Jane @ 9 months

So this is a week and change over due. I've been working most nights lately on my thesis. It's actually moving along. Shhh. Don't tell anyone, but I might actually finish it.

Jane at 9 months. She crawls. She army crawled for like two days and then all of a sudden she just figured it out. She's so independent now. I know it seems silly to say, but it feels like it. She's able to get where she wants to go, mostly. It's fun to watch her go for things or find her toys. She always takes a direct route too. She never goes around things, like it's not even an option. For example, our table in our nook has these wooden beams that are low and would obstruct a lesser baby, but not Jane. After a week or so, she figured out how to get herself over that little obstacle. She also likes crawling over my chest when I lay down. She goes face first, and sometimes she takes a hard spill, but she's getting better at protecting herself.

She claps now. A lot. It's so cute because she does it whenever she's happy or excited. She claps a lot. She's got two cute little bottom teeth, but her top ones haven't popped yet even though it feels like it's been awhile since the second of those bottom ones came out. That'll come up soon, I'm sure.

She tries to stand up against everything. Amy tells me that when she does the laundry now and brings the basket back, Jane just loves crawling into the basket and then pulling out all of the clothes.

She gets super excited for food, like verging on tears, especially in the mornings.

When I come home and she's just sitting in the living room, she puts down whatever she's playing with and crawls right over to me. It melts my heart. And when I pick her up she goes in for a hug, spreading her arms over me and putting her head on my chest.

She's also very wary of men lately. She just doesn't seem to like men. Any really, except for me.

It's indescribable what she makes me feel. Now when I hear single or newly married people talk about having kids in a way that isn't glowing, I mentally shake my head in disappointment for them. You have no idea what real joy is. Like it says in the temple, joy in your posterity. That's where it comes from. Joy comes from holding my petite little girl in my arms as she's falling asleep or when she squeals and kicks her legs out of excitement when I look back at her in the car.

I saw a video the other day with Louis CK, probably the top stand-up comic at the moment. He talks a lot about being a parent in his routines, although he's pretty vulgar a lot of the time. He said, "what the he** is an adult without kids? What's the point?" I loved it. I love being a dad. I love my little Jane at 9 months.

You can see the clip here, if you'd like. It's clean.