nine

Dear Liam,
    You are nine months old!  That pretty much means you've been on the 'outside' longer than you were on the 'inside!'  Pregnancy was l.o.n.g and I was so anxious to meet you.  Now that you're here, time FLIES.  Just in the past month you have changed so, so much.  Now you are mobile!  You can get where you want.  I wasn't call it the conventional 'crawl'...but you know how to get around and can even do it one-handed!  It's really hilarious, actually.  Since you can get everywhere now, you are also into EVERYTHING, busily discovering your world all day long.  You love to be standing up, you can cruise around furniture, and can sometimes pull yourself up from sitting.  This is cute, until I am trying to put you to bed - then you just want to practice and practice your moves and it's hard to lay down!  In the middle of the night, too, you sit yourself up and you are still half asleep wondering why you are sitting up!  Silly kid. You can say dada, mama, buh-buh, nuh-nuh...but I don't think any of them have meaning to you yet.

    You just get more and more fun, and change so fast I cherish every single day I have with you.  It's actually getting harder to leave you when I go to work.  You are fine with it, but mommy misses you too much.

    Your favorite things to play with are the TV remote, my phone, your play keys, balls of all sizes and recently you're into cars.  Such a boy.  You love to eat all fruits - even really sour ones.  Your favorite snacks are animal crackers and baby 'veggie cheetos.'  All the green stuff that's good for you isn't your favorite.  Just like your daddy.

    People always stop me in the store and tell me how handsome you are!  Yesterday at Walmart, a Mennonite lady eve rolled down her window in the car next to us as we were loading just to tell me what an adorable baby you are.  I totally agree!  You light up a room when you come in, and your smile is so contagious.  You love to laugh.  Grandpa Layne made you laugh harder than ever when he visited a week ago. You often laugh at Cache and of course when we find your ticklish spots!  You have also learned how to  fake cry and fake laugh.  So funny.

I love you more than you'll ever know.  Well, until you have your own babies...then maybe you'll know.  I don't know what me and your daddy would do without you.  You are the center of our world and we wouldn't want it any other way!

love you.
mama