Almost 9 months

Say that again...ALMOST. 9. MONTHS! It is so hard to believe that Karsen has almost made it to his first birthday. This first year has FLOWN by and I am really enjoying him more and more every day. So many people have been asking "how is Karsen?" just whenever I see them out and about and I find myself saying "We really turned a corner at 6 months and I have truly been appreciating and loving every day with him!!" Not that I didn't love it before 6 months, but I am just loving how much personality he has, how he is moving and how he is feeding himself finger foods. He is such a little MAN and it is so great!

I was doing some scrapbooking last weekend and saw a quote that said "Having a child fills a hole in your heart you never knew was empty" and that hit the nail on the head for me. It has been so hard for me to put into words what it means to be a mom...and then I read that quote and said THAT'S IT!!! AH...I love it!

Picking Karsen up from daycare one day this week, Chris said "He is such a happy baby! He is totally content hanging out and playing by himself." I just LOVE hearing that! She sees the same Karsen we see at home every day. That means he is happy at daycare...and comfortable. 

He got a little sick last weekend and whenever he gets pretty bad, his cheeks get so rosy. Poor kid. 

BUT being sick means staying at home a day with mom! Look ma, no hands! He is going to be standing on his own in no time.

I can't say enough about starting Karsen on solid finger foods at 6 months. We skipped purees and cereal all together and I have not regretted this decision once. This is a picture of him eating blue berries. We just gave them a try this week and he LOVES them! I bet he would eat the whole package if we let him. 

He loves bath time with his ducky! So focused.

This is a picture of Karsen when he spent the whole evening with JUST DAD! He loves those little bread pans. They make all kinds of noise so I dont see those going away any time soon.

HAPPY BOY!!!!!

Pictures

Things over the last few weeks have been pretty good. Dare I say it, we have really worked ourselves into a pretty good routine and I am just waiting for something to throw that out the window...maybe a tooth, possibly another cold?! Who knows.

More importantly, I know I have only got a few more months of school before summer starts and the real fun begins! Here are some recent pics of Karsen.

Our first time trying celmentines! He thought it was a little sour and made the best face!

A little blurry but he loves to crawl!

He has really loved his table and he pulls himself up all the time.

Yes...he is sitting between the end table and the couch.

Fleece PJ time!

Enjoying the nice fire...and his activity table.

Taking the short cut into the kitchen.

Smiles for food!

Celebrating his first Mardi Gras at Jazz at the Legends. Yes that is a Bud Light necklace...dont judge me...

8 months means big change!

It has been an exciting couple of days! Karsen has been working on crawling now for a good few weeks, but we started to wonder if he would even catch on...and maybe just skip to walking. He was learning to pull himself up on the side of his crib, and up on some taller toys...so we thought for sure he was liking the height more than the crawling position. Thhhhhennnnn, Bruce went to go pick Karsen up from daycare last night and Chris said "After his afternoon nap, I put him down, and he was just crawling all over the place!" Like something in his mid afternoon dreams told him 'now is the time to start moving' and he hasnt stopped since! Granted it has only been one day but he was moving all around this morning before I took him to daycare, and I imagine he will be on the move some more this evening. Here is a picture after he managed to pull himself up by the fireplace. He does enjoy standing!

Below are some other pictures we have taken over the last few weeks. We start with his 8 month picture which was somewhat difficult to get. I can usually make the kid smile without the help of any toys or a husband, but this time I needed Bruce's help not only to get him smiling, but also to make sure he didnt scoot off of the end of the chair!

He truly has the best smile!! It makes me heart melt!

He enjoys eating his puffs. We try not to feed him too many of these, but when we do, he likes it!

I just started steaming green beans for him this week. It took a few tries for him to warm up to their texture and flavor, but after the 3rd try, I think he really started to like them! I also think he likes that they are easy to pick up and shovel in his mouth. 

We have had another round of a cold with him, BUT we seemed to catch it early enough that we started the breathing treatments so the cough has not gotten too bad. I am hopeful that with the warm weather headed our way this weekend, I can get him outside and he will kick this cold for good! It means a lot to me as a mom to be able to handle this stuff AT HOME and not have to go to the doctors office to get medicine. I understand when he is really sick that he needs the meds, but I would love for him to just kick the illness on his own. Maybe his immune system is finally getting to the point where he can fight his own infection. We shall see. *knock on wood*

I have already started doing some basic research on activities to do with him this summer. It will be an exciting time at home with him!