9 Months

Apparently I'm not so good at keeping up with the blog and I really wish that I had more time and energy to do it. These past few weeks have been very overwhelming and stressful for us but somehow God always seems to work out the details. Benjamin turned 9 months old on October 7 and we took him to his check-up the following weekend. Our little 7 lbs. 12 oz. baby has grown to 19 lbs. 4 oz. The other day I compared a photo of him at 6 weeks with one recently taken at his daycare and I couldn't believe it was the same little boy. Now Benjamin has grown into a very, very active infant who cannot sit still for a moment. Getting lotion and pj's on after bathtime is a 2-person battle and diaper changes really require a certain degree of patience. His crawling has become very fast, his smiles even larger, and his "talking" even louder. We often find ourselves staring at him and smiling. He has recently learned the art of waving and has mesmerized several people at a time with it.
Our finances seem to go up and down with each passing day. Thankfully we are still afloat and have found some new ways to cope. The weather recently has caused some joint swelling and very achy muscles for me, but I seem to be the healthiest one of the bunch with Stephen sick and Benjamin coughing and going through periods of teething at the same time. Recently it has become more and more difficult for me to get up in the morning, take on my responsibilities at work, and then come home to my energetic son. Late evenings and a lot of traffic have only added to the drain. I couldn't think of a better way to be tired though than having a healthy, joyful child, a meaningful job, and an otherwise blessed existence (a house, a genuinely devoted husband, and many other unmentioned things.) Even though I am often exhausted and sore on my long drives to and from work, my mind inevitably wanders to how truly blessed that we are.
Here are a couple of recent photos of Benjamin. I will add a few more from recent months in some upcoming posts. You can see why some days are harder than others to get out of bed.