9 Months

9 Month Stats:

Height: 29.5 in

Weight: 22.4 lbs

And a post infused with lots of Instagrams of my baby boy. Krista—you need to be on Instagram already! How can I get you using it? Hmmm...

Luke has become the most busy boy this past month: crawling everywhere, touching/eating everything at ground level, searching for kids down the hall, getting stuck in rooms as he accidentally closes the door, and even falling out of the crib! Just yesterday he pulled himself up to his knees on the side of his crib after his 2nd nap. I was surprised to see him up like that and realized we needed to lower his bed pronto (like in the next few days...) We put him to bed after a busy night of errands and ballet carpool and he promptly climbed right up the side of his crib and fell to the floor! Poor, crazy guy! He was luckily unscathed just super stunned and probably a little freaked out. We postponed bedtime by 20 minutes or so and lowered that crib right away :)

Luke loves to eat and wants to try anything any of us are eating. He gets fussy when he sees a sibling eating a snack in the car that he doesn't have or sees me having lunch without him. He is still so excited about any and all food so I am trying to keep lots of pureed veggies in him while I can.

I just quit nursing him about 3 weeks ago and felt surprisingly fine about it. We were down to 3 feedings a day (the rest were formula bottles) but he was getting so wiggly and curious that feeding time was getting hard. Luke has always been an awesome nurser—very efficient and done in 20 minutes but I think we were both ready for the swift 5 minutes of an entire bottle. There is just too much for this boy to see and do!   And he is a great bottle drinker so he transitioned well. I kind of, sort of miss those snuggly, quiet mornings feeding him while all the others were still and sleeping, but I am a happier mama knowing Joseph can get up with him in the mornings and feed him now too. I love so much that I have been able to nurse all 4 of my babies, but I am also happy to be done. I think I was really ready for my body to be mine again after nearly 18 months (pregnancy + nursing).

My tiny guy seems to insist on growing up quickly. He had his first tooth way before any of my other babies and at 9 months proudly displays 8. He was in full motion at 8 months while most my others weren't crawling until 9 or 10 months. He is starting to hate riding backwards in his car seat if he can't see any kids to entertain him, and he twists around to try and see me while I drive! Such a funny, active, happy, happy, happy boy. He is still mostly bald but has some deliciously soft fluff here and there. It's impossible not to kiss his head and perfectly full baby cheeks all the day long—such a sweet indulgence in my life. I love my Lukey Bear!

Donut Falls

Our Saturday was a busy day this past weekend: long biking date, Cares riding with no training wheels, buying Caroline some new, bigger ballet shoes and finally, a little hike up to Donut falls (per the kids' request...we must be teaching them right :)

 

 

The sweet baby bear was not the happy boy he usually is. He had been running a fever since Friday and was very needy most of the day. Who knew he was rocking a double ear infection? Poor guy. When his fever was still raging on Monday I knew something was not right and we paid a visit to the doctor. Luke was such a good boy through it all. He is such an easy baby that it was hard to tell he was in so much pain—he mainly just wanted to be held a lot and didn't crawl around and explore like he normally does. I love that sweet little babe so much! And thankfully he was back to his busy little self after only 24 hours of antibiotics—that stuff is amazing.

 More glimpses of fall in Big Cottonwood canyon...so pretty

Sidenotes of the day:

1) We ran into Pat Richards on the hike, and old friend of mine from HS days. Haven't seen him in probably 14 years but he looks just the same! Funny. And is a dad of 4 out hiking with his wife and all the littles.

2) Bentley suddenly had a major headache on our way down the canyon and about 1 mile from our house threw up in the backseat. Poor Bentley, and poor Highlander. If you know any tricks for permanently removing that lingering barf smell from the car I am definitely interested...

3) I had Zupas for the very first time right before we hiked. A chocolate covered strawberry with every meal? It's amazing I haven't been before! Yummy Tuscan soup and summer salad too.

Biking Girl

Cares mastered her bike without training wheels on Saturday...on her very first try! Joseph is the best teacher—he's so patient and helped her figure out balancing even before removing the extra wheels.

Now, when can I get her to join me on a 20 miler? :)

Lately

 This new canvas arrived in the mail and is hanging right inside the front door (thanks Groupon!)

 Family night at FatsCats!

 I am loving dressing Luke in Bentley's baby clothes. 

It has been 8 years since I last saw these things—I have missed them!

Last Saturday my hubby went for a century ride and was gone for most of the day. When he got home I popped over to the nail salon. It had been a solid year since my last pedicure—what?

Dinner the other night, provided solely by Costco 

(the pasta wasn't Kirkland brand but still theirs). I heart Costco.

A gorgeous little bike I test rode a few weeks ago. She is such a beauty. 

Just dreaming for now. I think I'm going to set a few goals for myself so that a fierce Amira can be my reward when I reach them...

Alpine Slides

I guess I should hurry up and get this last Jackson post up already! On Labor Day we enjoyed a beautiful morning on the mountain before heading home.

Silver King Alpine Slides:

 

 

 

I missed my baby boy so much that I was filled with happy anticipation as we drove home. My kids were such amazing travelers. We even had a great time playing a silly alphabet game all together ("My name is Allison and I come from Alabama and I bring a car load of apples...") My big kids ate this up, did really well thinking of things that began with their assigned letter (sometimes we gave them hints to help them think of a place...) and they always thought Joseph's turns were hilarious. Livs was so cute during the game too. She always chose for her name to be Olivia or Isabel, she was always from London, and she would bring jewels or sparkles with her each turn. It was pretty adorable and fun to have her playing along. When did my kids get so big?

We found our baby happily situated with Nanny and Grandpa (thank-you, thank-you for watching over our tiny boy!) Luke did stare at me curiously for a good 5 minutes but warmed up quickly with all the attention of his whole family back to play with him. It was a wonderful weekend in a gorgeous place and my parents made all of it possible--thank you so much mom and dad for taking us! We are so very grateful for your generosity in every way.

Moose, Tram, & Family Bike Ride

We really packed it in during our quick stay. On Sunday we headed over to Moose, back in Teton National Park, to check out the visitor's center and more lovely views of the Tetons.

Olivia's saddest face because the kids posed on the moose while she was being grumpy...and then she wanted to pose too but only after they had all gone inside the visitor's center. Oh Livs...

 

The morning was gorgeous and chilly and we watched a solid cloud cover burn off the peaks as we entered the park. We actually woke up in a foggy, cold, cloud ourselves which felt so very fallish, but we were happy to see it clear up as we had big plans to ride the tram that day so we could check out the view from 10,000 feet.

The view delivered! We thought we might bring a little lunch with us and eat up at the top...this did not happen because it was very windy at the summit and sooo cold for an early September day--it was only 50 degrees up there! Crazy. And I am just a tiny bit afraid of heights, especially when I have little ones to be ever watchful over (of course my kids had no fears and were climbing and exploring all over.) It was really beautiful up there and we could see for miles and miles.

 

We opted for lunch on the grass at the bottom of the lift—much warmer down there. Bentley loved racing underneath the tram whenever it pulled into or out of the loading area. See him leaping over the stream to beat it in the picture below?

Oh, I love my little boy (who is not very little anymore.)

To end the day we gathered up all our kiddos (and my dad) and went for a lovely family bike ride on the winding, easy bike path right by our place. We ended up going just over 9 miles and never once did either bike riding kid complain about being too tired from the ride (Livs was in a chariot and had the most issues of anyone—until she fell fast asleep from the lulling ride. 

Such a hard life for that one...) 

Funny pics of my mom and me in twinner hiking pants and pink hoodies.

Yes, we shop together often and have similar (fantastic) taste :)

 

JH and Cousins

Saturday evening we popped over to downtown Jackson for t-shirt shopping and to see the famous antlers in town square. It was crazy busy there! Made me so happy we were staying over in Teton Village away from the bustle and crowds (does that make me an old lady for typing that?)

 

 

We ended the night with dinner at Calico. We sat out on the porch during a lovely, cool evening and ate the most delicious BBQ chicken pizza (the caprese salad was awesome too). There was a huge grassy yard off the deck where the children ran and played for about 80% of our time there. Joseph had been off on a long bike ride earlier in the afternoon so he agreed to play ball with the kids while I sat and visited with my fam. Why didn't I take any pictures there? It was such a cute restaurant.

And because this post needs a little beefing up,

some fun cousin shots from throughout our stay:

 Had to add Caroline's orderly collection of varied wildflowers. These were all within strolling distance of the back porch. We truly stayed in the ideal location (thanks mom & dad!)