Nine Months Old!

It's good that Luke is only three months away from being a year old, because it's becoming ridiculously hard to take these photos! He won't stay still and he hates lying on his back! Nevertheless, we pulled it off for the nine month shot. 

So.....nine months! At this stage, Luke is constantly in motion - he is constantly moving around and seeing what he can get into. He's a really fast crawler and if you look away for a second he disappears! He also loves to pull himself up onto anything he can get a good grip on - the couch, the TV, the wall! Once he's upright, he shuffles along and is getting pretty good at it (my book calls this "cruising"). 

Luke is also getting quite grown up at the dinner table - being spoon fed is no longer interesting enough for him - he wants to do it himself! He has become quite a pro at popping those Gerber puffs into his mouth, and we're working on adding more things to the menu. 

Just in terms of personality, Luke is so much fun to play with! He's such a cheerful little boy and is usually very happy. It's also really cool because he definitely reacts positively when Drew or I get home from work - it's like a full body physical response! Definitely makes you feel good after a long day at work.

And finally (drum roll, please) Luke is now SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! It only took 8+ months, but he finally caught on that it's cool to sleep all night. By about 7:15pm, you can tell that he's tired because he gets fussy and starts rubbing his eyes. Once he's in his PJ's and has his bottle, he's good to go! He falls asleep without any problems and typically sleeps until Drew has to wake him up around 7:00am the next morning. It's absolutely amazing to get uninterrupted sleep after getting up during the night for so long. Now, I'm thinking that when he is teething again we might not be so lucky, but for now I'm going to enjoy it!!

What's new?

My apologies - somehow it's been two whole weeks since I wrote my last post! December has been pretty crazy and I just haven't been taking photos like I used to. Additionally, I've been having internet issues which makes it hard to upload.

Okay, enough excuses!

Here's what Luke's been up to:

Keeping warm (and smiling)

Eating finger foods!

Pulling himself up on EVERYTHING.

Climbing up the stairs???!!!
Yep, he loves that too. 

The Last Few Days

Grandma & Grandad's Christmas Tree

This past Thursday when we had our weekly dinner at Grandma and Grandad's house, we also helped to put up their Christmas tree! Luke really enjoyed himself and had lots of fun helping out.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! This year the Williams family had Thanksgiving at our house, and it was probably the most relaxing Thanksgiving I've had in a while. It was so nice to not have to drive anywhere or get Luke all packed up. 

Drew let me sleep in while he straightened up downstairs, so I surfaced around 10:45am, which was amazing. Marmee and Grampy came around 11:30am to start working on the turkey. Meg, Kevin, Asher, and Jake came a little while after that, and Beth & Steve and Aunt Barbara came closer to dinner time. It really was a nice day - Luke and Asher spent most of the day playing on the floor, and Jake spent most of his day sleeping! The meal was delicious and Beth made some fantastic pies for dessert.

Looking forward to Spreadbury Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Naptime! All three kids decided to nap at the same time....

Eight Months Old!

That's right folks, Luke is now eight months old! As I say every month, I'm amazed at how quickly time has passed and fast Luke has learned new things. He is now an expert crawler, and he loves moving all around the house. Soon after figuring out how to crawl, he also figured out how to pull himself up onto the furniture. So he pretty much doesn't stay in one place anymore. Leave him alone for a minute, and he'll be on the other side of the room! I don't know if this is typical or not, but all of a sudden he hates getting his diaper or clothes changed. He screams as though we're torturing him! I'm really hoping that it's a phase that he'll grow out of quickly. Actually, that's pretty much why I don't have his monthly picture taken yet - I'd have to change him into a white onesie and didn't want to get him all upset if I didn't have to! I'll try to take it sometime tomorrow..... Another big development this month has been Luke's teeth! He now has two teeth on the bottom. With both teeth he's had a bit of fussiness, but it hasn't lasted long. And finally, he seems to have settled into a good sleeping routine (fingers crossed!). We put him to bed between 8:30pm and 9:00pm, and he'll usually sleep until Drew has to wake him up around 7:00am. He does wake up once or twice in the night, but it's just because he can't find his pacifier. One of us will go in and put it back in his mouth, and he goes right back to sleep. This weekend was particularly good for sleep - last night he slept from 9:00pm until 8:30am, woke up for a bottle, then went back to sleep for another hour and a half!! Drew and I are both so excited to be getting a decent night's sleep again.

So we shall see what this next month brings! I'm feeling pretty sure that Luke will be walking somesooner rather than later. We'll see if I'm right!

Okay, here's his 8-month photo!

11-20-11
Eight months old

Sunday afternoon and evening

Today after church we went to Grandma and Grandad's house for lunch. Luke had fun crawling around the living room and pulling on all of the drawer handles. Thankfully he hasn't figured out how to open them yet!

Tonight Grandma came and hung out with Luke for a few hours so that we could go the movies. Luke had a great time! 

We also converted Luke's Exersaucer to Stage 3 tonight. Crazy! This was definitely a great gift - it grows right along with him!