9 months old

At 9 months old, Luke can say "Da-da," and "ba-ba," though we're not sure what that means yet. He can pull himself up to standing (and does, often). Most mornings, we go in to find him standing up in his crib ready to greet the day. He's also getting pretty good at waving if someone waves at him first.

He has two bottom teeth now, and at his 9-month checkup his pediatrician said he has four top teeth on the way in. He weighed in at 17 lbs 3 oz and was 28 inches tall.

Luke's favorite things right now: he loves to eat cheese and Cheerios, but will generally try just about anything he can pick up by himself (chicken, chunks of vegetables, etc.). He likes to play peekaboo and run in circles on his exersaucer.

Luke is still pretty good at sitting through church, although he does like to try to make the people behind us laugh with his silly faces and smiles. He is starting to make noise during the hymns, like he wants to sing! He also likes to go places with us, like wineries (here he is at Georgetown Winery).

Luke feeds himself

The night before Luke turned 9 months old, he decided it was time to feed himself! He took the bowl and just started going to town.

The way I see it, a messy baby will turn into a great independent eater. Someday. Right now, he's just funny to watch.

Bathtime!

Luke loves bathtime! He doesn't mind the soap and doesn't get too mad about water on his face, as long as he has toys to play with and chew on.  He also really likes splashing around in the water and getting squirted with toys, too.

His hair is getting long enough to soap up into a kewpie doll 'do. I think there's some biological compulsion to do this to your kids at a certain age.

Oh look, you can almost see his tooth!

Luke and his godparents

Luke's godparents, Todd and Rachel, came to visit from San Antonio for pizza and games. Of course, seeing their godson was part of the fun.

I wish I could say that I got a better picture with them together, but I didn't. But they were here, and it was fun. :)

Green stuff for dinner

Luke is getting more and more independent, and likes to hold a spoon while I feed him dinner. Sometimes he likes to grab the spoon I'm feeding him with, which already has food on it, and smear whatever he's eating all over. I don't get upset, because I know he's learning to feed himself (some of that food does get into his mouth).

On this particular evening, Luke was eating pears with some avocado mixed in, and little chunks of cheese. Of course, the fruit/veggie combo (well really, all fruit, right?) was an amazing shade of green, perfect for getting all over the place.

Luke's First Tooth

Well... you can't see it yet. But while we were watching Daddy on the news, he was gnawing on my finger and I felt something... sort of sharp and scratchy.

When Ryan got home we looked at his gums. Sure enough, on his bottom gum, just right of center, there's a little top of a tooth peeking out!

We'll try to get a picture of it when it decides to show up better. Right now, you can just take in his pretty eyes and the gallons of drool that comes with teething.

Luke is on the move!

Our baby is crawling - almost! He hasn't quite gotten the hang of a full-blown "official" crawl, but is getting quite proficient at the army crawl - pulling/pushing himself along with his arms and using his toes to give himself a little oomph. He particularly enjoys crawling under the table and going after the dogs. He even crawled over and untied my shoes while I was making dinner one night.

Look at him go!