Really wanting to walk!

How's this for bed (or should I say crib) head?!?!

One of my favorite shots of Nathan - I just cannot get over how cute he is!!!  He still has a ball with bath time!  Speaking of baths, Nathan pooped in his tub on Thursday morning.  I was impressed that it took him this long to do it - and I hope it never happens again.  Yikes was that a mess!

He's still busy lifting up and looking under all of our area rugs.

This past Friday we had a visit from our friends the Murphys who live in Michigan.  They were in town for March Madness and we had fun catching up with them and letting all the kids play together.

Nathan and Daddy playing tug-of-war with one of Nathan's teething toys.

This is Nathan's new pose - all of the time!  He's always sitting with one of his legs extended and the other one tucked behind him.  Looks very uncomfortable to me, but he seems to enjoy it.

Some of Nathan's favorite toys these days are the plastic cups I gave him - we like to hide his toys under them.

We've been working on waving for a few weeks now and every now and then he throws one out.  Not always at the right moment, but hey, he's making progress, so we're proud!

Trying to climb up Mommy.  He did make some history this past week...on Wednesday he got behind one of his stand up toys that has wheels and he walked on his own while pushing it.  It was so crazy to see him walking - he just seems too little!  In more exciting news, he moved on from eating chunks of banana to just taking bites out of the banana while Mommy held it for him!

Aww...loving on his Boo!

Just chillin' out and checkin' out his Boo!  Doesn't it look like they're having an intense conversation?!?!?

Wow - he's getting so long and really outgrowing his bear!

What a handsome little guy!  We had his 9-month photo shoot this past Saturday and it was a lot of fun!  Kev and I think it was the best session yet - Nathan actually seemed to enjoy it and it wasn't quite so hard to get him to look at the camera and smile.  We're hoping to have some teaser proofs to share with all of you soon, so stay tuned!

Nathan turns 9 months old!

Last week started out with a visit to our friend Jet's house.  How cute are these little guys!?!

Nathan really enjoyed Jet's super cool tent, but needed a little encouragement to get going!

Yay - he found his way back out!  Some other smooth moves from this past week include transferring from the couch to his activity table - those few milliseconds of not holding onto anything were quite exciting!

Last Tuesday Nathan had his first try of kiwi and, as you can tell by his sourpuss face, he was not a fan!  Later that day he ate some big chunks of banana with lunch - this was the first time they weren't mashed up for him - he did great!  He also had lima beans for lunch on Wednesday and thoroughly enjoyed them (he's Grandma's grandson for sure, because neither Daddy nor Mommy care for those nasty green things)!  On Friday we added cherries to his diet and they were finger lickin' good!

We had some beautiful Spring days last week so we got out the jogging stroller my friend Kim lent us and went for a nice, long walk.  But, we had to stabilize Nathan because he's a bit small for it still.

Doesn't he look so teeny tiny?!?!

Grandma Krestel was on Spring break last week so she came for a visit on Thursday and had fun letting Nathan drink out of her cup.  This makes him feel like such a big boy!

And he showed her how he eats his puffs all by himself!

Ha - what a great butt shot!

Playing with his bath toys - he's been enthralled with these lately - whether or not he's in the tub.  His favorite one, by far, is this fish book.

Some quiet time with Grandma.

Now - I have some unfortunate news to report.  Late last week, Nathan committed an act of assault and battery.  Let me recount the story for you...

Last Friday afternoon Nathan was crying extra long and extra hard when he should have been taking his nap.  So, Mommy went in to see what was going on.  This is what she happened upon...

The crib attack!

Bite marks on the front...

Gouges on the side...

A full investigation ensued...

The crime scene:

Suspect #1 - Hobbes.  I attempted to interrogate him but he wouldn't stay awake long enough to answer any of my questions...

Suspect #2 - Baxter.  He was dismayed by my questioning and he had a solid alibi - he was on the back deck sunning himself when the crime was committed...

Suspect #3 - Nathan.  Oh yes, he may look innocent, but he couldn't place his whereabouts anywhere other than at the scene in question...

We had to bring in some witnesses to help us get to the bottom of the case...

Witness #1 - Elephant aka The Mobile.  He placed Suspect #3 at the crime scene.

Witness #2 - Lion aka The Mirror.  He stated that Suspect #3 was in his direct line of sight and was, in fact, the perpetrator.

Witness #3 - Dolphin aka The Sound Machine.  He watched the entire crime unfold before his eyes.

We brought Suspect #3 back in for questioning, but he wouldn't talk...

Finally, after some time in solitary confinement...

He dropped his head in shame and admitted to his crime...

The jury found pity on him and took him to the zoo with Melissa and Jet.  Please note the monkey-footed outfit, which Mommy thought only appropriate for their trip...

His first trip to the zoo was definitely a bigger deal to Mommy than to Nathan.  He wasn't too interested in any of the animals, but enjoyed the hustle and bustle of all the people...

The prairie dogs did seem to get a bit of a rise out of Nathan...

Mommy's little monkey!

That night, Daddy performed a brilliant homemade fix to the crib so that Nathan (aka The Termite, as nicknamed by Aunt Carrie) couldn't commit any further crib crimes.

Here's Nathan on his 9-month birthday!  He's becoming such a big boy (but is still Mommy's baby!)

Grandma & Grandpa happened to be in our neck of the woods on Saturday so they swung by for a bit.  Here's Nathan in Grandma's arms enjoying his first teething biscuit.  I was told that most kids gnaw on them for quite a while.  Nathan inhaled it in about 1 minute!

Such a cutie - crumby face and all!

This past week in the nursery Kevan was told that Nathan was his clone - no doubt!

Here's the fish bath book making its debut in the bear picture - he can't seem to keep his hands off this lately!

Fun around the house!

Here's Nathan reading a magazine...don't you just love his raised eyebrows!?!?

Taking a break from reading to enjoy a little refreshment...yeah, he doesn't quite get it completely yet!  But, this past week he started feeding himself puffs like nobody's business - I sprinkled a bunch on his high chair tray and he couldn't shovel them in fast enough!

Back to reading!

As you can see, while Nathan and Mommy are hard at play all day, this is what Baxter and Hobbes are doing.  Notice Hobbes at the foot of the bed - he likes to build himself a little igloo to cuddle under.

Lately, Nathan has become fascinated with his car seat.  Another thing that fascinates him is picking up the area rugs and looking under them.  I can't seem to get a picture of this but it's so funny to watch him do!

Our little explorer!

Daddy put Nathan in here and he just had a ball!  Although he's not yet eating Sun Chips, he's been introduced to pears (which he's a fan of), round roast (which he'll only eat if it's blended with veggies, but we can't blame him because it has a dry, chalky texture) and brussel sprouts (which he loves, just like his Grandma Pratt - they may even replace brocolli as his favorite food). 

Are those baby blues gorgeous or what!  Oh - one of Nathan's milestones last week was going from a standing position to a sitting position all by himself!  He stands at the couch and then lets go and kind of falls down on his bum!

We spend hours each week sitting in front of the front door watching the cars and people go by.  Nathan is learning to wave at them as they pass by.

What a cutie!

Nathan has some fun nesting boxes that he likes Mommy to stack up so he can knock down.  He likes to wear this one as a hat!

Daddy just loves Nathan in this shirt - Mommy loves this picture because it shows off Nathan's beautiful eye lashes.

We finally hung up this magnificent piece of needlepoint that Great Aunt Sandy made for Nathan.  Without even realizing the color of Nathan's room she matched the border exactly with his walls!

Our little guy is getting so long and starting to thin out a bit!