We Have Our First Crawler!

It's Ethan! I wasn't expecting him to crawl at all. All of the baby books I've read said that they will get up on all fours and rock back and forth for a few weeks prior to crawling. He skipped that part! I had popcorn and a pop can (his favorite) on the floor and the next thing I knew he was crawling over to get them. I couldn't believe my eyes! He flops around like a seal when he crawls and is rather slow, but he gets to where he's going! I haven't done any baby-proofing yet. I guess I better get on that!

Words They Can Say

Ethan:
-mama (first word)
-dada
-baba
-dog (he pronounces it gog)
-hi

Mia:
-dada (first word)
-mama
-baba
-hi

Pumpkin Patch

Aunt Amber and I decided to take Ethan and Mia to a pumpkin patch and apple orchard this weekend. They were having a pumpkin festival with pony rides, a petting zoo, and lots of different foods. Too bad it rained off and on the entire day! We still decided to venture out though.
We pulled the kids in their wagon. They had a blast! I didn't hear a peep from them the entire time. They enjoyed watching all the other kids and people walking around. We initially went to pick a couple of pumpkins, but after seeing that the pumpkin patch was full of mud, we decided to skip that part. Instead, we had a piece of pie with ice cream. Needless to say, they absolutely loved it!
Enjoy the pictures!

9 Month Pictures

9 Months Old

Another month has gone by! Our days are really long, but the months fly by. Both Ethan and Mia are doing well. They continue to be happy and healthy! The kids love going outside. I take them for a couple of wagon rides each day. I don't know what we're going to do when winter comes. They're really going to miss it!

We went to Minneapolis for Aunt Amber's 30th birthday party last weekend. Both babies are very sensitive to new environments. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep while we were away. Ethan and Mia woke up multiple times each night! I'm still trying to catch up on all of the sleep I lost. We won't be going anywhere for a long long time!

Ethan has started clapping recently. It's cute to watch him bring his hands together. They're sometimes off-center, but he doesn't care at all! He always has a huge smile on his face. (Well, most of the time.) I'm trying to work with him to get him to crawl. I hope it's soon! He also said his first word. It's...mama! He usually says it when he's crying and wants to be picked up. His bottom teeth came in a couple of weeks ago. He's very protective of them, though, and won't let anybody look at them. I bought him a toothbrush, but we haven't started using it yet. Ethan tends to get scared a lot. If something makes a loud noise or he is startled, he screams at the top of his lungs!

Mia has FINALLY started sitting up. She's very stubborn. Every time I would work with her to sit up, she would arch her back and stiffen her legs and would fall backwards. She's doing it great now! I think it will be awhile before she starts crawling. She also said her first word. She said...dada! At first, I was like, I spend 14 hours a day with you, and you say dada first? But, it's still cute when she says it. Of course, Mike is beaming! Mia is my pincher and hair puller. Poor Ethan. Every chance she gets, she goes for his hair. She's gotten a good chunk of it a few times and boy, does he cry! She pinches me quite a bit and it really hurts. Her nails are like daggers. It doesn't matter how often or short I trim them, they're still super sharp. She smiles a lot but is more serious. Mia really checks people out and is very observant.

Milestones

Ethan and Mia have reached several milestones in the last two months. They seem to be taking turns as to who does it first. Mia rolled over first, Ethan sat up first, Mia said dada first, and Ethan has his two bottom teeth. As of yet, neither one has started crawling. I know most parents don't want their babies to crawl, but I desperately want them to crawl! I think they (especially Ethan) would be so much happier being mobile. They have started taking toys away from each other. It's funny right now, but I can see it quickly being not so funny. Ethan tends to scream really high-pitched and really loud when Mia takes something from him that he really wants. When Ethan takes something away from Mia, she doesn't scream or throw a fit, but she tries to pull his hair as he bends over. She hasn't gotten a real big chunk of hair yet, but I'm sure that day is coming!Their 9 month well-baby check is in a couple of weeks, so I'll update then!