gavin {9 months}

Oh goodness I think we need a new plan for Gavin's monthly pictures.  I think last month didn't go so well either and I had hoped this month would be better.

It wasn't though. In fact it was the worst ever.  A complete stressful family event, if I was being real with you.

I thought it was the perfect morning, Dave was home and he could help me in hopes to have it go better than last month.  Surely he'd be able to get Gavin's attention so he'd look up at the camera and re-position him so I didn't have to get up and down off the ladder.  In the end Dave said I needed to find another photography assistant.

 

I kept asking him to move Gavin's arm closer to him because it was being cropped out of the frame. 

I was as high on the ladder as I could get and had my fixed lens on so I couldn't zoom out to fix the problem.  You wouldn't think that moving a baby's arm a few inches would be so hard, but it was.  And in the end I couldn't get a single shot without it being cropped out.

 

 Nor a single shot without tears or pouty faces, and now I'm noticing his yucky eczema too.

 

 

 We had 2 other kids running around being distracting, a dog in the way, a cow bell that wasn't doing the magic, a stressed out daddy being asked to move the blanket, move the sign, move the baby, ring the bell, dig leaves out of his mouth, and stop him from crawling off the blanket....all while I was trying to snap away hoping for just ONE good shot.

 

We didn't get a good one until he got to sit up.  Of course.

But doesn't he know that his mama wants all of his month shots to have identical poses to it's easier to see his changes?

 

I wanted so badly to find a time for a re-do. But our last month has been a little bit insane, and finding time to lug out the quilt, print a new sign, set up the ladder, and have some extra hands to help me is quite the challenge. I'm lucky to even get the pictures taken at all. And I'm sad that he's now just a week and a half away from being 10 months. A little too late to get realistic 9 month pictures.

So these will have to do.
 

 

Gavin, here are a few things I want to remember about your 9th month:

*you still scream at the top of your lungs to let us know you're here. It's not that you're mad, you're usually quite happy while you're screaming. You do it in the store up and down the isle. It really is painful to the ears. People stop and look at you all the time. We are trying so hard to teach you not to do it. It hurts Daddy's ears A LOT.

*we finally stopped swaddling you, and you still sleep like a champ.

*you are walking along the furniture and beginning to reach out and try to get from one thing to another.
 

*you started waving

*you finally started talking to us more than just your squeals. You have jabbered away this month more than ever.

*you are eating so much more table food than your brother and sister ever did at this age

*you love to play with balls
 

*we dig things out of your mouth constantly, and your brother and sister have gotten really good at it too. Even when we think the floor is all clear, you find SOMETHING.

*you finally let your brother and sister help feed you

*you are so content most of the time to just roam the house and find things to explore on your own.

*and you are pretty much into everything!

 

We are getting more and more of a glimpse of your personality and it's so fun.  You are one content baby, but when you get mad, you definitely have a temper.  Thank goodness you don't show that to us very often.  You already are learning how to be silly and make us laugh.  You aren't much of a cuddler and you are so independent when it comes to getting yourself to sleep.  If I even try to cuddle you before I put you down, you rarely go for it.  Last year at this time all your little friends were beginning to be born and we were getting so anxious to meet you too.  What joy you have brought our family these last 9 months, we love you so much sweet baby!