Nine months

This past week, Akira turned 9 months old. It’s unbelievable how fast his first year is going and even more insane to realize that he’s been around on the outside for as long as he was on the inside. With two bottom teeth and two upper teeth about to cut, this kid is continuing to wow us with his milestones. He’s been gaining speed when it comes to crawling and is becoming more and more confident each time he pulls himself up to stand. He’s been laughing a lot and really learning the fine art of playing with his sister while I am off in a different room getting stuff done that actually really needs to get done. And oh, my goodness, you guys. There is so much to get done.
Now that we’ve officially purchased our home (yay!), we are currently in the throes of having it renovated before we move in. Our projected move-in date is at the end of this month, which works out because we have to be out of our condo by then as well. So that means the packing and purging has officially begun. Yes, I understand that there are still a few weeks to go, but when the only time I can pack is between naps, I squeeze it in as much as possible. Also, because we’ve moved so much, I’m trying to knock it all out, so I don’t feel rushed when moving day quickly approaches. Of course, I’m still making sure not to get too caught up in the whole moving and packing thing, though. I still need to remember to take breaks and enjoy our time as a family.
We celebrated Jesse’s birthday over the weekend with an outing to Piedmont Park. It was a beautiful, unseasonably cool Sunday, so we picked up provisions, packed a picnic and spent our day outside. Something we’ve noticed about Akira is that he really enjoys being outside, and we’ve also discovered that when he’s stimulated by time outdoors, he tends to sleep better at night. And by “better,” I mean that he’ll sleep for nine-hour stretches. Armed with this in our back pocket now, we try to get him out as much as possible! After hours in the shade on a picnic blanket, we retreated home and left both kids with a babysitter, so that Jesse and I could get some much-needed adult time. I normally have Akira fed and leave a bottle with the sitter just in case she needs it—but not this time! I actually took my time getting ready and didn’t worry about Akira. I left our sitter equipped with everything she would need to feed him and put him to bed. It felt liberating to walk out worry- and stress-free.
It’s funny—even though Jesse and I were kid-free for his birthday dinner, we still talked about them. A lot. No matter how much time we spend with them and no matter how much time we need to spend without them, we still can’t stop talking about them. Time away from them makes us better parents to them and better people to each other. It’s really a win-win for all. When we got home, I snuck into the kids’ room and heard both of them softly purring in their sleep. I fixed their blankets and walked back into our bedroom. Moments like that remind me that we’re doing this whole family thing right. Sure, there’s a lot going on. But we stick together and make it work, remembering to try to enjoy as much of the small stuff as possible.