Zeke is 9 months old

NINE months old! How in the world????

• I feel like I could just link to Mae's 9 month post and say "he's doing ALL the same stuff" because he pretty much is! He has so much more hair than any of the other kids did at this age.

• Zeke's 9 month check up is next week, but I am guessing he's easily over 20 lbs....maybe 22? 
• He's in a size 4 diaper and 12 mo clothes.

• His naps are almost always 1.5 hours long now, which is great. He is up around 7, but sometimes I have to wake him up by 7:30. He naps around 9 until 10:30, then again at 1:30-3. He may fuss a few minutes before going to sleep, but it's pretty much easy now (YAY!). Bedtime is around 7 and he almost always falls asleep nursing still. 
• Night sleep was pretty good for the last month. He would wake once around 3-4, but the last few nights he woke around midnight and again early morning. I'm sure some sleep training would fix that, but with moving soon, I think that will disrupt anyway, so I'm just not going to put any effort into it now. I can feed him for 10-15 minutes and be back in bed and asleep quickly.
• He continues to nurse well in the morning, after naps, and at bedtime, then when he wakes at night. 

• Zeke still LOVES to eat. I have added breakfast here and there and hope to get it added daily in the next month. His favorite food is probably bananas. He starts kicking and squealing when I'm peeling it and lunges after it if I'm too slow. He also likes chicken, roast, chili, green beans, black beans, diced grapes, diced blueberries, bits of cheese, crackers, and much more. Here's a video of Zeke eating (and playing). 
• Zeke still doesn't have any teeth! Arabelle and Bo cut their first teeth in their 6th month and Mae was in her 10th month, so he should get some teeth soon. 
• He started bathing in our bathtub without the infant seat and is doing okay with that. Of course, he keeps trying to stand up or pull the drain plug, so he is also learning what "no" means. :)

• Zeke is such a busy boy! He is all over the place, eating anything he finds on the floor, pulling up, letting go and standing alone for a few seconds, cruising along the furniture....just all over! Here he is showing some of his skills. 
• He is doing really well with independent playtime in the play pen. He still fusses for about 5 seconds when I put him in and leave the room, then he's fine. He likes to throw the toys out now. Ha! 
• Zeke woke up from a nap recently and I found him like this....one arm out. Ha! He seemed so confused. A couple of days later, he did it again. 

• He has learned to clap, bounce up and down to music, and will wave bye-bye. He is such a squealer too! 
• I have always said that 9-12 mo is my favorite baby stage and I know why now! Zeke is SO fun! He will mimic what we do. We had company over one afternoon and the other mom was holding Mae upside down. I was holding Zeke and he starts leaning over to the side for me to flip him over. When I did, he laughed and giggled so much!
• Arabelle thinks Zeke is her little toy doll sometimes. 

Zeke is such a fun and easy going baby......we love him so much! 

Mae-isms

Mae is so funny these days. I guess all 2.5 year olds are pretty entertaining!

See?

• Every now and then, Mae will want to hold Zeke. Let's just say he isn't a willing participant, so she ends up squeezing him and wrestling him for some love. While he's fighting back, she will put her face to his cheek and say, "Awwww!". Here's a video of Mae holding Zeke for some cuddles. 

• She still calls herself "Nae" and says "loo loo" for "little". 
• I love how all of my kids have talked when they were two. I try to video them a lot because their voices are always so sweet sounding. Here's a video of Mae singing and talking.
•  Of course, all two year olds like to change their mind, often and have very strong opinions. "Do you want this?" "NO!!!!" and 1 second later, "Give it to me!!!!". Whew! 

• She also still thinks that if she can't see you, you can't see her. I LOVE his phase and we have a lot of fun with it. :)

• I can't get over how big and sweet Mae is! 

Mini Moments

I'm so behind....AGAIN! Things have been a little crazy. Last weekend, I had an awful cold and non stop coughing, then woke up on Sunday morning with mastitis. Thanks to Mamaw, Papaw, and Sambo, the kids had a fun day and I rested a lot and then our awesome baby sitter helped me on Monday and Tuesday (note to self, do not try to have 4 kids alone when you're still sick....Monday evening was ROUGH!). 

We have been doing school between packing here and there. Hopefully the move is later this week!

Here's a little of what we've been up to:

Bo likes to help with laundry and shut himself in the dryer. I think I have a picture of him in there as a young toddler. 

Mae likes to wear 'footie PJs' like Zeke. :)

Zeke's hair is pretty fun after a bath. This reminds me of a hairstyle of Aunt Dawn's that's on the wall at Grandpa and Grandma's. Haha!

Two Wednesdays ago, the kids came home with these mugs that said 'Jesus Love' and each had their name. The girls had colored their's and drawn flowers, etc. Bo simply corrected the statement and wrote "Jesus Loves Everyone". Cracked me up!

Some mornings I get on up and put supper in the crock pot early, before the kids are all going. One morning Mae was peeling an onion before 7am. Thought that was funny and she did a good job!

I drove Mae to preschool one day when Jared had to work out of town, so we obviously HAD to go early and have a doughnut for breakfast. :)

One night we were popping popcorn on the stove and Mae realized she could see herself in the reflection on the pot. She was making the funniest faces at herself!

Dirt mountain beside the new house!

Monday afternoon, I went about 6 hours without a fever, so I assumed I was better, then Monday night it spiked again and I was left with no child care help on Tue morning. Fortunately, Mae's preschool allowed her to stay that day, even though it wasn't her usual day. She just HAD to help me eat a few Cherrios before she left. Another hint....if a man shows up at preschool with a baby and toddler and asks them to PLEASE take the toddler, they will. :)

Arabelle and Bo were SO helpful on Tuesday! My goal was to stay in bed and rest (I'm bad at that) the entire time that Zeke napped, so they took turns reading to me while the other did chores. Arabelle cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom and Bo used Mae's shopping cart to collect all the dirty clothes and started a load for me (with lots of verbal instructions). Arabelle also folded some clothes and Bo helped change the sheets later.

I also remembered KhanAcademy.org for some math!

One day Zeke took a really long nap and I had to wake him up. He was so sweet looking that I had to get a picture. :)

I was better enough by Wednesday to go to the store for groceries because we were LOW on everything. I rarely take all 4, especially at lunch time, but it had to be done. They did really well, except I caught Mae eating the grapes out of the bags. She just said, "But I hungry!". Ha! Never mind that I had packed her a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich that she had in the car with her milk before shopping.

Also......

Thursday was a rainy day, so we did an umbrella craft.

Then we had to have a picnic lunch on the floor because......

The nomads had taken over the dining room:

We got out that afternoon to enjoy the puddles one last time before we move. Mae can finally pedal her tricycle! Here's a short video.

 Bo really enjoyed riding his bike through the puddles this time. Here's a few videos of them in action:
#1,
#2, Bo is always crashing his bike into stuff. I wish I had a video of him hitting the neighbor's trash can because we all saw in coming and it still happened.
#3 Arabelle loves riding through the puddles too

Arabelle also made a video of me jumping in the puddles and she narrated, but I'm saving myself the embarrassment.

Now it's boxes and packing for the week!