3/4 of a year, baby!

On the 20th Brighton became 9 months old. He has changed an INCREDIBLE amount since being 8 months old. At 8 months he had 0 teeth… at 9 months he has 4 teeth. At 8 months he could barely stand against things… at 9 months he can stand on his own for 30 seconds at a time! (I think he'll be an early walker) At 8 months he had a pretty good amount of hair… at 9 months I'm already thinking about a haircut for him. His hair is coming over his ears. :) He is the CUTEST little boy I have ever seen. I can't get over his adorableness!!! I love his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, chunky legs, squeals, giggles, kisses, "hugs", teeth, and just everything about him.

He loves:

• Absolutely #1… LILA!!! He adores his sister, he idolizes her, he follows her everywhere. I have loved so much watching the two of them interact and play together. She is a fantastic older sister and is always so sweet to him. 

She was making him laugh really hard during this picture. I tried to get a good shot of the two of them without moving, because I knew I would distract them. It didn't really turn out, but I still love them interacting. 

Here is a close-up of his face when Lila was making him laugh. I wish you could see it better.

• Food- he wants real food more than any other baby I have ever been around
• Toys- especially ones that he can really chew on since he has been teething so much lately
• Water bottles- he likes the noise and how cold they are
• Stuffed animals- he really likes Lila's giant bear Harold so we already plan on getting him one too and naming him Humphrey (after the bear in "The Ranger of Brownstone Park")
• Putting stuff into his mouth- dog food has been pretty common, we always take it away… please don't judge :) 
• Other people- he's very much a people person, just like Lila
• Snuggling- I LOVE this!

He doesn't like:

• Being left alone- even momentarily
• Toppling over- his poor big head pulls him down all the time

He's a very happy baby, so I honestly can't think about much that he doesn't like. He has a great temperament. He is such a sweetheart. While I love watching him grow up, I also really want time to slow down. He's just growing way too fast!!

Here are his stats: 

Head: 18.5 inches (94%tile)

Length: 27.5 inches (15.7%tile) 

Weight: 18 pounds (23%tile)

We love you Brighton!

Mommy-Daughter Time

Lila and I haven't been able to do that much together since Bright came along. I mean, we do spend time together, but not just the two of us. Brighton is with me all through church unless I teach, he's with me at mutual on Tuesdays, he's with me if I go to someone else's house, go out to lunch, or go to the store. Lila on the other hand is usually the one that stays home or goes out with Micah. It's just been easier that way.
I was missing my time with my beautiful babe however so I decided to take Lila on a mommy/daughter date to see Frozen. I really wanted to see it, I really wanted to spend time with her, and I really wanted to see how she would do in a movie theatre watching a Disney movie. It seemed like a perfect situation.  We headed to the theatre on Saturday morning. The theatre was pretty full, but with other families with young kids. I was grateful. Lila was obviously unsure of what was going on, but she was also excited. I was nervous that she'd get restless and start to get noisy and we'd have to leave, but the little girl was so great!
She didn't really sit. Instead she stood right behind the chairs of the row in front of us, but she was quiet and kept her hands to herself. I honestly think she wanted to get closer to the screen because she was loving it so much. She moved around a bit, but only in front of me not other people. (We had a few empty seats next to us).
After the movie she told me, "I liked the show. I liked the princesses." It was really cute. Then on the way home she kept on trying to sing the "Let it go" song, but all she could remember were those three words. I was so proud of her though and I had such a great time with her.
The next week we went to a Night of Broadway at the Scera in Orem. My sisters were in it and Micah and I really thought Lila would enjoy it. She absolutely LOVED it. At the beginning of the show a girl held out her arms and held out a long note and Lila copied her. It was really cute. I was just glad it wasn't too loud to disrupt others. She then sat fairly well for the majority of the show. She was really interested in the show, but she also wanted to be with her cousins Mia and Hallie, not with her mom. :) Then, with the final individual performance number, there was a break in the song and at that exact moment Lila turns to me and, not very quietly, announces "Momma, I like this show." It was adorable and people around us laughed.
She really loved seeing her aunts sing and enjoyed all of the musical numbers. It was a great night out with her, and I'm glad to be exposing her to Broadway music so early on.
I had such a great time with Lila both nights and she really was very well behaved. I really need to spend more time with her like this. OH I LOVE MY LITTLE GIRL!!!


On a side note, Brighton's first tooth came in on January 26th, and he began to sleep through the night the very next night. I know, I know, 8 months old, but I guess it's better late than never.

8 months

As of Monday Brighton is now 8 months old! Can you believe it? I don't think time could go any faster. He has come so far in his short life. 

Now that he can crawl he goes everywhere. The only problem is that within a week of being able to crawl he was no longer content with that accomplishment and is already trying to walk. He can pull himself into a standing position fairly easily now and if he does it with his walker he goes toddling across the carpet. It makes me nervous though because he's so young, so unstable, and he walks on the very tips of his toes. It's really adorable. 

He is finally really babbling repeated syllables. I don't know if this is early or late, but it's just started. I can't wait to hear his little voice speak words. I remember feeling that way with Lila. Changes in your own children really are magical.

What do I love about this boy? The better question is probably what do I not love about him? He always has the biggest grin waiting for me when I get home. It's so big it goes kind of crooked and his eyes squint shut. So cute. If I can ever capture a picture of it I'll have to show you all. 

He is SO ticklish. It's fun to watch him squirm and laugh. 

He loves "people" food and tries to steal stuff off Lila's high chair. We've had to raise up her chair so he can't so easily pull himself up. It's not too bad though as she also sits at the table, so if it really bothered us it would be any easy fix.

There are countless other things about him that I simply adore like his cheeks, his tummy, his eyes, his sweetness, his resilience, but I won't actually list them all. I'm just so grateful to have two little angels in my life and home. They bring such a sweet presence to our lives. 

Thanks Brighton for being a part of our family! We love you!

Snowballs

There hasn't been a lot that has happened lately, but I wanted to post this cute video of Lila with her daddy out enjoying the snow. What a great dad she has! 

She had been doing it for awhile, it just took me forever to think about recording it. She had so much fun! By the way, this little girl has quite the arm. She throws better than a lot of boys that are older than her. I just wish you could see it in the video. 

Brighton is Crawling!

Today Brighton crawled for the very first time. He has been very close for quite a while, but he never went further than moving each knee once. Last night Micah and I were talking about it and we were thinking back to when Lila began to crawl around 7 1/2 months. I felt like it took her forever because at 6 months she was also very close like Brighton. I honestly thought that he was still a few weeks off because of this, but Micah said it could easily be tomorrow and guess what... it was! :) Brighton is just under 7 1/2 months.

Here is our little sweetheart moving around captured on Micah's phone.