Jack William Mitchell
This sweet, cheeky, chatty boy turned 9 months old yesterday. I don't really even know where to start on how awesome this past month has been! All of these 9 months have been nothing short of amazing, but seeing Jack's personality start to really blossom has been the most incredible experience of my life. I sincerely mean that.
So before I start to get all teary-eyed and reminiscey, let me tell you what our curious, adventurous boy has been up to in the past month :)
Chatty Man
I feel like one day he woke up and decided it was time to be a toddler. He has the sweetest (and I mean cotton-candy-wrapped-in-extra-sugar-with-chocolate-sauce-all-over-sweet) little boy voice. He just talks and talks and talks all day long, never without a million different facial expressions to convey his point.
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| His "I didn't do it mom" face after tearing up a magazine |
First Words
I've had handfuls of people ask me if I just melt when he says "Mama", and I do...but not the way I melt when he says "Dada". I always had a feeling he'd say Dada first. Every day when Andrew comes home, Jack is on his feet, listening for the key in the lock, and then a booming "DADA" bellows through the hall. He freaks.
Every. Time.
It's amazing.
So Andrew was giving him a goodbye hug before he went to work one day, and Jack literally stopped, looked straight into Andrew's eyes, and in that sugary-sweet voice says "Dada".
Tears everywhere. Best feeling ever.
Hangry
It's so much fun seeing which traits Jack has from both of us. He studies and analyzes everything and everyone. He will watch a bird fly from a tree hundreds of feet away, over our yard, and away from the house. He turns over toys, sticks his fingers in every crevice, scopes out everything before he decides how he feels about it. That's all Andrew.
He also will scream if I take a bite of his food before I feed him. You know that game where moms pretend like they're eating the food so that baby will want it too? Yeah. Never worked here. As I lifted that spoon towards my mouth OH if looks could kill. That's my boy! :) He also has a flare for drama (which I have absolutely no idea where that came from) when he's sleepy or hungry.
Alright that's me too.
ANYWAYS.... this boy loves his food! He is eating everything. We started finger foods a week ago because I was not getting food into his mouth fast enough for his liking. Beans, peas, scrambled eggs, chicken, pork, quinoa, oatmeal, banana pancakes, yogurt, cottage cheese, carrot crackers, green beans, blueberries, pineapple, mango, I mean you name it, he's eating it. I'm one proud mama.
But God bless Andrew Mitchell. Looks like he's stuck in a house of hangries. At least it's the easiest problem to solve.
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| Frozen cantaloupe is a big time favorite |
Crawling/Speed crawling
Jack started army crawling and the world changed :)
He lugged his belly around for a good while, but now he is up and crawling like he's been doing it his whole life.
He's always been really efficient at getting around, whether it was rolling across the living room or spinning in circles on his belly. I don't know why I'm surprised that crawling is no different. The past week has brought on a confidence and speed that would blow your mind. (But seriously, it blows my mind.) I can turn away for one second, and I hear a high pitched squeal and giggle in the next room over because Jack has managed to speed crawl like lightning. And he's very proud of himself. :) He will rocket launch himself into the next room, wait for us to catch up, sit up, and then clap and giggle until we join in pride. Have I mentioned how awesome this kid is?
Clap/Wave/Dance
We worked on the waving thing for a long time. Every morning we walk Andrew to the door. We would both stand there waving our limp wrists to each other, eyes wide, murmuring "Buh bye!" as Jack would just look at us like we were crazy. It must have worked finally because now he waves whenever, at whoever or whatever!
Since he also is an accomplished little man that deserves to be praised for his achievements, he's figuring out how to clap. Right now it consists of him basically doing the chicken dance and flapping his arms in circles. Maybe once or twice his hands will actually smack each other, but we get the point. ;)
He started wiggling that cute little booty just a couple of days ago. He has always loved music. He'll stop what he's doing when he hears a song he likes and just listen. Now, he stops and starts doing that ever-so-cute baby bounce with that little booty. Andrew and I both sat in silence, huge geeked-out smiles plastered on our faces yesterday and just watched him groove to some Bruno Mars.
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| This is clapping. |
Florida
I'll make this a short one because I hear a cute little boy squirm in the other room, waking from his nap.
We flew to Florida for our first vacation as a family a few weeks ago.
First flight: CHECK! and can I just say he ROCKED it! We actually had a couple behind us tell us as we were leaving that they didn't even know we had a baby with us. He's a boss.
First time at the beach: LOVED it. He's going to be a water baby. He loved the sand, the water, the outdoors. All of it. My sweet nature babe.
First fever: my worst nightmare. I have to say, the fact that we made it 8 1/2 months without so much as a runny nose was the biggest blessing ever. It was inevitable that this would come, and it honestly couldn't have happened at a better time. We were surrounded by Andrew's family and a beautiful beach, so we made it through. This little guy is a tough one. I'm absolutely positive it was much harder on me than it was on him.
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| Cutest beach babe |
TEETH!!!!
Alright, so my mama friends that follow me on Instagram know how long I have been waiting for these puppies to make their arrival! I feel like Jack has been teething forever. Luckily he is the most laid back, chill child you will ever come across. However, that first tooth decided to cut through right as Jack was coming down with his bug. UGH. However, not surprisingly, he handled it all like a champ.
They're still taking their time popping all the way out, but two, little pearly-whites are sitting front and center on his bottom row of gums.
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| Hangin by the pool. He's way too cool. |
So my not-so-little little man is hilarious, so curious, keeps us on our toes, loves windows, being upside-down, the outdoors, water, grocery stores, his dad, Gypsy, food, standing, working with dad (banging on his laptop), popsicles, music, paper, snuggles, curtains, giving kisses, and giggling nkj k k mn
lmkl
^^^^
Well, there he is, sitting on my lap ready to type in his own words how awesome he is. :)
I'm sure I forgot a million things, but there it is in a nutshell.
Every day is sweeter than the last.
Every day is filled with more laughter, sleep (ahh), and adventure.
Life didn't really start until I met Andrew.
And now with Jack? It's just beginning. :)
XO,
B
