A Month of Recaps (9 Month Update)

Whew... what a whirlwind it has been! It seems as though it has been nonstop since Christmas. As you know, we spend Christmas morning in the ER. We soon found out that Kael had hand, foot, and mouth disease- which was spread throughout the entire daycare. I eventually ended up catching it myself (New Years Eve), so our holidays were spent with high fevers and itchy red bumps. Thankfully everything cleared up in time for our trip to Texas and Florida.

We spent roughly 2 weeks of January on a much needed vacation. We enjoyed a week in Texas, which was really too short. We spent 3 days with Kevin's family and 3 days with mine. Since my parents are divorced, it really makes things seem even shorter since we had to split up those 3 days. I was fortunate enough to see a good majority of relatives on both Kevin's side of the family and my own. I even got to see my three best friends in the entire world- Eli, Kelli, and Paige. It was by far not enough time with any of them, and these trips just make me desperate to get back to Texas.

After our week in Texas, we took our first ever family "vacation". A real, live vacation that wasn't going home to visit family. Kevin and I have never taken a real vacation since we have been married, including a honeymoon. We have traveled and seen a lot, but most has been during our moves. We stayed at the All Star Movie Resort at Walt Disney World for 5 nights, and enjoyed the park for 4 days. It was heaven. I am absolutely obsessed with all things Disney (I fall asleep watching the Disney Chanel), so Kevin kept saying the trip was more for me than Kael! I think all three of us enjoyed it equally, but I was definitely more enthusiastic about it. Kael was in heaven. He loved the loud music and colors of the parades, he wanted to hug and kiss every character, and surprisingly we were able to take him on almost every ride! I will do a whole separate post on our trip, but we haven't even been home 2 weeks and I am already wishing we were going back. If we don't get to move to Texas next summer, I am seriously pushing Florida so I can go to Disney every weekend!

This month I was also a slacker on Kael's 9 month post. And this actually breaks my heart, because here I am... a month later and I can not for the life of me tell you what all happened. I know we celebrated his first Christmas, so I am thankful that I managed to get that post written. So much seems to happen and change in a month, and documenting it is SO important because you don't realize how quickly you forget. Looking back at the month of December there are a few key things that seem to pop out in my mind.

1.) We left him with a sitter for the first time.

2.) He weighed in at roughly 18 pounds 8 ounces

3.) He is wearing 9 month clothes and size 3 diapers

4.) He is still breastfeeding, and substituting one bottle a day of formula

5.) He is getting fed up with baby food and we are starting to introduce more table food

6.) He is cruising along the furniture

7.) He got his first tooth (FINALLY!)

8.) We are still struggling with his sleep and he has actually moved into our bed (I know I know...)

What I can remember is the love that I feel for this little boy. It seems to grow with every passing month, and I don't know how that is even possible. He finds new ways every day to make me smile and want to just scoop him up and love and kiss on him all day long. He makes even the worst days better. He gives me hope. He makes me strive to be a better person. He is my world, and I can't imagine what my life would be like without him in it.