Salem: Nine Months

The last time I posted “basket photos” of Salem was when she turned three months old.  I had taken her four-month photos right before we left for Cleveland for Spring Break (a couple of days early, in fact, just to be sure).  I hadn’t yet gotten around to posting them when my mom died.

And then I just couldn’t.  Every month I have diligently taken her basket photos, but it hurt too much to think about posting or writing.  So now that we’re effectively six months behind, I’m going to post them, starting with Nine Months–how old she is now.  Then I’ll go back to Four Months and catch up.

At nine months old, Salem is crawling like a crazy toddler with a whistle is chasing her.  Oh wait, she actually IS crawling like a crazy toddler named Tyler is chasing her with a whistle he unearthed from a pile of ten-cent toys in his room.  Video of that to come.

She loves to eat, and it’s like Eric and I are feeding a baby for the first time, because Tyler almost never ate food.  We tried and he wasn’t into it and drank plenty of breastmilk so we didn’t push it.  So, we didn’t know what it was like to have a messy baby in a high chair.  Or what to feed a baby with no teeth.  Salem is a pig, and a messy pig at that. Organic homemade baby food blends? Pshaw.  This girl eats Chick-fil-A, collard greens, salmon, ice cream, pickles, and Lord knows what else.  She has yet to decline anything.  Still, she’s only about 15 pounds and rocking 3 month onesies.  She must burn a lot of calories crawling away from Mr. Whistlepants.

I have a box of baby dresses that were mine.  My mom used them to decorate for my baby shower when I was pregnant with Tyler (we didn’t know what we were having) and then brought the box out to us one time when my parents drove to Colorado.  I hadn’t thought much about them after Tyler was born (for obvious reasons) but after Salem was born I was excited to drag them out.  I knew they were bigger, though, mostly 12 months and up, so I hadn’t done it yet when my mom visited after Salem was born.  I so, so, so wish we could have gone through that box together.  I know my mom would have loved to remember when I was a baby and wore them 36 years ago and would have loved even more to see Salem wear them.

The romper she is wearing in her photos was mine.  She wore the coordinating dress to church last week.  I’m actually surprised how well these clothes have held up baking in a 100-degree attic at my parents house for over 30 years.  I think she looks adorable in this vintage outfit.

Tyler, who lately has been resisting looking at the camera, tried to get into every one of these photos.  Salem obviously loved sharing her shoot with him.