Derek at 8 & 9 Months

Every month, we've been taking portraits at Sears, tracking Derek's growth on a month-to-month basis. Here are some pics from his 8th and 9th month sessions.

Derek at 8 months:












Derek at 9 Months:

Lots of New Milestones For Our Little Man...Our Baby Can Crawl!!!

Within a month's span since the last time I wrote an entry in this blog, there have been a lot of new actions and discoveries for our little man Derek Joshua. He just turned 9 months old this past Tuesday and already he is recognizing and picking up things at a rapid pace. First off, our boy can spot Elmo in the pages of his books. Speaking of pointing at things, we have a hole in our ceiling from a recent minor water leak and when we ask Derek "where's the hole?", he quickly looks into the direction of the ceiling. Derek has also grown a 2nd tooth, right next to his first one at the bottom of his mouth. With these two teeth, he bites toys and sometimes Erica and I. Those things are sharp! He now gives kisses on command, especially slimy, drooly ones. Yum! Also, I'm not trying to jumpstart a career for him in the NBA, but when I dribble a basketball, he copies my hand motion like if he was dribbling too. As soon as he starts walking, we're buying him a little tykes basketball hoop!







One of the biggest milestones not just for Derek and our family, but for any other baby and their parents is his ability to crawl. Our boy can crawl, and not just an army type of crawl, but a full out hands and needs motion. Once we put him down, sitting up position, he goes straight into crawling position and moves like Lebron James. It was not too long ago where he could barely sit up. Now his so mobile that its tough to keep up with the little guy. Sometimes after crawling, he sits up and rocks back and forth, another cool thing we noticed. He also crawls toward toys and knocks down rubber block towers. He can also pull himself up by grabbing onto furniture.





Our baby also sleeps through the night! For a little while, he was sleeping at his usual 7:30-8:00 PM bed time, but he would get up at around midnight. Now he's out like a light from the same bed time to about 5:30-6:30 AM. Not only that, he is now comfortable sleeping in his crib. We're pretty sure it was the mattress because when we picked up a new one, that's when he started to sleep in. Speaking of his crib, he pulls himself up in it and plays and babbles, putting himself to sleep. He does the same thing when he wakes up. I think its his way of telling mommy and daddy to get up. He's our personal alarm clock, but instead of a high pitched noise, its a laughing and chill baby. Also, since he likes to stand up in his crib, we had to lower the mattress. Otherwise, he could easily climb out of there.

Man Derek is growing so fast. Before we know it, he'll be running around all over the place!