9 Months.

Dear Colin,

Today, you turn 9 months old. You have been Colin now for the same amount of time you were "?", inside of me for all that time. I am not sure what is harder to believe, that you are 9 months old, or that it has been over a year and a half since we first found out that we were expecting a little person. So much has happened since the Christmas where we got the best gift of all, yet life now has never felt so normal.

Over the past month, to be honest, not a ton has changed. We have started really getting into finger foods and you seem to like the freedom to be able to feed yourself. You can get the food to your mouth about 75% of the time now (yet graham cookies seem to have a much higher success rate, hmmm), but are still working on getting your pincher skills perfected. You still love your avocado, however have branched our slightly over the past couple weeks. You are not crawling yet (except for backwards) but somehow still manage to move around a little bit to reach the toy you desire. Today, for the first time ever, you pulled yourself up on your knees to get a better look at a play table we were given as a gift. I did not see the process, however did see the result. You looked at me with a huge smile...what a big accomplishment for you!

Our days are definitely not difficult anymore, however we are entering the "needy" stage. I would love to tell you that every single day is just a pure joy from start to finish, however if you have children of your own someday, I want you to have a realistic view of what it's like, and not some fairly tale idea of sweetness and light 24/7. I would never change anything about you, and I love you with all of my heart, but sometimes, you are annoying :)! You have this whine/grunt/yell thing that you do when you want to be a)picked up, b)fed, or c)...we're still trying to figure out what c is. There must be a "c" though as sometimes "a" & "b" don't seem to do the trick either. The past couple of days, your whine/grunt/yell has been in full effect. You most definitely are still a happy, fun little man, however I have questioned from time to time whether they make baby muzzles. You are so loud and last night especially, it was none stop. Your Dad came home from school and even told you straight up - "you are annoying". I had to agree. :)

I have been doing some reading on birth order lately which interests me as I completely fit the bill as the youngest and your Dad, 100% as the oldest children in our families. I will be interested to see how you develop and mold into whomever you will be. It is our hope that we will be able to add other children to our family, and if we are so lucky, I will love to see you take on that big brother role. As the first born to us, and the first grandchild on your Dad's side, the spot light has been on you since day one. You have always been paid attention to, played with and been the focus of everyone's visits to the house. So far, I think you are pretty well textbook first born too, but only time will tell, I suppose.

The month ahead of us marks a very special moment...the day we get your Daddy back. School is almost over and soon he will be around during the day to make you laugh (like only he can), to take you exploring in the willows and to simply be there when you wake up from naps. It does not surprise me that you and I have the connection we do, as for a long time, we were one, however I love just how much you adore your father too. You are so aware of how special he is and light up for him like you do for none other. One of the greatest things about you getting older is that your independence from me is growing too. You no longer need me every 4 hours, so that means your adventures with your Dad can truly start. You two are going to have so much fun together. I know your Dad has many plans, and I know that he cannot wait to make memories with you.

Whenever I start these letters to you, I usually have some sort of plan as to what I am going to write about. This month, I didn't. However, as soon as the typing starts, my love and adoration for you just spills out of me. I could write about you forever as each and every minute we spend together is worthy of writing down. The next couple months are going to be full of sunshine, time spent outside, vacations, and family gathering and through them all I will do my best to absorb every minute. You are my most favorite little man. Thank you for the past 9 months. The first 9 we spent together were great, however knowing you for YOU, putting a face and name to the mystery and falling more and more in love each and every day trumps our first 9 each and every day.

Love you to the moon and back x9,

Mama
xoxo