Eli is 9 Months Old

Our baby Eli is 9 months old. This little boy has brought so much love, laughter and joy into our home. He smiles, laughs and squeals all the day long. He is such a good baby. If he cries, we know it's for a good reason. He is finally sleeping really well through the night, like 10-12 hours & takes two naps a day.  He has NO teeth yet, but his gums are SO swollen, I feel so bad for him. He started crawling at about 8 1/2 months old. It was so fun because Scott, Lucy and I were there for his first crawl, it was amazing! Lucy was so excited for him. She ran over, gave him a kiss and said, "Good job, E.I.!". He quickly learned how to stand up and now tries to stand up on everything. His favorite thing to do is crawl over to the stairs, stand up on the 1st stair and look over to see if I'm watching. When I get him in the morning he is standing up in his crib and he looks so darn happy and adorable. Eli is the most active little guy. I should have known because when I was pregnant with him he would kick me like crazy! Scott and I call him 'thumper' because we don't have to look at the video baby monitor to see if he is awake because we can hear him thrashing around in his crib from all over the house. He is still nursing 4-5 times a day, but he LOVES to eat. It has been such a relief that he likes to eat. We still struggle with getting Lucy to eat. He will eat anything, we haven't found anything he doesn't like. We feed him mainly table food along with bread, cereal, yogurt, cheese and fruit. He shoves food in his mouth as fast as he can with both hands. I just love it. You'd think he'd be huge, but he is just a little guy. His stats are: 16.8 lbs (5%), 28.25 inches (55%) and head 17.5 inches (30%). After his 9 month appointment we started him on whole milk, in addition to nursing, so I think that he will start gaining weight. I just love the relationship Lucy and Eli have. They absolutely LOVE each-other, but they also fight a lot too! Lucy will just randomly push him over and steal his toys. But, she also HAS to kiss him good night and she comforts him when he is sad. Eli HATES having his diaper and clothes changed and usually fights it. Lucy will run over and start singing to him and he will stop. In the car Lucy has to be able to see her 'baby E.I.' or she throws a fit. I just can't get enough of these two, it is truly amazing the love between them. Eli is a mommy boy, but he adores his daddy too. He gets so excited when Scott comes home from work. He gives him the biggest hugs and lays his head on Scott's shoulder. It is so darling. Having Eli as part of our family is incredible. I feel SO LUCKY to be Eli and Lucy's mom. Life is SO sweet.