9 months old

 Michael with the Daddy, the Mommy and the Baby pumpkins.

Our friends had a pumpkin carving party and David carved his in about 5 minutes!

Michael turned 9 months old on October 21st.  It's crazy to think he has been here for 9 months.  Crazy because: 1) I feel like just yesterday we were in the hospital trying to figure out how to change his diaper and 2) I feel like he has always been with us,  I can barely remember what is was like before he was here.  We took him in for his 9 month Doctor appointment and discovered that he is 21 lbs and 29 inches!  He has gotten a lot taller in the last 3 months but has gained less than a full pound (that we can attribute to the fact that he NEVER stops moving!)  He crawls and cruises along the furniture, walls, toys, etc.  On Sunday he let go of the couch and took a step to get to me!  I gasped and screamed for David, then I told him that Michael had just taken his first step.  David looked at me and told me he would be excited when his heart started beating again, apparently my gasp of amazement is the same as my gasp of terror.  He thought Michael was hurt initially.  Michael did this same amazing feat tonight when I came home from work.  He'll be walking soon!
I've realized lately that everyone hypes up all of the baby's first holidays, but the fact of the matter is that they don't get any of what is going on.  So David and I are really looking forward to the 2nd and 3rd set of holidays because Michael will actually start to understand them.  Based on this I got Michael a jack-o-lantern t-shirt for Halloween, he also has a Halloween bib.  My mom really wants to dress him up and take him trick-or-treating.  But really, lets face it,-he can't walk, talk, or eat candy- what would be the point?  I think we will probably end up walking around with him just because he likes going for walks.  I will say that I am really looking forward to Christmas this year with Michael, but I think it is because I am so excited to start building our own family traditions that Michael will get to enjoy for the rest of his life.  I've already bought his "Baby's first Christmas" ornament and will admit that I really want to buy about 20 different ornaments for him.  It's taking a lot of self control not to.  It would be okay if he ended up with 2 or 3 or....... Right?