The Kerns Family is Growing....

Soooo, I think it has been about 4 months since our last blog.... sorry!!! We are back to try and make up for some lost time. We have done quite a lot in the last 4 months. Mark and I celebrated 6 years together, a mothers day and a fathers day and couldn't be happier being together and being parents. We have been able to see the beauty and wonder that is a growing child. Each and every day brings new joys and also new challenges. As soon as you think you have it figured out, everything changes and it's back to the drawing board or changing table, haa haa! We cherish every moment with our little guy, whether it be a frustrating one or amazing one!

Joel has turned 6, 7, 8, and 9 months and he is only 7 days away from turning 10 months. We can't believe that we are only 2 months away from his first birthday!! He has also taken a few swim lessons, followed by several ear infections (5 total), which resulted in ear tubes that were put in 2 weeks ago. They are working great too, so we will be back in the pool for the summer, yay!! We took a trip to Joshua Tree, visited the Long Beach Aquarium and have taken many, many walks to the park to swing and slide on the playground. Joel has also attended his first and definitely not his last NHL Hockey game as well, he is a Ducks fan all the way!

Joel has also accomplished many "milestones" as the pediatricians like to say.... crawling (6 months), crawling really fast (6.5 months), crawling, then sitting, then crawling again and then pulling himself up to standing (7 months), feeding himself finger foods (8.5 months), and waving good-bye (9 months). Shortly after learning to pull himself up to standing he somehow coerced his daddy to hold his hands so he could walk laps around the house, which he LOVES doing!!!! By coerced, I mean that he smiled and grabbed Mark's fingers and started to walk forward until Mark followed, it was pretty dang cute! He definitely knows what he wants and goes after it. Now he is on the verge of 10 months and is ready to start walking on his own. He has taken about 5 steps on his own, with a little help from momentum ;) I predict that he will figure this skill out in the next week or two, but we will see. All in all, our 20 lbs, two-toothed (working on a 3rd) little bundle of joy is growing leaps and bounds each day and we just can't wait to see what he learns next.

Here are a few pics to catch you all up on the little man....