Dear Declan! You're 9 Months ALREADY!!

My Dearest Declan!

You're 9 months old today!!  You have been with us in this world as long as you were in my belly and that is so amazing to me! This nine months went faster than being pregnant and was a whole lot more fun (and comfortable!!)

2014 has been a lot of fun so far!  We ice fished, spent weekends with Grandma and Auntie, and went to a fun baby shower celebrating Baby Purkat!  You aren't the only baby on the Thrall side anymore as cousin Luke was born and soon Jen & Corey's Baby P will be here in April!  My bet is on a baby girl Purkat!  We also went to 3M bowling fun day with Albrechts and Schwedlers.

Dad has been back on straight days since mid-Jan and that has been wonderful for me, as he does morning drop off at Jessica's and I get to see the smiley guy for pick up!  But Dad has tons of fun getting your diaper changed and getting your dressed in the morning. You love rolling all over and finding toys.  

You eat a ton!  I thought you would eat less often eating more adult food now, but now you are just eating or drinking milk all the time!  You love food full of flavor and have been eating lots of protein now!  

We have baby proofed our house as you have discovered cupboards, Croix's waterbowl and our swinging door block of poker chips fell on your hand once :(  

Age: 9 months    (Dr. Appt. Mon 17th!  First St. Patrick's Day for my little Irish boy!) 

Weight:  Guessing.. 21lb      Way off... as always with weight.... 18 lb 11 oz

Length: 28 inches                Closer... 28 1/2"
Head:  18 inches                  RIGHT ON!  18"

Feats/Mobility: You are back to being a great sleeper!  Thank You! You are officially crawling on all fours, though somethings you still army crawl or stick out a back leg in half the splits.  You pull yourself up on things pretty quickly too!  You love jumping with us or in your doorway jumper (The bouncy house at Talan's birthday was a little scary at first but you liked it better as day went on!)  

Likes:  Mom... You get more nervous when Dad or me (but especially me) are not in your sight   You read books alone and give them to us now.  Balls and Balloons!  You still LOVE dogs... this weekend we have Brockway and Fin with us!  

Dislikes: Getting into your carseat still causes a small scene. The word NO and taking you away from dangerous things gets a tantrum from you.   

We are off to Myrtle Beach with both families in two weeks! You'll have your first plane ride and see the ocean and eat lots of seafood with us! (And we'll be away from winter and hope to come back to true MN spring!)

Love you through and through,

Mom

From your daddy:  I've been too silent on all of mommy's blogs.  You have grown up way too quickly and I never realized how fast the time flies by.  Every day, I can't wait to see what you will be up to or get into.  Each morning, the first smile on your face when I come in your room is the best start to any day I could ask for.  Watching you play with toys and trying to figure out what you are thinking is one of the great mysteries.  

Now that you've started crawling, you've added new surprises to what I need to be expecting.  You've shown up in the bathroom while I'm getting ready.  I've found you pulling candy out of the pantry (at least you haven't figured out how to unwrap it yet) and you've even tried to get out of the back door.  As you've grown older, I've thought of putting one of the cats' collars on you.  The truth in parenting is so accurate...silence is such a danger, if I can't hear you, you probably are doing something you shouldn't be.  

Being able to spend more time with you since getting back to a normal day job has been one of the greatest joys.  You've been the wallpaper on my computer and I love getting new pictures of you to share.  At times, the job gets very stressful but all I have to do is take a step back, close some programs and spend a minute looking at my little boy and everything else melts away.  

I dread nap times and every evening as 7:30 rolls around because it means I have to let you sleep and I don't get to spend more time with you.  But you wake up soon enough and your smile captures my heart again!

Love you Munchkin Man~ Daddy