Brooks William {9 months old}

Our sweet Brooks William is 9 months old! 

His 9-month stats are:

Just shy of 20 lbs (30th percentile)

29 inches (75th percentile)

He has SIX teeth, all of which came in within a week of each other about 3 weeks ago.  It was a miserable week! He is such a champ, though.  We went through zero baby tylenol or any other over-the-counter pain relief.  He nursed A LOT, took a lot of cat naps, gnawed on raw carrots and celery, and enjoyed some clove oil on his gums.  We're pretty regular users of lavender oil as well, which I think helped facilitate the resting we did.  I didn't do much besides tend to him, but that's what mommies are for, right?  I'm catching up on laundry and housework now that his big smile is back and full of new pearly whites.

 His favorite things in the world are:

His brothers

Balls

Singing

Food

Nursing

Snuggles

Smiles

Swings

 When I did his six month update, I wrote he had showed no interest in crawling.  Less than a week later he surprised me by taking off!  He's always on the move and can get himself into all sorts of mischief... he thinks its HILARIOUS to knock down towers recently built by his brothers, eat their legos, and chew on their wii u game pad cable.  He adores being one of the boys. 

 Somehow, we got another talker.  Just like his older brothers, he is so eager to communicate! He will try to say anything you ask him to-- including words that amaze us like "airplane," and "please."  He strung his first two word sentence this past week-- "bye bye da dee."   

 His personality continues to delight! He's the most smiley person I know and it's just plain contagious.  He loves other people, especially other kids and babies.  I'm still his favorite though :) He will gladly go to someone else for a quick hug and a smile, maybe even a kiss if you're lucky, and then he's ready to be back in his mama's arms!  I really can't complain.  I know it won't last forever so I try to soak in the snuggles as much as possible.  Plus-- I have no real need to do much in the way of upper-body workouts so long as I tote him around for a good chunk of the day! Win-win-win.

Brooks William-- you are LOVED.  My heart is so full of hope and dreams for you and your precious life! One of my favorite prayers for you is from Paul's first letter to Timothy: "But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith." I am so thankful to be your mama and for the privilege of watching you as you learn and grow! xoxoxoxo