Nine Months! Holy Moly!!!

Holy cow! You had your nine month birthday this past Monday...mama and daddy took off to spend the day with you! We went to the park with your Ma and Auntie and Kassidy! The weather was absolutely beautiful! You absolutely adore KassKass; you love Kendalyn too...but I think since Kassidy is so much smaller you feel extra close to her. You clap and laugh everytime she comes anywhere close to you! That love is definitely not one-sided though...she can not get enough of you either! She always says you are all the boy she needs, she is always picking out toys for you, and talks about you all the time! Kendalyn loves to play with you as well... Those girls love themselves some Lathan!!!!

We had nine month pictures/ Halloween pictures / family pictures in the pumpkin patch. I have only seen a few of them but from what I have seen...I LOVE!!!! You did great! Uncle Dave was in town so him and Sheena came to hang out and watch as well! I do not think it is possible to be any cuter than you already are... Everyone tells us that! :) We had pictures in your monkey costume and you were definitely less than thrilled...if looks could kill :) You eventually warmed up to the costume though; we will see how long it lasts on Halloween.

I took off work the day after your nine month birthday for your doctor's appointment as well! The appointment went really great; 19 lbs 5 ounces, and almost 30 inches long!!! You are not gaining weight but Dr. Parr was not too concerned with it; you are in the 35% for weight but 90% for height!!! You are so incredibly active that I think you are burning so many calories...he told us to just continue and feed you as much baby food as possible and really push the texturized foods. Lathan, you're quite dramatic though...anything that is not puréed, you act like you are choking to death and spit it out of your mouth as fast as possible! We will just continue to try! :) I do not want to be smashing you up fruit and carrots when you are 20 years old! :) You have recently started actually eating your "Puffs." You actually chew them up without a problem...in fact, you've gotten pretty good at picking them up yourself and you even fed daddy so e the other night! Such a big boy!!!! Dr. Parr was really impressed with your development...he said you have passed all your nine month milestones and even some twelve month ones as well! My genius baby! :) You had your flu shot done as well...oh I was so nervous! I always make your daddy be the bad guy...I was all ready to grab you up and comfort you afterwards but you never cried! As a matter of fact...you clapped for the nurse! Haha. So tough!!! :) Since this is the first time you have received a flu shot, you have to get a second dose in a month...I hope you do just as great with that one!

We have been pretty frustrated with your sleeping lately. We are so tired all the time because you still will not sleep through the night. You wake up to eat once or twice a night and sometimes you refuse to go back to sleep. You refuse to sleep in your crib, and you also refuse to go to sleep at a decent time. We try to start putting you to sleep around 830 but you fight it and are pretty spastic. It is exhausting!! We love you so much, but I definitely dread bedtimes. I just wish that we could go to sleep one night and get a good night's rest. Someday. Someday...we have to!

Mama has been having the hardest time with daycare lately...I am so mad that I have to go to work and I can not spend my days with you. It's getting harder and harder; I thought it should be getting easier. Nancy is great with you...but she is not your mama. I want to be there to cuddle you for every nap, I want to be there to kiss you every time you fall down, I want to be with you all the time. My mom stayed home with us growing up and we struggled financially...but I am realizing more and more that was the right thing to do. The materialistic items we have don't give me time with my baby like my mom had with us...we were poor but we were HAPPY! I had such an amazing childhood and I only hope that you look back someday and feel the same about yours...despite mama having to work. :( Just know that you are my entire world and I love you so so so so very much!!!

Well...you crawl all over the place, say dada all the time and mama (when you're sad or hungry), pull yourself up on EVERYTHING! In fact, sometimes you let go of whatever you are holding onto and just stand there for a few minutes before you fall on your cushioned little bottom. You give me a heart attack...but it never phases you! You being so mobile has allowed you to be even more of a messer! You pull things off the tables, throw anything you can get your little hands on... We have had to take down a lot of our picture frames and move anything fragile!

You love playing with your trucks...you sit there and push them around forever. Such a boy! It is just instinct for you to know that the trucks should be driven. You also will "drive" all your toys... everything becomes a car. You have a certain book that we just have to read to you every single day. You have your own little library, but the one you scream and cry for is the book "First Words," the free book we received from the pediatrician at your six month check up. It's just a book of random words: girl, boy, shirt, pants, socks, shoes, banana, leaf, etc etc. I know the reason you love the book is for the kitty cat that's at the end! You grab the book and kiss it...you pat it...and just get super excited! The next page is the doggie and you do the exact same thing! It's adorable! Sometimes when you are fussy, I'll just start saying those words and you immediately stop crying....even without the book!! Ha! So cute! Obviously, you love kitty cats...but you're also terrified of them at the same time!  We were at Ma and Poppy's house and they have Baxon; every time you see him you SHRIEK with excitement!  You try to jump off of our laps to get him!  The other day, I leaned down with you so you could pet him and you were not too excited to actually get to touch him....haha.  In fact, you will crawl as fast as you can to get him...and then just FREEZE!  Eventually, you just crawled around him and went to their cat statue instead.  Ma says you are a genius baby!  (Duh!) She says the fact that you can put two and two together that Baxon and the cat statue are both kitty cats, even though they look so different, is very impressive.  GENUIUS!!! :)

I scheduled your nine month pictures / Halloween pictures for next weekend... I can not wait to see you in your little monkey costume!  You are so cute in everything that you wear...but you are ESPECIALLY cute as mama and daddy's little monkey!   

I might have ordered some stuff for your first birthday today....haha.  I am absolutely ridiculous!  You aren't even nine months yet.  We won't tell your daddy! :)

Your daddy celebrated his 30th birthday on the 5th... What an old man! :) It was a calm night at home... We went to dinner at the Topeka Steakhouse and then just came home and relaxed. We celebrated with my family that Sunday; your Poppy made chili and we had cake and presents. We bought him a new phone... As much as he loves you, he needed a phone he could keep videos and pictures on. Now he gets to show all the guys he works with all the adorable stuff you do!!

You continue to sleep in between daddy and I... you are like a little magnet!  You have to be right up against him or me... you do not like to just sleep in the middle...you basically like to be right on top of us.  I love cuddling with you though...I know that I do not have too much more time with you as a little cuddle bug.  You are just growing up so fast... although I love all the new stages you are reaching and milestones you are passing....I know that I will blink and one day you will be grown.