He is 9 months old. And, the changes since Christmas have been crazy. He is into everything. He is standing, cruising, and as of yesterday, climbing stairs.

He barely naps (I can usually get him to take, maybe a 45 minute nap a day), but he makes up for it at night. Usually sleeping around 13 hours, waking once or twice for a bottle.

Of course, now that will all change since I just blogged about it. Oh well, I enjoyed the 13 hours while it lasted.

This blog is sure "The Tucker Show" lately, I know. The girls are their usual awesome selves. We had an Ant exterminator come the other day, and Kaitlyn just loved the guy. I can't believe how grown up she acted, she looked right at him and asked: "Have you ever heard of a Monarch Butterfly?"

Then, they went on to have a rather in-depth conversation about Monarch butterflies. About where they lived, colours, etc. She was so grown up about it. My 3-year old is growing up!

And, Eva is loving school. She had a great time ice skating with her class last week. And, is still enjoying her swim lessons. And, loves having playdates with her classmates. She likes doing her homework, too (side note: First Graders have way too much homework!). She has a different home-reading book every day. And, these word sorts she has to cut out, sort and play games with. It exhausts me, really. But, she quite enjoys it. And, Eva and her Dad share this strange love of math. Eva often asks Nich to make her math problems, so he writes a couple dozen out (addition), and she does them. She loves it! And, I can't believe she already knows what 12+12 is. She must have her Daddy's brain.

And, the rest of the update? We are drowning in house problems. We had a septic flood downstairs, which we are still dealing with. This led to lots more problems, the most fun being an ant infestation. So, we are tired. And cranky. But, we'll make it. Just trying to focus on the blessings in life, and having faith that the rest will work out. This has been a hard season of life for us, I'm not going to lie. But, I can tell God is at work, and this is all slowly being weaved into something beautiful.

It's just a little unfair that now that my baby is sleeping decently, the girls are up half the night. I am baffled.

But, anyhow, wanted to share a few more photos of the kidlets. I took these this morning, while Eva was at school, that's why she isn't represented. I don't have favourites. In fact, I miss Eva, maybe I should homeschool.

Kidding. Kinda.

No, in all seriousness I am pretty impressed with the elementary school here. They are going ice skating as a class THREE times in the next couple months. And in the spring? They'll be going to the pool. Now, that is just plain awesome.

Anyways, Tucker is sleeping and he is motoring around like nobody's business. All this means? A well-rested me with more time on my hands. Time to play with my real camera, time to share those photos with my friends and family....and time to do a hundred other things that have been hard to do the last 8 months.... housecleaning, making healthy lunches, keeping on top of laundry. I'm a new woman! I feel human again!

Wow, I went off topic there.... here's some pictures...

He's crawling!

I wrote on my Facebook status that he crawled to his Daddy...but what I left out was that it was only with the assistance of Sophie the Giraffe. Nich crouched down on the other side of the room as Tucker, who was in the crawling position on the opposite side. Calling and calling him to no avail. I threw Nich Sophie the Giraffe to squeak, and he took off! Crawling across the rug to attain his prized toy.

He says "Dada" and means it, too. As soon as Nich walks in the door, Tucker starts flapping, and saying "Dadadadada Dadadada", until Nich swoops him up and gives him a snuggle. And, if you ask him where Daddy is, he'll look at Nich and say "Dada".

Precious.

Now, he really needs to learn "Mama", since I am the one who changes 99% of his diapers, I should really be rewarded, no?

He eats like a machine. Bananas and Arrowroot crackers are his favourite.

At mealtime, if he eats everything on his tray and we don't notice, he'll start pounding it until we fill it up again.

He loves the puppy. LOVES the puppy.

And the puppy loves him. I am so impressed with Marley, I have taught her the command "Gentle", so she barely budges when Tucker plays with her. He'll tug at her mouth, poke her eyeball, yank her collar and she'll just lay there and hardly blink. Such a good pup. I have to be there supervising, reminding her to be "gentle" and praising her, but it's working, and I am so impressed at what a good dog she is.

He also loves to watch his sisters, who enjoys playing peek-a-boo with him. Or, just watching whatever they are doing. Playing, fighting, singing, dancing....he finds it all amusing.

He usually sleeps from 7:30pm-7:30am, waking maybe one time or so for a bottle.

Now that he is on the move, he is so happy. He was a pretty happy baby before, but now he is besides himself with joy. He loves getting into things, exploring, finding, tipping over and slurping up my lattes.... I need to get used to having a baby on the move.

He still falls over when he sits up. He just gets so excited and then tips over. This is strange to me, as both my girls were sitting by themselves a looong time ago. And, I still have to put a pillow behind him, because at any moment he will get distracted and tip over. Funny little boy.

When it's bath night, he usually sits in Eva's lap and plays. He LOVES the bath. And his sisters think it's fun having 'their baby' in the bath with them.

I can't believe he is 8 1/2 months old already. I love that he's getting bigger and more independent, and it's always a thrill to watch them learn new things. BUT, he's my last baby. I want this to last forever!