Professional Photos

During August, we had a wonderful shoot with Ben Elsass and even though Noelle was a bit cranky, he managed to get some wonderful shots. Photos were taken at the Evanston lighthouse, before the sun had completely risen. I think the photos speak for themselves:

9 Months

Busiest. Month. Ever.

August will go down as one of the busiest and most trying months of my (our) lives. It was filled with some really wonderful things for our family and some very frustrating days/nights. You see during the month of August we closed on our very first home (yeah!) and moved two weeks later. Seeing as we hired movers, that doesn't sound too bad, right? Well, my dear, the week we were scheduled to pack, you got sick with a virus that daycare views as a plague of sorts and you were sent home for 4 days. I love having you around, but due to you moving and wanting to get into everything, you didn't exactly help with the process.
Then there were my grand plans of painting an entire house in a week...did I mention there was wallpaper to remove and the house is a two story, five bedroom, large home? Oh, AND you were teething and along with that came an awful, raw bottom, that sent you screaming every time you had a wet diaper. So long to sleeping through the night. Add in unpacking, work, and traveling dad and whew!... But let's focus more on you, shall we?

So we left off at 8 months with you crawling and pulling up on things. By the end of 9 months you are climbing the staircase (we clocked you at 45 seconds), pulling up on things and letting go and standing for small periods of time, and you are using anything that moves as a push toy and walking around the house with it. Your favorites are the dining room chairs. It's like that scene in poltergeist where we can leave the room and come back 30 seconds later, and all the chairs have moved.

You love the new house. It has 100% hardwood floors so you can cruise along easily. We have a sunroom that is full of light and empty right now and when we let you in there with your push toy, it's just pure joy for you and for those of us watching you. You also like to babble and blow raspberries while you drive, so cute!
As I mentioned above, you finally popped through two bottom teeth! There really was n complaining from you before they came through, but afterwards you can down with a horrible diaper rash. I felt so, so terrible for you and you made it very well known that it was as painful as it looked. Thankfully while you were going through this I had this wisdom of my Aunt Donna, my Mom, and my Grandma, who were all in town, to help me through it. You were back to waking up 3+ times per night due to painful diapers and more than being tired, I felt like a horrible mom because I couldn't take the pain away. This lasted nearly a week and you coped much better than I did. Your sleep schedule, however, did not fare as well. You became accustomed to those middle of the night bottles and cuddles...

You did get better though and you managed to charm everyone at your new daycare. They all comment on how fast you are with crawling and learning new things and how independent you are. They said you never cry and you are perfectly happy playing on your own. Of course I already know this...but it's nice to hear again!
We took a trip to our local "zoo" - it's really a farm that they call a zoo, but it is still adorable. I wish I could say you were the least bit interested in the animals, but it was the dirt, rocks, and leaves that had your attention.


Other August notes:

You loved your visits from Aunt Donna, Grandma Ortega, and Great-Grandma. You welcome everyone with smiles and in turn, they all end up smiling bigger than you.

We had professional photos taken in early August and I'm so happy we did! I'll do another post of just pics to highlight some of those.

You became a cousin! Aunt Kelly & Uncle Brent welcomed Elliot to the family in mid-August. I'm so excited to meet him and for you to have a cousin so close in age.

You are now wearing mostly 12 month clothing. You were basically in 9 month clothing for a couple weeks.

Speaking of which - at 9 months you weigh 19.5 pounds and are 29 inches long. That's 9 inches in 9 months. Told you you are growing like a weed!

Well pumpkin, I am so excited to create memories in this new house of ours. I feel very blessed that your dad and I are able to provide you a house in such a wonderful area. I can't wait to see you grow up here and for us all to make this house a home.


Love you my dear-
Mama

Oh, and regarding the house projects: The only task that was fully completed was your room. Aunt Donna worked day and night to get things done, but we really have a LOT to do!