.nine months.

5.25.2017

Nine Months

Axel loves to walk, but he can't quite do it by himself yet...consistently anyway. So he needs help, but he only wants the minimum amount of help--he refuses to hold both of my hands when we are walking! I predict that he will be walking this month.

He is getting really good at standing on his own. He'll pull himself up to something and then let go and stand for a few seconds and then very gently sit himself back down.

He gets into EVERYTHING! Nothing is safe with Axel around. He's my little explorer! He pulled out all the toys and movies from off the shelf and tried to climb inside, because he just wants to see and explore it all. He also likes to climb things. He's getting really good at climbing over our legs or Mo if we are in his way and he has climbed onto the dishwasher door, he has tried climbing up the front of the stove (grabbing the handle and stepping up onto the warming rack) and he tries to climb onto the railing.

His third tooth came in on April 27 and his fourth tooth came in on May 16. They are both bottom teeth. His tooth on the far left side has grown much taller than the others and it is so funny when he smiles and talks (which happens pretty much all the time) to see the one tooth so clearly! 

He is such a Mama's boy! Which I love!!! But sometimes it makes things really difficult. I feel so guilty when I need two hands and can't hold him when he wants me to. Or when I hand him to someone else so that I can finish something I need to get done and he cries and cries, like I have just totally betrayed him!

He gives the best hugs! I love when he wraps his little arms around me, and the way he nuzzles into me. It doesn't happen very often, but man, it's so sweet when it does!

Axel gets slap happy, like his sisters. It's so funny! It's easiest to get him to laugh when he is tired and his dad is really good at getting him to laugh!

Axel loves Mo! We went camping one weekend, and even though we took Mo with us, when we got home Axel was so excited to see Mo. It was like he was just so happy to have his buddy back in familiar surroundings! He followed Mo everywhere he went and grabbed his ears and gave him kisses and laughed, and Mo would either lick Axel, or try to move away from him and Axel would just laugh and chase him and do it all over again. It was pretty funny! He really does like Mo, and I think Mo likes him, too!

Axel learned how to drink from a straw this month! He's so funny, though! He will take a couple sips from the straw and do really well, but then it just becomes a game. He sips from the straw, but he is not really thirsty, so he just spits out whatever is in his mouth. It's kind of funny...kind of not. It makes me a little nervous for when all of his liquids come from a cup.

Axel is 30 inches long (95%) and 19.2 pounds (30%). He is tall and skinny, probably because he is always moving and as much as he likes eating, he looses interest pretty quickly...he has places to go!!

He's so crazy and so busy, and we love him SO much!

{5.21.17 - 5.28.17}

Axel is wearing out the toes of (almost) all of his jammies. I love it. I also love that I have a picture of Lyla very similar to this one! 

He is just so darn cute I can't even handle it! I guess I might be a little biased, though. 

We gave him some burrito fixins and to say he thought it was delicious would be an understatement. Little man loves his food!! 

I wish my phone took better pictures, but I love these checkup pics! Axel turned 9 months! 

Axel, Alya and Lyla. 

We spent the weekend camping with some friends and had a lot of fun! Lyla wanted to "just take a little rest" in this blanket everyday.  

We walked to a little creek and of course I made the girls pose for me. I promised them I only wanted one picture...at least five pictures later I got this shot! Haha! 

Axel loved camping! He slept pretty well...it probably helped that he was snuggled next to me all night...and he thought crawling (and walking) around in the dirt was the best.  

This is Alya's attitude everytime I tell her I want a picture! // Lyla always finds the flowers! 

Flower necklaces! (Alya) 

We had a beautiful spot! They were doing a prescribed burn on the mountain next to us and I thought the smoke coming off the hills looked beautiful! 

My cute little man posing on top of a rock! He was so nice to sit there for me! 

I love Alya's little belly! // We spent a day fishing...or trying to fish anyway! Getting soaking wet and, of course, catching crawdads were the girls' favorite parts! 

The other mom that was with us introduced the kids to "flower painting." The girls thought that was pretty cool and Lyla is so interested in how the Indians (Native Americans?) used flowers to make paint! (pictured: Alya) // Lyla spent the whole weekend trying desperately to catch a butterfly. She settled for this moth! 

Fishing buddies.

{5.15.17 - 5.21.17}

The girls took a really long bath and their hands looked like this for the rest of the night! 

My little climber. He thinks he's so funny!

He is getting so big. I swear he is going to be walking before I know it! 

Alya riding Dallas. She loves this horse! Before we leave the house, she kisses him goodbye and then greets him when she gets home. // Lyla is the best little helper! She loves to help weed the garden. 

When you have big sisters.

{5.8.17 - 5.14.17}

For Mother's Day I forced the kids to take a picture with me! 

We walked him to sleep! 

Lyla - so cute! // Axel - also cute! 

Matchy, matchy!

{5.1.17 - 5.7.17}

Look how cute these little feet all intertwined are! I caught her eating breakfast like this.

I am so happy that it's warming up! Park days are the best! 

And with the warmer weather, comes afternoons and evenings playing in the backyard! Lyla looks magical surrounded by bubbles! 

When you need two hands for crawling, the best place for your toys is obviously in your mouth! // My girls used to love this broken part of the railing, too! 

I had a girls weekend with two of my best friends! It was very nice and very much needed! 

While I was gone on my girls weekend, the girls made me a birthday present. They love cutting and they are getting pretty good at it!

{4.24.17 - 4.30.17}

"Ooh Ha Ha Ha! I'm a ghost!" -Alya 

Dad was working out of town last week so the kids and I went to visit a good friend of mine. She took us to a cute little spot near her house and the girls had so much fun running around this little reservoir and playing on the "beach" in the rain! 

They are kind of hard to see, but here are Axel's first two teeth.  

Alya and Axel. I love that my girls love their brother...even though sometimes Lyla tells me she actually wants a baby sister.  (Notice Lyla hiding under Axel's crib. She wants everything to become her tent lately, so any sort of shelter she can find, whether it's a blanket spread over or between the couches, or the space underneath brother's bed, she claims it as her own.)

I taught the girls how to play hopscotch. Lyla loved it, and played over and over! My favorite was when she practiced hopping onto one foot!

.eight months.

4.25.2017

Eight months.

On March 29, just four days after he turned seven months, Axel started crawling. It was a very clumsy little crawl, but he was determined! He would crawl to within an arms length of whatever he wanted and then stretch his little body out to get to it. For a while he tried to randomly crawl around with straight legs, instead of on his knees. Now he is very good at crawling and goes all over the house. For a while he would crawl no more than about five feet away from me, play for a minute, and then crawl back to me. He would do that over and over until he just wanted me to hold him again. Now he'll go to where he can't see me and play until it's almost as if he's forgotten I'm even there. Sometimes when he hears my voice or catches a glimpse of me it's like he remembers that he needs me so he starts to fuss and crawls to wherever I am. He is really good at entertaining himself, which is good and bad. We have to keep a close watch on this boy, because he is fast! He will find any little piece of lint or play dough that survived the vacuum and the first place it goes is in his mouth. I am really looking forward to getting rid of some of our carpet!

It took him a little while, but he is really good at getting himself back into a sitting position.

He wants to touch and chew on EVERYTHING. He's especially interested in the things that he shouldn't be playing with, like the outlet covers, or cords plugged into the wall, or the speakers/CD player and the remote. The girls love when he plays with the remote...especially when they are trying to watch a show! Haha! (I hope you can sense my sarcasm!)

For a while he was sick of his purees. He preferred finger foods, but mostly just wanted to play with them at first. Even now, he seems to get bored of eating after a couple of minutes. But he eats pretty much anything we put in front of him. His favorite is still pears and he likes real green beans. (Not the pureed stuff.) He also really likes graham crackers and anything he can squish in his little fist.

Now that Axel is in his own room he is sleeping great! He naps 2 full naps a day and usually takes a catnap in the afternoon. He is down to nursing 3 times a day with his bedtime bottle at night.

Axel pulls himself up to everything, and now he is starting to just hold on with one hand and turn his body around while he's standing. He's also starting to do "no hands" while he lowers himself back to the ground. He will walk along the furniture until he gets himself into a predicament, like when the couch ends, or there is something like a piece of furniture blocking his route. Sometimes he gets mad, other times he just lowers himself to the ground and finds something to chew on. Haha! He likes to balance on his knees. He'll crawl to a toy and then just push back on his knees and kneel there while he plays for a minute. It's pretty cute.

We celebrated Axel's first Easter this month! He obviously didn't know what was going on, but it's always so fun to celebrate holidays with new babies, and even older babies! My girls really enjoyed decorating Easter eggs and having the Easter Bunny visit!

Axel got his first tooth - the bottom right on April 15 and his second tooth - the bottom left on April 22. My mothers intuition told me he might be getting teeth, but I honestly didn't know he was getting teeth until I saw them. He was never excessively grumpy, he continued to sleep well. There were no indications. He's such a happy little baby!

Axel's other new trick is to climb the stairs. I am really going to have to watch this kid! He's so busy and not really afraid of anything! He sometimes gets distracted while he's climbing, so he sits on the stair and tries to twist around, and when he does that he always falls. Obviously I'm not going to leave him alone while he crawls up the stairs anyway, but we definitely have to be right with him so he doesn't roll down.

Lyla has been calling him "Ax" lately! It's so funny!

"Ax" you are my happy, smiley, funny little Mama's boy! I love when you jabber and squeal and say "mama!." I love the way you smile at me when you see me! I love how much it annoys your sisters when you slobber on all their toys (at least that's what they accuse you of when you even so much as look in the direction of a special toy). I love all the happy sounds you make and I love watching you learn and try new things! You are amazing!

Happy eight months! I love you!!