Eight and Nine Months

I'm super far behind on these, but want to keep posting so I have them at the end of a year. 

At 8 and 9 months, Luca: 

• Weighs 18 lbs, 6 oz, as of his 9 month check-up
• Measures in at about 28 inches 
• Is crawling, everywhere. I was looking at a video and realized that over the month of July he went from really just dragging himself to full out, stomach off the floor crawling.
• Can pull himself up on chairs, the coffee tablw, his crib—basically anywhere he can get his hands on
• Will  “walk” from one side of the crib to the other. The most fun is watching him actually trying to figure out if it’s something he can master. He doesn’t just jump in and try – he looks, weighs his options, sometimes he’ll put his hand out to test it out, and then if he thinks he can make, he goes for it. I love watching his mind work, and imagining if this will be a personality trait he’ll have.
• Opens the lower kitchen cabinets. The other day I let him sit there and open the cabinets on the small island in the kitchen, while I washed some of his bottles. A few minutes later all the mats and bags and everything else was on the floor, but it’s all just exploration, right?
• Wants to eat everything. It’s gotten to the point now where if he sees us eating anything—I'm talking, a granola bar after work anything—he wants something too. 
• And he’s a good eater. Right now his rotation includes: scrambled eggs, yogurt, pasta, meatballs, guacamole, watermelon, peaches, hummus. And then he’ll have basically any of the jars or pouches that we give him. 
• Started to pick up his puffs on his own. 
• Has become slightly more difficult to take to restaurants. We still do it, and it’s not that bad, but now he’d rather be in our arms instead of sitting in one of the high chairs. We’ve finally realized he basically just needs to eat at the same time that we’re eating and it’ll all be fine. #learning
• Went to the pool for the first time and loved it.

At 8 and 9 months, I:

• Am feeling like myself again—for real this time. I know I’ve been saying it since the beginning and maybe that’s what this whole post-partum mess is all about. Slowly feeling like yourself, day by day. At least that's how it's been for me. The emotional side of pregnancy hit me hard and, honestly, it was the part I didn’t except. I was ready for nausea and the tired-ness for the back pain and not being able to see my toes for awhile. But while I thought some emotion would be normal, I just thought it would be a happy, awe-struck time of watching my body change and grow this person. It was like that maybe 1/10^th of the time. Sure, I liked the way my body looked and I was in awe of the fact that my body was literally housing another heartbeat. But my emotions were all over the place. I felt like a different person. And now, now I don’t so much.
• I went back to a kickboxing class and finally joined a studio. I have 3 personal training sessions and classes at two separate studios whenever I want.
• Had some hot yoga classes that I needed to take and I loved it. Like, I would do it every day if I could. But realistically, they’re $27 a class and even if I were to get an entire year membership, it doesn’t feel that worth it at the moment. But if you’re looking for a class, I highly recommend Yoga Spark in Mamaroneck. So so good.
• Am learning to take care of myself. You always hear it right? It takes a village, you need a break sometimes. It’s ok to rely on other people. And I do: I mean, I rely on my family every day to watch the baby. But I’m also realizing that sometimes I need a time out and that’s ok too.
• Am super excited for our beach vacation in a couple weeks. We rented a house on Cape Cod and we’re going to have various members of our family up on different days and I really can't wait to just have an entire week together. 
• Since I have been feeling “back to normal,” I’ve also been back to my normal self. Trying to pack as much stuff as I can into a short period of time. It’s the wanting to do the yoga classes and the everything else. And I’m realizing I have to be choosy about what I want to add, and that really, it also means I have to subtract sometimes.