Nine Months

Luke William.

You are nine months.

That is a hard thing to say about you. It seems like just yesterday that your bassinet was next to our bed. You're growing up so fast!

We usually post your monthly pic sitting in your chair, but we decided to post a picture of you doing what you love the most - standing. You are so close to walking and it kills us. You've been crawling since you were 6 months - much to our chagrin. We never did "tummy time" with you because we didn't want you crawling too soon. You did it anyway.

It just proves what we've known for several months now. You're a man with a mission: to follow Big Brother.

You continue to amaze us with your ease and complete happiness. You fuss when it's time to eat, when it's time to go to bed, and when you've been in the car too long.

You are in the 95th percentile on height, 80th on your head circumference, and the 50th on weight. You're skinny and long. Just like your brother.

In fact, you're longer than your brother. All of the clothes he wore his first Christmas are not quite long enough for you. And you're only 3 days away from exactly where he was three years ago, so things should be fitting nicely. You're gonna give him a run for his money. And that's okay. I'm taller than my big brother, and it's GREAT!

And speaking of Big Brother...you just can't get enough of him. He makes you laugh. He makes you cry. But you are fascinated with him.

Last weekend Ben went to Pippi and Poppa's and you were alone in the backseat of the car a couple of times. You strianed your neck looking for him. And when he joined us on the ride home, you lit up like a Christmas Tree.

Yesterday you rode together in the "Car Buggy" at Kroger, and Ben loved it. You were hungry, though...and all we could do was shove cheerios down your throat.

You love to eat - nothing tastes bad to you. You're on formula every three hours, with oatmeal in the morning, fruit and veggies at lunch and dinner, rice cereal at bedtime, and handfulls of cheerios, puffs, and dried yougurt bites all through the day.

You're cruising all over the house, and you're falling some. Photo editing software allows us to post these pics without fear of contact by SCAN, because your head is covered in bruises. But you're a tough little guy, and nothing slows you down.

And finally - you love...L-O-V-E to play Patty-Cake. You clap and clap and laugh when we "throw 'em in the pan..."

You are the sweetest, most well-adjusted little guy, and we can't remember what a day without you was like.