9 months

Well, sweet girl, you are 9 months old. What a big girl!

Weight: 17.5 lbs....so petite. 

Height: Don't know. We'll get an update in a couple of weeks at your appointment.

Sizes: You're wearing a size 3 diaper. Your 9 month clothes are just now at the point where they fit you perfectly. I think you'll need to move to 12 month pjs soon. You always outgrow those first. I had to do a major pack-up of all the clothes from 3-6 months (even though you can still wear some of your 6 month outfits).

What you’re up  to:

- You are getting so close to crawling . You are scooting and inch-worming and rolling where you want to go. Usually, that means that there is something across the room that you are not supposed to have…that always makes you move at light speed. Your favorite thing to go for is electrical cords. I have to keep them up and out of the way or behind furniture. 

- You have 4 teeth and you look very grown up with them. I think you are getting more because we haven’t slept well in this house for 2 months. You wake up crying a lot and I know you’re hurting. It makes me sad.

- You are a crazy bather lately. You want to crawl around and reach for things that are not in your bathtub. We need to get you a bath seat for the big tub because you are just too squirmy for that little tub. You love the water. I think you will like swimming some day.

*Update: We went to Marmee and Grandad's a few days before Thanksgiving. You spit up in your tub one night, so your daddy let you sit in the regular tub. You LOVED it. So the baby tub is out and bathing free is in!*

- We took you to the dr. last week because of a lingering cold/congestion and some tummy troubles. The dr. was concerned that you might not be digesting milk very well, so she switched you to soy formula for a month. I was very worried that you would not like it since it smells and tastes different. But, I should have known, you didn’t even bat an eye.

- You have started giving kisses this month. For awhile, you would just open your mouth and slobber all over me a million times. But how could I not let you kiss me?! Then, I guess you started associating kissing with my kissing you on the forehead, so you started just butting me with your forehead every time I asked for a kiss. Now you’ve figured it out. I could just get kisses from you all day. It’s so precious.

- You are definitely more independent these days. You will hold your own bottle and get your puffs. You’ve also had some “real” food. Tonight, we ate a little cracker together. You love when I put an orange slice in your teether so that you can eat the juice. If we can just get your tummy troubles worked out, I think you will love food!

- You had your first Halloween this month. You were a strawberry. Everyone loved your sweet costume. We went to the church fall festival and we also went trick-or-treating on the square. You loved watching all the people.

- We took you to a pumpkin patch at a local church for some pictures. It was a great little outing for us. You loved the pumpkins…you wanted to kiss them over and over. But they were dirty, so I put a stop to that. 

- You say lots of “words” now. You say “Dada”, “Mama”, “baba”, and sometimes (if you’re feeling generous) you’ll even say “Uh-oh” if we say it first. I also think that you say “Hi” or “Hey” after we do, but I can’t tell if it’s on purpose. You will also shake your head when we say "No-no-no". (This is both cute and probably bad...ha!)

- You are starting to wave at people, but we can’t get you to do it when we want. Ha! You just wave whenever you feel like it.  Usually, this is when we’re in a big crowd and there are lots of people to impress.

- When you get very excited, you kick and squirm just like you’re a swimming frog. We call it “swimming” – so I guess you’re ready for the pool! Ha!

- Everyone loves you so much. We can’t go anywhere without someone wanting to see you and compliment us on how sweet you are. Your Marmee and Grandad came for a visit last week, and when Marmee and I took you shopping, we couldn’t get out of a store without being stopped by someone wanting to talk to you. I always just smile and say “thank you”, but really I’m thinking how much I agree with every word. 

- You are in love with the dogs, especially Remus. You love to be in your bouncer when he is inside. Then you can reach out and pet his ears. He will sniff your face and you just go crazy with excitement. He is so patient with you, and, unlike Darsee, he doesn’t lick you. So it works out great.

The next time I write an update, it will almost be Christmas! Oh my goodness, you are changing and growing every single day. We went to the NWA Boutique Show tonight and I saw a sign that I told your ReeRee was so true. It said, “A child fills a place in your heart that you didn’t even know was empty.” Elysen Ashleigh, this is so true. You may not sleep well and you may get fussy sometimes, but I just love you more every single day. My heart is so full because you are in my life. 

Family photo at the pumpkin patch!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!