sweet child of mine

Happy 9 months D! I love, love this age. You are changing so much. And you are funny, and you find things funny! I feel like some days we spend a lot of the day just laughing at God knows what....and then there are the days that go quite differently. But really, you make a great summer buddy, we go on marathon walks, go to the park, have lunches out, go to the zoo and the farmer's market, meet up with friends, and take naps. Not too shabby, eh?

You army crawl (and you are fast now), you love to stand (with help), and you LOVE to eat. So far the only food you really do not like is peas. Just. like. your. daddy.

You are still sleeping through the night (thank you Jeebus), taking two naps a day, but still waking up way too early.

You have eight teeth...soon to be 10 since I can tell your incisors are close behind.

all in all, you are really rocking 9 months. I love it. Did I already say that?

Ummmm, there's something different about my hair, yes? No, no don't tell me....

plant new seeds and watch them grow

D,

In my new found effort to be one of those perfect mom's who keep perfect mom blogs (like here and here, but no so much here) I decided we should do something very Martha-y and plant a garden. Ok, calling it a "garden" is a bit of a stretch b/c right now it consists of one potted plant and a hanging basket of flowers. But, hey, we planted them all ourselves, and hot damn if that small amount of flowers didn't cost us $85!

So a garden it is. in fact, we have started lovingly referring to it as The Garden of Solace. Which is sort of funny considering said Garden overlooks a back alley where the bums like to loudly sift through our garbage and their seems to be a perpetual game of pick up basketball going on between some rowdy hooligans. Not very solace-ish at all.

Anyways, I have this romantic notion that you and I will watch our garden grow together this summer, and some day we will talk about how we use to live in the big city of Chicago when you were very small and all we had was one teeny tiny outdoor space to call our own but we made the most of it nonetheless (oh my run on sentence).

I will try and remember to take pictures of our garden ever so often this summer so we can see its progress. And if it dies I will find a look alike garden and take pictures of that in an effort to preserve the innocence of your youth.

Our potted plant we lovingly named Maude

gimmie a head with hair, long beautiful hair

my little Puckerman

Monks,

You have a faux-hawk. It is fairly bad ass. It just grows that way, hair concentrated down the center. Your uncle Moochie says it is a "wispy Mohican", which really doesn't sound that tough at all. But trust me, it is tough looking. Like a baby Mr. T.

A couple people have asked us if we put anything in it to make it look that way. I gasp and quickly put a shocked look on my face while repeatedly assuring them that we do no such thing. Lets be honest though, I would totally put product in your hair if I thought it necessary, which I do not....yet.

double your fun

Bug-a-lug,

At least once a week someone, be it a friend or a complete stranger, will comment on how much you and your dada look alike. There is no denying it, you are your papa's mini me. I've said it many time, those Derhake genes are strong. It's like they just came in, trampled any of my genes, set up camp and completely took over.

So far all it seems you inherited from me was your worried face, and my fair skin. What a winning combination.

So fine you look like your dad. Whatever. You are a boy so you should probably look like your dad. But mark my words, if you have a sibling and that sibling is a girl and those damn genes come in and lay siege again, there will be hell to pay.

Here are you and your twinkie looking very yummy in your grey hooded sweatshirts.

dumps like a truck, truck, truck

Ok Stinka McGoo,

Here it is one big dump of information to get us all caught up on the last month:

1. Florida. We went, we saw, we sunbathed. It was soooooo nice. You were so great to travel with. You were over the top charming on the plane ride down there. Thank you Jeebus. No joke, half the plane was smiling at you and you were just hamming it up. I had to roll my eyes a bit at you toward the end you were laying it on so thick. And you lurved the pool! You kicked and splashed and hung out in your floatie. You even let us take you in the lazy river which was going swimmingly until you got a water canon in the face. I still feel awful about that btw. You napped in your stroller and we even let you stay up late. It was so fun to have our first little vaca as a family of three. May it be one of many, many more to come.

aw, yeaaaahhh.

2. You turned 7 months. Yea! It's a real fun age, and you have changed. a lot. You barrel roll and army crawl all over now. You are loving food. People ask all the time if you have a favorite food, nope, you like them ALL. And you are sleeping through the night (best. news. ever). You smile and laugh, you are very ticklish, and you love when we "smoosh the tush." You are very into Daddy right now. He gives you airplane rides, and you guys make forts, and you just smile so hard whenever you see him that I fear your face may crack. You are still pretty into your mom as well though ;0)

Your seven month pictures proved to be our most challenging yet, see for yourself.

are you a boy lion, or a girl lion?

uh, yeah.

poo break.

finally

3. Easter. We got you all dressed up and went out to a big 'ole brunch with your Auntie Em and Uncle Chris and their family. It was really nice, and you were pretty well behaved, and when we got home we saw a real live bunny in the front yard. A-mazing!! Oh and you also got an Easter basket bigger than you from your Grammie.

Ok, enough. I have to go to sleep, because you think it is super fun to wake up at 5:30 am. Which is pretty much the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Day after day, after day....

all by myself, don't wanna be....

Oof, this is one neglected blog lately. If this blog were a person right now it would be sitting alone in a room drinking cheap chardonnay, eating kit kats and watching reality tv.

Just remember a neglected blog means all my love and focus and devotion is being directed at you my love. I will try and do one big catch up post...or maybe I'll go to bed. no, no I'll do the post.

Most likely.

supermodel, work...

Some pictures from your 6 month photo shoot. I am only a little embarrassed to admit how much I love them and that I look at them, um, daily.

things started out a bit rocky....

but you caught on quickly

THE (rear)END.