Well hello there, November 11th. You kind of snuck up on us, and all of the sudden our baby is 9 months old! Of course, we celebrated with not one, but two photo shoots today. Will was not really feeling the first one, although he was dressed up like a spiffy little man, so we took some more pictures after his afternoon nap, with much more success. Here he is, Mr. 9 months!
Possibly the reason photo shoot #1 didn't go well was that I took this hanger away. He was pretty darn happy when he was chewing on it.
And here's the best shot with the bear.
Dapper? Check.
Startled? Perhaps.
Protective of the bear? Yes.
Cute? Always.
Standing is much better than sitting, mom. Geez!
Post-nap and much happier!
Cutie Patootie.
{and looking very much too grown up for his mama}
happy!
talking to his bear about how many photos they would have to endure
And now it's time for my monthly discussion of William, his likes, dislikes, and milestones. Feel free to check out now if you wish, although I will entice you with the hint that a couple of cute videos are coming up. :)
- Probably the biggest milestone of this month has been pulling up. And just as he did with rolling, sitting, and crawling, as soon as Will figured out how to pull up, that's ALL he wants to do. He will pull up on anything, even me. I love it, although it does make me nervous because he has already taken a few tumbles. He's completely fearless!
Standing up instead of sitting with his bear:
And here's his newest trick - moving from the couch to the coffee table!
{almost gave me a heart attack when he did it!}
- Another favorite is still his rock band toy. But he finally discovered that the microphone actually works, so we've added an entirely new dimension of fun. I had to video this from behind him because he gets so distracted by the camera!
- Also this month, although I've seen signs of this before, Will has developed a dislike of being in his stroller. :( He still enjoys going for walks or jogs in the BOB, but he seems not to like being confined in his regular stroller for things like shopping, or, as Jennie and Harper got to witness today, enjoying the arboretum. Don't worry, he still loves the baby bjorn. And so do I, even though he's probably about 20 pounds now {official 9 month stats will come next Thursday after his checkup}. So hopefully this is just a phase, and he will start to enjoy strolling again soon!
- He loves getting into mischief. My favorite part of Will's love for getting into things he shouldn't is that he is sooo obvious about it. As soon as he sees something he wants, but usually shouldn't have, he starts panting and makes a beeline for it. It's hilarious, and the sound effects usually give me enough warning to keep him away from things like the cat food bowl, the silver kitchen trash can {which he LICKS, ew!}, and the various off-limits electronic items in the house. He also just recently discovered the cabinet in his room and loves to open and shut it. There's nothing dangerous in here, so he just THINKS he's getting into trouble:
Check out Mr. Independent reaching all the way to the back of his shelves to get Elmo.
- Will is still eating very well. He enjoys pretty much anything. One new item this month was yogurt, which I despise. It's almost more than I can handle to feed it to him {ugh - it smells!} and he LOVES it. He can eat the entire container, which seems like a lot for a tiny belly. He also started eating chicken this month, although I have to mix it in with pureed veggies or he looks at me like I'm crazy.
- In general, still a great sleeper. Unfortunately Will had his first cold this month and the runny nose just won't go away! So that's been waking him up a lot, plus I think he's working on his top teeth. But ignoring those disturbances, he's sleeping 11-12 hours at night and taking 2 naps. Naps are hit or miss...sometimes great and sometimes very short!
- His favorite things to say are "dada," "baba," and "mama" although he sometimes throws out a "gaga" or "nana." He definitely doesn't connect these words with anything yet, but just hearing his sweet little voice saying "mama" and "dada" makes me smile. It also makes me realize how much he's going to have me wrapped around his little finger when he starts talking!
{Ok, let's be honest. He's already got me wrapped around his little finger!}
New car day is a big one in the Hawkins house, as clearly we drive our cars for a very long time. So fun!
And now it's time for my monthly discussion of William, his likes, dislikes, and milestones. Feel free to check out now if you wish, although I will entice you with the hint that a couple of cute videos are coming up. :)
So maybe it's a little early for Santa pajamas, even for me. But they fit now, and this dude grows fast! {full disclosure - after I went to Chi O Christmas last week, I've kind of been in the Christmas mood!}
My Aunt Christa, Uncle Steve, and cousin Stephenie are all in DC today for Carter's arrival. Here's Brent with Aunt Christa and baby Carter:
And this is how I found Will after his nap today. He's staring at the little blue light on the video monitor camera. Silly baby!
We had a fun Halloween, although unfortunately none of us were feeling 100% today. Will has had his first cold this week, and therefore, Matt and I also now have Will's first cold. But don't worry - we rallied tonight for a little bit of Halloween celebration. Will was a lion, which was a super cute costume, but I wish the cool weather had stuck around. The fur trimmed and satin lined suit was pretty toasty, so he just wore it for pictures and trick-or-treating at Mimi/Duke and Nana's houses, and then it was time for Halloween pajamas! We took as many pictures as we could get, but since Will wasn't loving his costume, it was tough to get many smiles. 
