Nine.

Dear Ben,

Today you are nine months old! How did that happen? It's hard to believe you were "inside" growing as long as you've been "outside." What they say is true; all that puking and aching and stretching and waddling seems like such a foggy, distant memory now. No wonder women go back and do it all over again.

Here you are a year ago:


Here you are today:


Your ninth month was a big one. You spent time with all four of your grandparents, two of your great-grandparents, celebrated your first Christmas and your first new year, caught your first major cold, began sleeping ten hour stretches at night, and started really, truly, officially crawling.

Initially I thought you might skip crawling because you just kind of rolled and scooted and seemed content with it. One day you actually began doing something that resembled a crawl, but you were only moving your right leg and you just dragged your left leg along. Hilarious. (Don't worry, I got video to show your prom dates). After a few days of that, you got everything working in sync and you're pretty much unstoppable now. You follow me from room to room as I put away laundry. You open and close every door and play with every door stop. I am frantically mopping and sweeping and vacuuming. Whew.

Now that you're crawling, we can't slow you down. Here's proof from when I was trying to take your picture today:


You just couldn't figure out why I would possibly want you to sit still.


Every time I put you back on your bottom, you were back on all fours before I could snap a picture.





You constantly want to be held, but never snuggled. If anyone sits on the floor to play with you, you'd like to be in their lap, thank you very much. You love reading books, but especially ones with flaps or different textures you can feel. You're a hit at the grocery store, too. Other shoppers and checkers stop and smile at you and comment on your funny hair, your big blue eyes, those (gasp) dimples! Sometimes you smile and flirt back, and other times you get shy and embarrassed and bury your head in my stomach. You love sound effects of any kind.

You've changed my prayer life, for sure. I spend hours begging God to keep you safe, to keep you healthy, to make you strong, and to give you a heart that loves Him. I also spend hours searching for the right words to tell God how thankful I am for the precious, perfect gift of you. Thankfully, He knows how our hearts overflow with love and gratitude for you, our little buddy.

Just a few nights ago Daddy and I were laying in bed and Dad said, "Isn't our little family just the absolute best?" I have to agree. Everything is sweeter with you.

I'm getting gushy and probably even Grandma hasn't read this far, so I'll conclude and simply say these nine months have rocked me, but they have been the very best of my life. Something tells me it's only gonna get better.

I love you, buddy.

Mom