Nine Months

After slinging mulch, selling off whatever we could deem non-essential, endless resume updates and peanut-butter-lunches, I can now breath a little easier as one who is gainfully employed. And so after proudly clicking the X on page after page of job listings, I can revisit much more fulfilling internet endeavors like updating our family’s little corner of the internet.

These past few months, it’s taken much of my mental capacity to stay positive and squirrel away every penny we could spare to make sure the boys don’t feel the pinch. And now that Noah is nine-months-old, relief couldn’t have come sooner because that capacity is now focused on keeping up with his explosion of determined energy.

For several weeks, you could see his frustration with wanting to move and not quite having the muscular coordination. Thinking back (through the fog of sleep deprivation) it seems like there was a day or two of holding himself up on all fours screaming at the floor, a day or two of “Kendall, come quick, I think he’s going to crawl”, and then, “where’s Noah?” Now it seems that he only wanted to crawl to get to something tall enough to pull himself up.

In the evenings, one of us prepares dinner while the other plays with the boys in the room next to the kitchen. More than once I’ve paused in the doorway, William running all over the room, climbing on chairs and tables to shout, “watch this!”, and Noah is standing at the toy cubby or the train table, toys scattered around his feet, and I ask Kendall, “Is he supposed to be doing this already?” With his determination I fear the first steps cannot be far. I’m thrilled, but his drive is only matched by his curiosity and if there’s anything we haven’t yet baby proofed, he will find it.

His monthly photo sessions have been pretty calm to this point. But for the Nine Month session, he was not interested in posing from the crib. All I could do is follow him around to take pictures and move his nine month sticker from his tummy to his back. Noah is on the move.