Ever is 9 months old already!

This isn’t my first rodeo and I STILL can’t believe how fast it’s gone by. She’s such a frickin delight of a human being already and we all just love her so much. She’s scooting around pretty fast on her belly and can get up on her knees pretty well. She just hasn’t figured out how to achieve forward motion yet. (Which is fine! My big kids never properly crawled either). She’s *everywhere* though, so Sean finished up the baby proofing today.

It’s been an interesting couple of months for us, with me being back to work. I’m really loving getting to see my clients, but I’m also worried we’re going to get shut down again soon. The COVID numbers just aren’t looking good. I would feel a lot safer if I knew people were still social distancing, but most of the people I talk to simply aren’t that afraid of the virus anymore. A lot of them don’t wear masks unless it’s required and that’s scary to someone in the service industry. I keep my room and the shop, in general, at a level of cleanliness where I’m certain no virus could possibly survive on any surfaces, but we’re all still sucking down the same air from behind our masks. I’m so grateful for my job; it’s just such a strange time to be working.

Speaking of work, Sean actually took the entire month of July off to be home with the baby. His request for 8 hours a week of FMLA time got denied, so he decided to just take it all in one chunk instead. This worked out really well since July is my busiest month of the year and I could work six days a week while he was home with Ever. It’s been delightful having him around so much and I really haven’t even allowed myself to think about what things will look like when he goes back to work. I know we’re gonna need childcare soon and I’m just dreading it. I never paid for childcare for my big kids and I’m just out of my depth trying to figure out what’s reasonable for both safety and cost. Part of me just wants to go back to working three days a week and stay home with her the rest of the time. We’ll just have to see if we can make that work financially.

Childcare aside, I’m gonna miss Sean when he goes back to work. Our usual schedule is great for work, but horrible for us getting to have any time together. That’s one of the reasons we took a risk and went away for a long weekend in Hood River. It was just a few nights, but it was really nice to go with just the three of us. I broke the bed at our Airbnb (nothing exciting, unfortunately, I just sat on it!) but we ended up just fine on the box spring and mattress on the floor for the rest of our stay. The baby was happy the whole time - she loves having both of her parents at her beck and call.

We got a lot of takeout, but did end up eating at a restaurant after we checked out on the last day we were there. They did a good job of keeping the tables separated and the place felt really clean, but then Ever decided to chew on the side of the table, so I guess we really put that theory to the test. The food was excellent though!

The highlight of the trip was when the three of us were all snuggled together and Ever kept saying, “Mama” over and over again. I said, “yup that’s me, but who’s this guy?” and pointed at Sean and she immediately said, “Dada,” like DUH. It was the cutest thing ever.

Yesterday she said “daddy” as clear as day and Sean’s pretty sure she said “baby” this morning. God I love this phase so much. Nine months is peak baby time (post-newborn, pre-toddler) and we’re soaking up every second.

The big kids are doing well aside from the announcement that school will be online-only in the Fall. They are both super bummed, but I’m 100% relieved not to have to be the bad guy. (They don’t know this, but I was planning to keep them home either way). We literally never fight anymore and I was dreading the ensuing blowout. This way at least it’s not my fault.