure, but he is getting it! For example, we almost always leave the door to the stairs open if we are near them because we want to teach him not to go near the stairs. Ian was in the kitchen so I ran down to change the laundry over. I knew that Thomas would try to follow. I didn't expect that it would be MARY teaching him not to. But I heard her get close to him like we do and say, "Thomas! You may not go near the stairs. You are too little!"  Ha! The best part is she sounded exactly like me. He's at the point now where most of the time all I have to do is say his name and he will stop what he's doing... but not always.

Physical Growth
At his appointment last week he had only gained a pound since 6 months. He was sick all last week and barely wanted to eat...but he still looks like a little chunky monkey to me so it's good he had some padding to use up. Plus this is when all my kids have fallen off their growth charts. Ah well. We will continue pushing avocado since he loves it so much! Turns out he had an ear infection so I can't blame him for not wanting to do anything.
All he wants to do is stand! He will crawl over, stand up while holding on to me, and just stand there forever. He likes it when I walk him around but he's also content just standing there. He will giggle and coo and you can just tell he's so happy to be standing.

Spiritual Growth
Our prayers for Thomas are pretty wide open right now since we don't know what he will be like. But we do pray specific prayers since he's a boy: that got would make him a strong warrior for the kingdom, that he would learn to provide and protect, and that he would have a strong love for and knowledge of the word so he can lead others in it. I have started reading to him more as he likes books so I will read him the little cuddle and sing books we have. We sing Jesus Loves Me and Jesus Is With Me.

Social Development
Thomas is pretty social for a baby. It's hard to say really. But he will pretty much go to anyone. He really prefers me, but I can hand him to someone at church or even a new babysitter and he happily goes. I think he just wants to be held and doesn't really care who is doing the holding. He's a cuddler like his brother! He is starting to say more complicated sounds (ma, ga, goo) so I have been pointing at him and saying Thomas then pointing at me and saying mama. I love when they can say mama:) He loves to climb all over people and smiles at everyone often.

Thomas, you are my sweet baby boy and I am loving this age! Please continue to cuddle with me and reach for me all your life!

Sick day

So I was up all night vomiting. Still not feeling great. But there is one great thing about being stuck in bed all day: baby hats! And a new scarf for Mary who wants one like mommy's.

Busy Bee

I have been BUSY lately. It turns out being a doula takes a lot of time. I feel like I'm really just getting into the full swing of this business because I've actually been having a full load for me, which means one client a month. That doesn't seem like a ton, but everyday I'm fielding emails (either from clients or potential clients) and lately I've also been spending a lot of time on start up things. Like this website: www.meganthebirthdoula.weebly.com and trying to get all my interview materials streamlined.

Put that together with the fact that Ian takes the computer to school most days...and that equals not much time to update this blog! I've also been working on our church's Equipegration website which should be published soon! So I'm pumped about that. Anyway, this week I attended the LONGEST birth of my life. She was in labor 3.5 days before it ended in c-section. I can honestly say this mom did everything I can think of to get the baby out. And she was also a huge baby (9#12 and 25 inches). It was a crazy week spent on and off with this mom!

My sister in law also had her babies this week!  The pictures for this post come from the shower we had for her the day before the babies came:

It appears Mary has inherited my facial expressions. And the next couple pics are Krystle opening the handmade gifts my mom and I made for the babies!

Making it work...

One thing I like about homeschooling is that we can tailor their education. Mary has been protesting my efforts to sit and have her read...unless there is some sort of incentive. I'm ok with giving incentives sometimes. That's why I love the Now I'm Reading series that comes with stickers! But I decided she's still very young, so we can learn to read in the bathtub. Thanks to an awesome Christmas present from grandma:

Thomas 8 months

Thomas is a growing machine! He is now doing what I like to call the "wounded soldier" crawl. Not quite army crawling where you get your arms bicycling, but where you use both arms simultaneously to drag your body across the ground. That top video was a few weeks ago. He has perfected the wounded soldier crawl and can actually move pretty fast with it. He's still content to just stay where he is most of the time though. He is usually super happy! But the past few days he's been a little cranky. I've given up trying to guess what makes babies have cranky days. Whenever I tell people he's been cranky they always throw out suggestions: teething? growth spurt? phase? Who knows. Those things can all happen at once or it could be something totally different with babies. I do the same thing though with other people. We want to be able to help so we throw out options.

Today I put on his onesie and realized that he is going to be too tall for 9 month clothes soon! His cloth diapers don't help, but he is definitely getting bigger. He still screams whenever he can't see one of us. If one of us is in the room with him he is fine (unless that person is Noah), but when we leave he loses it. It's like he knows that Noah is 2 and will be of no use to him in case of emergency. Plus Noah doesn't pay a whole lot of attention to Thomas at this point. Unless Thomas is trying to grab his toys! As you can see in the second video.

Watch out Mary and Noah, Thomas is mobile and he's coming after you! Oh, and he also got his first tooth last week. Luckily I don't think it bothered him much. The other two were cranky teethers. Thomas has been cranky AFTER his tooth came in...hmmmmm.