#3

Hi - I have been bad at posting lately, just busy I guess.

Little Tarik is not so little anymore actually. According to the scientific 'hold him and get on a scale, then hop on the scale by myself' method, he weighs 21.4 pounds). We will have an official weight tomorrow after his 9 month checkup.
He definitely out weighs his 2007 cousins and I am fairly certain he outweighs any of my other kiddos at 9 months. The only contender is Katie, so I need to dig out her baby book to double check.

He FINALLY has his 3rd tooth. I think (but am too lazy to check) that he got his first and second teeth in late October - like his second week at daycare after I went back to work. So, it has been 3 months and I kept thinking it should be anytime. I found out tonight when I heard him grinding his teeth. He kept doing it and I had to try to distract him with toys to chew on. What a little trooper, he doesn't seem bothered by it all.

Tarik is close to crawling, but at this point it is mostly getting on his hands and knees, then rocking for awhile - excitedly eyeing the toy in front of him, then going backwards and eventually getting stuck under a chair. Poor baby. But he doesn't seem to mind. He is also close to pulling himself up. If I stand him up against the couch or in his crib, he loves it and can hang out for awhile.
It is just so fun to watch him grow. He is a sweet little baby and just makes me giggle when we play. Oh yeah, he also waves - bye or hi - now! (sheesh, it has been obviously been awhile since I posted!)

Updates for the other 3... same old, same old. Not quite as many changes when you are older than 1, I guess. Annalise is still not potty-trained, but she is almost 3 (can you believe it?!??) and I have convinced her that 3 years olds HAVE to use the potty. So, we will see how that goes.

Katie and Jack are both having a good year in school. We have conferences in a couple weeks, so I guess we will know for sure then. ;) They can be huge helps for me with Tarik in the mornings, when we have the daily time crunch. They still love to feed him, or hold him for me when I need a minute. Nothing makes me happier than when I am watching Jack smiling and talking to Tarik and I can see the total love in his heart. He is a wonderful brother. And Katie is a great little momma to Tarik. She wants to help with it all, except the poppy diapers. Annalise is like Jack too - she baby-talks to Tarik and he eats it up - smiling and babbling back at her.

Ahhhhhh, life is great!