9 Months in, 9 Months Out.

 I still can't believe this precious boy is 9 months old. When I think about the road to get where we are now, I still can't decide if it was painfully long or if I blinked and had my baby. It's funny how slow time goes sometimes and how quickly it goes other times.

Bear! You are 9 months old. I said I would celebrate big when you were out as long as you were in, but it turns out I just drank a glass or 2 of wine like I do every night now. This month you were sick almost all of the month. You had croup, 2 ear infections, and I think you had some type of fever more days this month than not. You handled it like champ, and fought hard to be as normal as possible.  

This month we adjusted to Daddy working *all the time* again. You miss dude time for sure. We're trying to get back into the groove of Mommy handling most of the home load (which is now way harder than it was when we just had your older sisters), and I don't know if it's that, or having a new nanny, or being so sick this month, or what, but you've become even more in love with me. You've started crying when I hand you off to the nanny which breaks my heart every day. Now I spend the first 30 minutes of work contemplating whether I should go back to part time after making you cry. You are SO DING DARN close to saying "Mama" which you only say when you are being extra pathetic and needy and want it known that you need Mama RIGHT THIS MINUTE. I cannot wait to hear you say Mama. It will make the sting of you growing so big, so fast a little less.  

 You are in size 4 diapers and mostly 12-18 month clothing now. You love to speed crawl, climb up stairs, pull up, and loudly yell while frantically crawling towards me. You would love nothing more than to dive headfirst down the stairs, and I swear you have a special sounding crawl when you are making a dash towards the stairs. You haven't fallen down yet (but have been rescued a few times within seconds of disaster), but we have to watch you closely and make sure doors are closed at all times. A few times this month you have stood independently for a few seconds. You don't seem impressed by this. Sometimes you walk with your baby walker, though you seem to value the speed in which you can now crawl more than trying to learn a new thing (walking), though. 

You LOVE meat and would love nothing more than to eat meat for every meal. We buy you a rotisserie chicken every week. You also love cheeseburger patties from McDonalds, meatballs, and meatloaf. You also like most fruit. You love baby puffs and Mum-Mums. When you see Daddy eating, you smack your lips together so he knows you want some, too. You only do it for him (probably because you know I always share--he's more of a wildcard). You still love to nurse, and now wake up multiple times a night to do so. I miss when you used to sleep all night! 

You love your sisters and love to play with them. It's so cute watching you play together. I remember when I worried how having 3 would work with your age span. It's working beautifully and I have absolutely no complaints on the timing of our family. You also love your animals. You make clucking sounds when you see the cats. You spend a great deal of time each day crawling all over Ollie. You need several reminders everyday to not chew on Ollie's ear. Ollie is an absolute saint and tolerates anything you do (though of course we watch you carefully and are teaching you to treat Ollie with respect--NO EAR CHEWING!). You share your food with Ollie, which I'm sure Ollie appreciates (especially due to the large amounts of meat you eat!). 

You also love to help. The second the dishwasher opens, you are there in a flash to "help". Same with the washing machine/dryer. Whenever anyone has anything new out, you are there to explore and help. You pick up the remote, point it towards the TV and push buttons. You pick up the phone and pretend to talk into it. You are very impressed with yourself when you do these things. So are we.  

You are now ready for your nap--I still hold you--but the nanny is putting you in the crib. Time to end this. Love you SO MUCH!

January Phone Photo Dump

 There has never been a boy who loves his dog more than Teddy. Teddy seeks him out often to climb all over and cuddle with. Ollie isn't the biggest fan of this (he's obviously always preferred Chris and I to the kids--though he clearly still loves them fiercely), but Ollie tolerates it like an absolute champ because he knows Teddy will share all his food with him. Obviously we encourage Teddy to be gentle and watch them carefully while they are together. 

 Juliet lost BOTH front teeth. I equal parts love this look and hate that in a few short months she will have a complete set of big person teeth, and will never quite look the same again. 

 One the snow day Leah and Juliet went out to clear the patio for Ollie. Teddy thought it was great fun to watch them shovel. They both earned $1 and a hot chocolate with "the works" (whipped cream, marshmallows, and chocolate sauce) for their hard work.

 Juliet was inspired by the "Chagall Windows" in Chicago. She made her own from the insert in Teddy's new dock-a-tot. 

 We had a big play date complete with cookie making and decorating that the kids did 97% completely on their own. 

 We did a big Ninja Warrior event with Leah's Girl Scout troop in Livonia. It was a lot of fun. 

After we went to the doctor for the 423 time this month, Teddy and I went to McDonalds so I could get an egg and cheese sandwich (my favorite!). I got him a kid cheeseburger and he ate the ENTIRE patty. 

 Waking up is hard. We've been trying to teach Leah to be more cuddly in the morning. So far it's working a little bit. Nothing I love more than cuddling my sleeping/sleepy children (see evidence below). 

 We did another field trip to the Apple Store. The girls coded. They had fun, but both my kids hit the sick wall on the way home and fell asleep. Chris ended up taking Juliet to urgent care at like 8 that night.  

 Bear got a walker as a treat for having croupe. He likes it a lot and does some great walking while using it!  

 Just lookin' cute after a bath. 

 Cousin make-up session! 

Great Wolf Lodge

 We had our second annual trip to Great Wolf. Last year I commented that I would never want to be there with a baby. Then I had the best baby ever and changed my mind. We had to reschedule a bit due to Teddy's croupe. But were able to go and had a good time. 

 Some of the kids weren't as impressed with the lobby show as they were last year. The adults, like last year, were in complete awe of the animatronic forest creatures. 

 Chris and Tim took their glamorous pool/swimsuit modeling shot again. #winning. 

Why Does January Always Suck?

 Well, after thinking this January couldn't be any worse than last January, fate set out to prove us wrong. 1 hour into the new year, Teddy woke up burning up and coughing like a seal. It was a LLOONNGG night as we tried to give him medicine, get him cool, and make him as comfortable as possible. His breathing was so loud and scary sounding. At 2 am he had the first doctor appointment of the day at Urgent Care. I was  reminded of when Leah got a high temperature and we rushed her into the ER at 3 AM when she was about the same age as I drove Teddy in the next morning. He had a bad case of croupe. He needed steroids and a breathing treatment. They weren't happy with his breathing even after the breathing treatment, so they sent us home with our own machine.

We watched Teddy carefully that day. The next night I was watching his oxygen level on his Owlet and was very bothered by how much lower his oxygen readings were than they typically are. I put him on me chest to chest (he cried if he was put down and needed to sleep pretty much vertically due to his congestion) and I tried to sleep, while waking up often to check on him and his oxygen level. In the middle of the night I put him down to use the bathroom. He rolled onto his stomach and within a minute the alarm went off. Save for one false alarm the very first time we tried to use it, we've never heard the alarm. It was so scary. He was slow to wake up, which he almost never is. He's usually very perky and eager to play (even at 3 AM). We gave him a breathing treatment and he was just letting the treatment happen and not fighting with it at all, which didn't happen any of the other times. The treatment worked, and by the time we all went back to sleep his oxygen level had rose back to normal levels. I could kiss the Owlet. That monitor has greatly helped my mental health and credit it with giving the ability to sleep again. It's likely that Bear would have been okay without the monitor. Maybe it was too sensitive or whatever. But what if he wasn't? It had never gone off before and gave consistent low readings all night.

2 days after the croupe, Juliet came down with a fever. Then Leah. Then strep for Leah. Then another fever for Juliet. Then Bear got a ear infection along with a 102 temperature. Then ANOTHER ear infection with a 103 temperature the DAY after finishing antibiotics from the last ear infection. Then Leah got a 102 temperature again along with another sore throat. Now Juliet is complaining about her stomach.

So, yeah, I think last time I counted we had made 12 trips to the Doctor in January between well visits, urgent care visits, follow up visits, and office visits for sickness. Between Juliet, Leah, and I we have missed so much school this month. January sucks. 

Bearsey Boy's Professional Pictures

 Around Christmas I realized that I hadn't had professional pictures taken of just Bear since his newborn session. This age is one of my favorites. Luckily a photographer was able to get us in a few days later. 

 Here he is modeling a Matilda Jane romper. The girls seem to prefer athletic wear over most of their MJ (TEARS!--But I am hoping the dresses make a comeback this summer). I knew I needed to make sure Bear got a bit of my past obsession, too. 

 I love his little smirky look when he is crawling around. 

 His rolls. Rolls and rolls. I curse myself often that I never had near nakie pictures of Leah done at this same age. Her legs were so cute and rolly and were maybe even a bit more delicious than Teddy's. 

 Bear thinks everything belongs in his mouth. If he is unsure, he will pop it in and give it a try. 

 The photographer recommended this Bear hat, and it was a solid recommendation. Bear looks great!

 I'm not someone who overly looks for her own features in their kids. But I see a lot of baby me in the picture below. 

 Teddy was tiring of the session at this point, so I was blowing raspberries on his stomach. Always makes him smile. 

 We did nakie shots at the end. 

 Bear was a good sport until he decided that the "drop me off in the middle of a set and run away and try to get me to smile" game was NO fun any longer and he just wanted Mama. How could I say no to this sweet face? Session complete. I think we got some real winners! 

Christmas

 Our family tradition is that the kids can open their presents from each other after dinner on Christmas Eve. They look forward to it all day and have SO MUCH FUN picking out presents for each other. It's super sweet to see. 

 Teddy took his time with his presents. He really enjoyed the wrapping paper. He had been trying to bang on the presents and open them for weeks. He wasn't sure what to do now that he finally had the opportunity to open them without being stopped. 

 Bright and early (but not too early--like 8:30), these guys were up and ready to go!

 I had Teddy's stocking embroidered, but took Leah's so they could match the thread and font. I thought we could pick them up on Saturday, December 22. THEY WERE CLOSED UNTIL JANUARY 6th! My bad! That place isn't open on weekends, and, of course, Leah was totally devastated that he stocking was gone for Christmas.  Luckily, we had the ones my mom made Chris and I years ago, and my old stocking from when I was a baby. They were bigger than the other ones, so Leah slowly came around to using them. Juliet decided she didn't want to be stuck with a smaller stocking, so she used one, too. 

 Big winners this year were: Books (of course, for Leah), Herminone costume (Juliet), make-up (Leah and Juliet),  new clothes (Leah and Juliet), and food truck (Teddy).