Elias {9 months}

Elias Grey, you are NINE months old!!! 

What have you been up to???

 You are 28 inches long (50-75%) and 17lbs. 9 oz. (25-50%). You right in between what Liam and Liesl were at this age -- he was 18.10 and she was 16.5. You look so much bigger to me than they were, but it appears to be just a chubby cheek illusion. 

Sleep is the same and we love it that way. You go to bed at 7:30 and I wake you up at 7:15 if you haven’t already woken up yourself. You take a morning nap from 10-1 and an afternoon nap from 4-5ish. Your sleep routine is really quick and simple. You eat right before and then you get a diaper change, sound machine turned on, into your sleep sack, two songs, and your paci! That’s it! I watch you roll around in your crib and play with your two stuffed animals for a bit and then you roll onto your side and fall asleep. Occasionally we read a couple of books before your morning nap, but I tend to keep that for daytime because it doesn’t really calm you down, rather you get really excited about turning pages and banging on it.

You have grown a ton this month and I credit that to your intense love of FOOD! You eat three meals a day which usually includes baby food and a finger food of some kind. You love bananas, pancakes, scrambled eggs, black beans, tortillas, and strawberries. You nurse great in the mornings but daytime nursing has turned into such a pain! You get so distracted, I practically have to force you. And you are a biter. Not fun. You also get a bottle at bedtime and get either 6 or 8 oz. You will eat anything which is great and are such a joy during meal time giving us BIG goofy smiles. You get your love of food from both Mama and Daddy, sweet boy! 

You have always been a major mama's boy, but this month you have kicked it up a notch. You don't mind other people holding you as long as I'm around, but as soon as I leave your sightline you lose it. You also lose it when we're at home and I walk into another room. Even when you're happily sitting and playing or bouncing, you keep your eyes on me! 

I love that when I pick you up and rub and pat your back when you first wake up, and you will pat my back well! You also give us a BIG tight squeeze when we first pick you up.

If we make eye contact with you in the bouncer, you smile and starts bouncing super big.

You are LOUD! You have a voice and when you use it, the whole world knows. You like to yell when you are happy, and you really like to do it in public places.

You are saying “dada” “yaya” “lala” and what sounds like “hey.” I swear I also heard you say “ma” once but you haven’t said “mama” yet!

Your big brother and sister still think you can do no wrong. You did scratch Liesl's forehead and made her cry, but the very next day you were pulling her hair because she just can't stay away from you. They love to feed you bites, watch me bathe you, and help me get you out of your crib. Liam is getting more brave and has carried you across the room a time or two (under supervision). If I let one of them know you are watching them, they quickly start making all kinds of silly faces and noises to make you smile and laugh. AND every new thing you do, Liam insists he taught you. We just go with it and thank him for teaching you. :) 

Milestones

You got a second tooth! It officially popped through Tuesday, May 16^th and it is the bottom left right tooth, next to your first one. Your smile is so dang cute! 

You got your first haircut on Friday, May 19^th. You did great and looked so sweet afterward, although much too old for my liking. 

You celebrated your first Mother's Day! You gave me the cutest card, too. :) 

You are army crawling! You roll onto your side and push with one leg, and then roll back to your belly and pull with your arms. You are so, so close to actual crawling, so I don’t think this phase will last long. Between this and your barrel rolling, you can get your hands on anything you set your mind to. 

You have been trying so hard to pull yourself up to sitting from lying down and you are SO close! (This will now be a 10 month milestone because over the past few days you have figured it out!) 

Elias Grey, your smile lights up a room and all four of our hearts! We love our Eli Bear SO much! 

A Day At The Zoo!

Last weekend we took the kids to the zoo. The weather was perfect and we had nothing pressing on our agenda, so all signs pointed to a zoo day! The Dallas Zoo recently opened the Simmons Hippo Outpost and I've been itching to see it. The animals were all out, the big kids got to feed the giraffes, and no tantrums were thrown. All in all, a great day at the zoo! With Will traveling so much lately and Liam not able to do big outings during the week, a family day was much needed. 

Elias' First Haircut!

Elias Grey got his first haircut on Friday, May 12th at 8 months old!

 I loved his shaggy little locks but they were officially in his eyes, and he would always rub his eyes like it was bothering him. Plus, oh so much food would end up in his hair, ha! I've trimmed the back before, so we mainly got the top shorted up and the sides and back evened out with trimmers. He did AWESOME! Never cried, just chewed on the (clean) comb the stylist gave him. Actually, he chewed on the three combs she gave him throughout the haircut because he kept dropping them! 

This & That

Yesterday was our last school Monday! 

Liam is so ready for summer; we all are. Not because we are over Kindergarten (I'm actually incredibly sad about it and majorly moping), but Liam is excited to finally be able to call himself a real "first grader." Not having to set an alarm will be the highlight of my summer! 

We sat down the other day as a family and wrote out our summer bucket list! Liam had a lot of input this year, and he really had some great ideas. Liesl just shouted, "YES!" to everything we suggested, so I think sister is going to be jusssst fine. We have a couple big vacations planned, but it's always funny to hear them get so excited about the little things. It definitely helps take the pressure off when they squeal with excitement at the suggestion of picnic lunches at the park and a living room campout. 

Speaking of summer, Liesl is already on summer-time! She finished weekday school last Tuesday, and we wasted no time celebrating. 

We loved, loved Liesl's teachers this year! I worked with Ms. Lisa last year when I taught, and Ms. Samantha came in after me. Samantha and I are in the same Sunday School class and have known each other for years, and Liam also had Ms. Lisa back when he was two. So needless to say, I knew my girl was in loving hands all year! 

And for fun (or torture), First Day of school picture vs. Last Day picture. She doesn't look alllll that different, but her baby cheeks have slimmed down and her sandals are two sizes bigger now. 

As soon as she got out of school, we picked up lunch and went straight to the park to meet friends. Liesl made the sweetest little group of girlfriends this school year. We love getting them together and are crossing all our fingers and toes they will be together again next year! 

In the past, I have done an end-of-summer celebration with decorations and goodies on the last day of school, but since Liam and Liesl are on different school schedules, I decided to hold off until Liam gets out. This was the perfect afternoon to kick of her summer break! 

We did get in a few more front porch pics before the end of the year. Twirly dresses and Suzy doll had to make an appearance of course!

Elias was hanging out on his elephant mat sans clothes the other day, and it reminded me of a similar picture I had taken when he was brand new. He's even making a similar pose! I don't want to go back to that fussy infant, but it sure does hurt a little to see just how fast time flies by! 

I was up at Liam's school the other morning to help his class give their teacher her class gift. One of the other moms made the cutest Shutterfly book of pictures throughout the year and individual pictures of the kids inside saying what they each love about their teacher. Liam's said, "I love Mrs. Swann because she doesn't make us do work on Fridays." Such a Liam answer. They also gave her THIS shirt and she loved it! They make really cute TEACH tumblers and mugs as well as shirts by grade! I also get Liam's birthday number shirts here. (Not sponsored, they are just one of my go-tos!!!) It was so fun to watch the kids surprise her and how she oohed and aahed over it all. They are the sweetest bunch! And yes, that is a full size tent in their classroom. They had Camp K for a week and got to do fun camping activities like eating s'mores and dirt and worms and read inside their tent with their shoes off. It might have been the highlight of Liam's year!   

We have been going on lots of walks in the neighborhood and to the playground. We have to get it in now before it gets too hot. Not long from now our walks will be at 8am, and they will be directly to the pool! 

Last Friday we had a full night! We had dinner with friends at the same time Liam had a birthday party. It was the first time we've ever dropped him off at a birthday party, but it was for one of my best friend's little girl so I knew he was in great hands. And he had a BLAST! Liesl didn't have a bad time either, ha! I am so grateful for all the friends we've made who are in the same season of life as us. I know that can be really hard, especially if you don't live near family or anyone you know, and I try not take it for granted!

The birthday girl chose crowns as her template to paint, so they made Liam's a King's crown and he was thrilled! Pretty impressive paintings for 5 and 6 year olds, I think! 

On Saturday we headed to the zoo! The weather was perfect and it was actually not crowded at all. I think between a lot of schools going there on field trips right now and parents wanting to wait until summer break, not many people are choosing to go on the weekends. We renewed our membership and got to see the new Hippo habitat. More pictures to come! 

Sunday we went to church and the kids were all smiles!

And then Monday hit and strep came with it. Liesl had a fever and a headache so I took her in, and apparently strep is spreading like wildfire right now. I have no idea how or when she got it, but she's officially quarantined from her brothers until she's no longer contagious. Hopefully it's not too late! 

  

Happy Tuesday!