We didn't rush the return journeys.  On Sunday morning the kids got out all their wiggles while I searched high and low to gather all our stuff back into the car. 

At the height of Jack's Frozen obsession, he bemoaned my lack of grandfather clock so he could recreate a moment.  Wish fulfilled:












We tried to get a nice picture of Grandma with her two great-grandsons.  We succeeded in taking the pictures, but I'm not sure if any of them are nice.  There's a lot of silly to wrangle.







We bid our good-byes to Layton and stopped in SLC to see Andy and Jenn.  The dogs were thrilled. 








Then it was time to origami Dad into the backseat for a long drive.  He kept the boys happy by plying them with french fries, blueberries, and cookies.



Ah, such a beautiful sight!






 
 
(He tattooed his name on his fist.  What a thug.)




This was taken as we pulled out on the road.  Both boys were asleep by Palisade.  It was the easiest of the four drives, for both traffic and kids' moods. 



Today?  Happy to be home, playing with new toys, taking extra naps, and exploring the crawling skills honed in Utah.  Boy, do I have some baby-proofing to do.

I've been meaning to take the kids to Utah for ages.  I still hadn't met my new adopted cousins, who have been here for years.  Plus visiting the rest of my mom'a side of the family, and my brother and his wife, so we really needed to visit.

Last week.

Start with a little sleep.  If Sam sleeps until at least 6:15, that's a good morning.  If he lets me go back to bed for twenty minutes after I fill his tummy, that's even better.

Exercise first thing to get it out of the way.  Sam plays on the floor and dances to Ke$ha with me.  Meanwhile Jack gets himself up and is watching Digimon in the kitchen. 

Breakfast next.  Leftover crumpets (yay for Trader Joe's!) with fruit and smoothie.  A fried egg for me.

BWAA HAHA HA HA!  They had zucchini in their smoothies!  I win at mothering!

Shower and style my new do, that I dyed last night.  Summer always makes me want to do something new with my hair.  This might be the most fetching self photo I've taken in years, despite the broken dresser and unmade bed.



Sam took a nap and we cleaned Jacks' room.  It was remarkable because we did it together without tears shed by either party.

Then off to the usual story time.  


 
Oh wow.  There they are.  Beautiful.

Stopped at MickleDonnull's for cold drinks and a bag of ice before having lunch at home.  Sam is starting with some leftover hamburger, and Jem thinks Sam is A-OK. 



Quiet time for both boys - the best part of the day.  Sam woke up shortly though.  I have him play while I finished up some work. 


Not pictured: Me having an anxiety attack over Sam coughing and sneezing this morning.  I can't break this healthy streak yet!

I'm a day late in posting here, but the pictures are from yesterday's Friday the 13th when Sammy turned 9 months old!  Sam's personality has bloomed this month.



He pulls a lot of funny faces.  He smiles at the camera.  He hides himself to play peek-a-boo.  He roared at Jack today while they were play-wrestling.



He grew three new teeth over the past month.



This is not a great picture below, but it captures a bit of his full-face grin.  He squints and bares his teeth and it's so cute!



He still loves being in his bouncer.  He jumps with his hands in the air, like a roller coaster thrill-seeker.  He dances with his arms in time to music.  He likes books.  We read Goodnight Moon every night and he always stops on "Goodnight kittens" to pet them.  He turns the pages too. 



He shares his food and pacifier.  His eating skills are a lot better after New York.  We can let him sit and eat on his own at meals, instead of constantly managing his food for him.  We've been doing signs and he might be starting to do them.  It's hard to tell, but I think he has a proto-sign for "more" and "all done."



This photo session was super brief.  He flailed, rolled, and lunged all over the bed.  I can't leave him on the bed anymore.  I used to put a pillow barricade and let him play up there while I exercised in the same room.  When Jack was with him, I would take a quick shower.  Now I can hardly have him on the bed while I hover over him.  He fell off the sofa-bed in NYC and didn't learn his lesson.  He will gladly plunge headfirst into the rock pile off our patio if I wasn't there holding him by the waist.  



He's so close to crawling.  He leans forward to get up on one foot and one knee.  Sometimes he gets on all for and rocks.  Andy day now he will figure it out. 

My phone is the holy grail for him.  I pulled it out to check a message, and the smiles were over.  I had to hand him my phone to get more pics. 



THE GLORY IS MINE!



I rarely let him touch it, because it goes in his mouth.  Look at my flickr set for evidence.




Nine months and ready to take on the world.