Heat Wave!

Just when we thought spring was never going to come, summer showed up instead. At least for a day. Instead of our usual high of 50 degrees with scattered showers, it was 80+ degrees and sunny! We took advantage of the beautiful day, putting on our shorts and flip flops and heading to the park. Taylor had a blast crawling around in the grass and playing in the rocks at the park. For those who don't believe it could ever be that warm in April in Seattle, here's pictures as proof. Oh, and just a side note, the next day was cloudy with highs in the low 50's. So long summer. See you again July 5th.

Playing in the rocks, and trying really hard to eat them

Collecting some to take home

"Act innocent, then when her back is turned, put in my mouth"

50% Mommy + 50% Daddy = 100% Cute

"This stuff feels kind of funny!"

Working on his crawling

Jason & Taylor going down the slide

Practicing walking

Rosy cheeks

9 months!

Taylor is 9 months old today! To celebrate, we went to the doctor. :) Thankfully no shots this time, just the measuring, listening, and looking in the eyes and ears and stuff. He is now 2ft 3.8in and weights 17 lb 15.6 oz (so close to 18 lbs!). He's about 12th percentile for weight and 30-ish percentile for height. He dropped in his weight percentile, but the doctor said that was fine since he's becoming more active and just burning more calories. I asked about his hands, which are still really red and sore because he sucks/chews on them all the time. She said just Aquaphor (which we've been doing religiously) and hydrocortisone (which I'm scared to put on if it is going to end up in his mouth). She also suggested putting gloves on his hands at night to keep the moisture in, but when I've tried that before the night didn't go so well because he couldn't grab his pacifier when he woke up. Other than that is was a pretty uneventful visit.

Hanging out looking cute

"So, what is he up to these days?" you ask. Well, after figuring out getting up on all fours at 8 months, he had perfected crawling...backwards. He would occasionally try to go forward, but would face plant. We were sure he could do it, but he just stopped trying. He figured out how to crawl backward or do what I called "cartwheels" (would roll from sitting to up on his hands and feet in the downward dog yoga pose to sitting again) to where he wanted to go. Then a little over a week ago I put some of his favorite "treats", Gerber sweet potato puff finger foods, across the room on the floor. Low and behold, Taylor started to crawl. It was like he didn't even know what was happening. He was just trying to get to his puffs! The rest is history. He figured out he can do it, and now he's crawling everywhere. Time to baby proof! He's also working on pulling himself up on things. He gets so excited when he gets up and can look around at the view from way up there.

Climbing up

So proud of himself

Risky business

Getting around

Gearing up to knock down the tower

Taylor is still a big fan of eating. Along with all his pureed stuff, he is liking his crunchy "treats", which help him practice his pincer grasp (thumb and pointer finger), and he is starting to try some proteins. He seems to like his tofu so far, and next up is hard boiled egg yolk and yogurt. And speaking of eating, I think Taylor is working on his top middle teeth. The last week he has been waking up multiple times in the middle of the night, which is odd for him because he's been sleeping through the night for many months now. I think it is going to be a sleepless month coming up.

My favorite thing that Taylor does now is give kisses. I'll say, "Taylor, can mommy have a kiss?", and he will come at me with his mouth wide open. :) He always smiles and laughs after he gives a kiss, which is cute. The other day when Jason came home, Taylor grabbed him by the cheeks and pulled him in for a big wet one! I wished I'd had a camera to catch the moment because it was so cute! Eventually we'll have to teach him to use just his lips to kiss. :)

Taylor attacking Jason with a kiss

He is really getting in to reading now as well. He likes to turn the pages, which forces me to speed read because he wants to turn them so fast! I've given up on reading exactly what is on the page but just point things out like a dog or the tree, whatever I can get in before he gets to the next page. Jason has started reading to him in the bathtub, which Taylor likes because he can listen while he's swimming around.

Checking out his library

"Which one should we read first, mom?"

Another cute close up

So that's the 9 month update! I'm sure in another month he'll have a bunch of new tricks up his sleeve.

Taylor saying hello to the baby goat

The goat trying to eat Taylor's finger for lunch

Taylor's favorite past time

"Whee!"

Picinic at the Lake

After Kindermusic today, Taylor and I headed to the lake near our house to have a picnic. Though a nice sunny day, it was kind of cold but still lots of fun. We ate our lunch, then had some bread to feed to the ducks. I got a bit concerned at one point because we were surrounded by about 25 ducks, all quacking very aggressively. I thought I was going to have to grab Taylor and make a run for it! Alas, when the bread was gone, they all gave one last agitated quack, then waddled away. Taylor thought it was so funny, sitting right next to this real duck making these quacking noises that I imitate so poorly at home.

Golden Birthday!

I turned 27 on March 27th! For those of you who don't know, when you turn the age that your birth date is, it is your Golden Birthday. It is supposed to be a super fabulous, tons of fun, big celebration birthday. Originally, Jason and I talked about going to Palm Springs to get away from the cold, grey weather. I was going to get golden tan on my Golden Birthday. Well, because tickets were just so expensive and Jason started a new job, we weren't able to go. So instead I had planned out 4 days of birthday fun. Thursday night, the 27th, we were going to celebrate at home just the three of us and I was going to make a cake. Friday Jason and I were going to go out to Salty's on Alki Beach for dinner and my parents were going to babysit. Saturday we were going to go mini golfing with my parents, then come back to our house for dinner and dessert. Sunday we were going to go to church together, then go bowling with friends that afternoon. That was the plan anyway. Here's how it went down.

Thursday, March 27th: Jason, the previous day at work, had gotten a small piece of metal in his eye. He thought it would just come out, but early that morning he was in excruciating pain. Since Urgent Care didn't open till 8am and the consulting nurse didn't think they would see him in the ER, he went to work, not wanting to miss a day just a week into the job. That day Taylor and I had Kindermusic, then we went to see Horton Hears a Who. After the movie, we met Jason at the Urgent Care, where they tried and failed to remove the piece of metal. We were sent home with eye ointment and a bottle of Percocet, then told to come back the next day. We grabbed dinner on the way home, then let Taylor sleep in the car while we ate. Jason took two Percocet and was out for the night. Happy Birthday to me.

Friday, March 28th: Jason went to work, then when he got home we headed to the Urgent Care again. The Opthamologist they said would be there was not. Instead the ER Dr tried again to get it out, using a huge needle. I couldn't watch. By the time we got out of there, it was late and Jason was in a lot of pain from them jabbing around in his eye and still not getting all the metal out. We canceled the date night. Jason took two more Percocet, and was once again gone for the night.

Saturday, March 29th: The weather was cold and rainy, so we canceled the mini golfing and decided to just have a game night at our house. Jason, from all the Percocet, was so out of it that he slept a lot of the day. Taylor and I just hung out around the house. That night my parents came over and we enjoyed some Thai food and strawberry cheesecake for dessert. Taylor made it long enough to be in a few of the pictures, then he went to bed before dessert was served. As I was coming downstairs from Taylor's room, I noticed it was SNOWING! Yes, at the end of March. For those not from Seattle, this is not normal. We watched the snow come down for a bit, then toyed with the idea of playing a game but Jason was super tired, so we called it a night.

Sunday, March 30th: Jason's eye was still hurting and bothering him, so he stayed home from church. And last minute a friend invited me to go shopping for some clothes for me (much needed!), so I missed as well. I had a great time picking out a top and some pants; it felt nice to be pampered a bit. Afterward, we met our husbands and Taylor at the bowling alley and bowled a few rounds. I tied the first game, won the second, then fell off to third in the last game. I bowled one of my best games ever, with a score of 145! Taylor enjoyed getting passed around between everyone. After some dessert at their house, we headed home and crashed early.

So that was my fun filled Golden Birthday. I'm thankful, though none of the plans worked out, that I was able to celebrate with the people I love because you can't ask for more than that. And Jason is always finding ways to surprise me, so it's like it is my birthday all year long.