Zeneski Amigos: 9 months

We love to "Stand up tall"! Eli, Zach and Luke

I have been thinking of things to put in the blog now for a couple of weeks, but I never seem to get around to it! So here it is, might not be great but there's so much going on that I really want to share. I really appreciate this blog, because it gives me a place to tell you all what's happening with the boys, in a much different way than just chatting on the phone - which I do quite a bit of. It's also special to think that when someone on the other side of the country sees a cute picture of the boys and smiles, they get to see a little bit of the special world that is going on around here!

The boys just turned 9 months old on Friday, and they're so much different than they were! They are so much more independent from me and different from each other, it's just really cute to watch. Here's what's going on with each guy...

Luke

Luke is such a special little baby. He is as he has been since he was born, quietly observant. He's a sweet happy boy, but not exuberantly. He started crawling this weekend! It was such a cute process to watch him figure it out - what an amazing blessing that John and I were both there and watched him first begin to be mobile! Even when he's crawling, he has a patience about him as he goes from toy to toy. He should be done with his helmet in a couple of weeks. Then I hope he'll quickly learn (not too painfully) that it feels different to ram into something when you're not wearing your gear! He's done so well, and his head looks great!

Luke just starting to crawl

Eli

Well, Eli is a little crazy child! He's so fiery! He's not crawling yet, but he's climbing! He lunges at something (me, lots of times) and then just climbs and squirms up whatever it is he's climbing. He pulls himself up on almost anything. He's having trouble conquering the couch - no hand-holds. Other than that, he has 6 big teeth - four across the top and two on bottom. He looks like he has a headful of choppers, but not quite! Teething fun is nowhere near over, I'm afraid.

He just got his helmet a little over a week ago. He has always liked to sleep on his back and the result was a big flat back of the head. The helmet will help his skull to grow out, and he'll probably have to wear it about 5 months. I totally underestimated him though! What a lesson! I thought he would have a really hard time adjusting, because it takes him some time to get used to new things. Not so with the helmet! He has had no problems at all with it - you never can tell!

One of our favorite toys! The wipe box!

Zach

Zach is a little lover baby. He loves hugs and gives big, wet, open-mouthed kisses that would make Scarlet O'Hara blush! At first I thought he was trying to bite my face, since he approached without any malice, the way he approaches everything that he wants to chew on. But one time he got close and didn't bite - it was so sweet! He's a chubby little dude and when you tickle him he rolls up into a little ball of baby. He's very content, so I have to be careful not to let him just while the day away, although that's not always a bad idea! He's making some crawling motions, but not a lot yet. Again, he's pretty much content where he is, playing with whatever he has. He also just stares at people - people at Wal-Mart just love that. (I'll have to write a whole blog later about our Wal-Mart experiences). He has two upper teeth two lower teeth. I think there's a distinct space between his top teeth, which is super-cute! Hopefully I'll be able to get some smiley-teeth pictures - very elusive!

Zach and Mama

I could write forever, but time is short and I want to give a shout out to my big man, John. I spend a lot of time talking about the little ones, but today is a special day for us - our eighth anniversary! It's amazing how fast those years have gone by, but it's still so exciting to see what each new year will bring. This one obviously has been a year of change, but like most other things we've gone through as a couple, we have become stronger through the first 9 months of our boys' lives. I'm blessed over and over again, but especially with John.

Here are some action photos - more to come soon!