Kelton is Nine months

Here we are in Cape Elisabeth.

I dedicate this post to Kelton. I cannot believe how fast time flies. Just like yesterday I had a baby who I called a blob. He couldn't do anything for himself except to cry when he wanted something. It is hard to imagine him being so helpless. In the last month he took a few very big milestones. He now crawls, sits up, and pulls himself up to standing. He is everywhere now, but I really like this stage because he can help himself in so many ways. And because of that he is just so happy all the time. He really is the happiest baby!

"Check out my tong!"

Some interesting facts:

• Kelt's favorite toy is a pillow
• His second favorite toy is a door
• His favorite activities include bathing, going on walks, and eating

Here he is modeling his sweater that I made him.

• He is finally starting to say the "M" sound
• He waves his hand now and we are teaching him the meaning of waving "hello" and "goodbye"
• He is still is size 3 diapers, which has probably been the longest that he has been in the same diaper size ever.

• Some days he tries to skip his morning and evening naps and only wants to take a long afternoon nap like a toddler. He is growing way too fast. Slow down baby. You are just a baby still and don't you even think that you can just wake up one morning and stop being my baby and become a toddler. Some day it will happen, but not yet.
• His cry has changed again. He only has two cry tones now. One when he is hurt which is a high pitched cry. And another one when he is tired which is his "I am annoyed at something type of cry". And well actually there is a third one for when he is hungry, but that one is less of a cry and more of a grunting mixed with some "ah" sounds. 

• He know wears size 12 months clothes
• He loves playing "peek-a-boo"
• He loves talking to his relatives on Skype. This includes Grandma and Grandpa McCombs, Grandma Ana, Grandpa Sasha, and Aunt Tanya and Cousin Daniel. 
• People at church love to hold him. He never cries around new people. He loves everybody. 

• Anywhere I go strangers always comment on what a gorgeous and well-behaved baby he is
• Kelton's favorite word still remains to be "dizzzzzy". He really likes the "z" sound, it makes him giggle. 
• He is fearless. He is not afraid of balls or dogs. Or heights or insects or anything... 
• He loves his Mama and Papa very much!!

Valentine's Day

This was Kelton's first Valentine's Day and we had lots of fun with him. We knew that we wanted to go out to eat, but here in Portland it seems to be impossible to pick a place to eat. There are just too many places to eat. Something like "more places to eat per person than in any other place in the states" dilemma. So after careful thinking and hours of research on line. Yes, hours, we take our eating out experiences very seriously. We don't let ourselves eat out very often, so when we do, it has to be a good experience. And this is why we decided that there is no better place to enjoy our day of love celebration than to go to the tried and true Olive Garden. Our time there was highlighted by Kelton's extreme friendliness. And this time it wasn't the best thing to do. Here is what happened. Right before our main courses were served an older couple was seated next to us. The second the husband passed our table, Kelton started staring at him. At first it was very fun and the wife even made a joke of how Kelton is a mini-me of her husband. They both have bald heads and big bellies. But after the first minute I started trying to get Kelt's attention. We even rotated his child seat towards us, but he moved his legs over the bars and rotated himself around just to continue staring. This lasted way too long. It was funny, actually very funny and the couple agreed. They loved Kelton, just as everyone does. To remember the night of uncomfortableness, they took pictures and video of Kelton. So if you see a video of him on-line be sure to let us know. We want a fair share of the profit. 

Earlier in the day I had a Valentine's Day party at Brenna Fowler's house. We decorated cookies and I had lots of fun talking to other moms. It is just so wonderful to have people around who know exactly what you are going through. Anyway, I brought Cameron some of the cookies and he loved them!

And the Winter Has Begun

We had our true New England winter experience recently. It all started with the coming of a, in the words of the weather forecasters, "historic snow storm". I will be honest, I never believe the forecasts. I have had way too many experiences to know that they are only right about 5% of the time, which to me is not big enough percentage to bet my money on any predictions. I even have the chatty Dollar Store cashier to back me up on this one. I must first say that the previous hike up of a storm was before Hurricane Sandy and all we got was a little wind. So according to the chatty cashier this happens all the time, she would know because apparently she lived all her life in Maine. So as I was checking out at her line a day or so before Nemo (that's what the storm was named) hit, she assured me that only rarely do the storms really hit as hard as they predict. I eagerly agreed because that has been my experience as well. Little did I know that Nemo fell into the 5% accurate prediction zone. It was the storm to set a new record of over 30 inches of snow in one storm in Portland. It really was a horrible storm with 6 states declaring a state of emergency, flights were cancelled, schools had snow days, and our balcony on the third floor had over 5 feet of snow on it from the wind gusts. But with every snow storm comes a great work out. Cameron was the one to take advantage of it this last time. I am a big fan of shoveling, but we only have one little shovel that fits in our trunk and so it becomes a one-man job.

The pile of snow was almost as high as I am. It kept getting taller as the storm continued.

At the end of it all, we had so much fun seeing a tremendous amount of snow. It made us very grateful for a warm apartment, food, electricity, and warm clothes.And I must also say just how impressed I am with the Mainers for cleaning the roads very fast. The day after the storm we were out and about driving and going places.
After the storm, the weather has been getting into the 40s which feels warm here. Kelt and I have been taking advantage of it by going on walks. I have been using the Ergo Baby carrier a lot lately because it is a lot more convenient to walk with it than with the stroller on the thin snow plowed sidewalks. They are only as wide as the plow, which is not wide enough for the stroller. My love for the carrier has increased with these cold days. Having Kelton so close to me makes us both warmer and I can talk to him a lot easier. 

I love it when Kelton wears clothes that I have knitted him. This green jacket looks so adorable on him and makes me think back to before he was born and how anxious I was to meet him.

Here is Munchkin and me right before one of our walks.

Kelton has grown a lot in the past month. Probably the most amount of development in the shortest time period that he has even accomplished. He crawls, more like an "army crawl", but crawling nonetheless. He can sit up all his own. As a matter of fact, earlier this week I observed Kelt trying to sit up all day long and when Cameron came home from school I told him to watch Kelton closely in case he sits up. And what do you know, but that that same evening he sat up all on his own. I just love it when our Buddy demonstrates new skills when Cameron and I are both home. He has a funny way of doing it, too. He starts at being on his belly then he pushes himself backwards and gets on his hands and knees. He then proceeds with walking his hands backwards which often times results in him crawling backwards (with his belly off the ground) until his hands reach his knees. From here it's like watching a new kitten walk for the first time. He is sure, but has to catch himself. He knows exactly what he is doing, but when he finally sits up there is a spark of nuisance in his laughter. Oh that laughter of his! It is the most delicious noise in the whole universe. I have recently noticed that Kelton doesn't "gargle" his sounds anymore, but now has a very sharp and high pitched sound repertoire. Though his new voice development and by far the funniest is grunting. He started doing it when he wants his bottle or a certain toy that I have taken away because it has a potential of harming him, i.e. pieces of his board books that he so very much loves to chew on. He has gotten very strong, strong enough to rip pages off of his board books and then chew on them of course.