9 months has come and gone!

Dearest baby girl,

Hard to believe you’ve been out of my tummy for longer than you were in!  In fact, I’m so terribly tardy at documenting your little month-milestones that you’re on your way to claiming the 10-month one, and I’ve yet to celebrate #9.  So let’s remedy that, shall we?   

At the beginning of your 9th month, we spent a week at the beach (I promise, pictures are coming!), and it was about this time that you cut your second tooth.  You now have two little pearly whites to show for yourself, and I must say it is quite possibly the cutest thing ever when you flash us a big ol’ grin.  You smile so big and wide these days, showing off your bare gums on top, oh man, I can hardly handle the cuteness!

You’ve now moved on from your army-crawling ways, and you are ALL OVER THE PLACE crawling on your hands and knees.  Of course your favorite playmate is your big brother, and you love crawling after him.  I must note though that your enjoyment of your brother requires a very delicate balance.  You want to be with him most all the time, and you light up when you first see him after a nap, but if he touches you in a way that you don’t care for, let’s just say you have no trouble communicating your preferences.  We really didn’t give you the nickname Miss Thang for no reason.  *please note your brother’s arm around your back in the second photo below!  I hope you realize this was most likely a hug (though it could have been a tackle)!

{fun at the pool in Lynchburg}

You also pulled yourself to standing this month, and you pretty much do this all the time now.  Bathtime, which you now happily do with your brother, has become rather challenging, as we cannot seem to have you understand that you must  sit in the tub while you’re bathing.  You are set on pulling up and hanging out over the side. 

Let’s see, what else?  You love dogs (and upon seeing one will pant with your mouth, which I’m not sure you realize is the baby sign for ‘dog’, or if you just naturally do this out of excitement?).  You are also a big fan of deli meat (turkey) these days.  You seem to be quite the little eater, which is just such relief to my soul.  We introduced you to dairy recently, and you seemed to handle it just fine.  Cheerios are another new favorite.  You love to swing too.  In fact, when I took you out of the swing at your Mimi and Papa’s house, you looked back at it and began to cry.  This month you actually got visibly scared once, which was so very sad!  A neighborhood friend put on a monkey mask and you took one look at him and let out a wail!  Poor baby!  How fascinating though, to see you learning about the world. 

love the baby chub!  At your 9-month well-check you were 17 lbs, 11 oz, putting you in the 30th percentile.  You were in the 75th percentile for height, but I don’t have the exact measurement in front of me, so I’ll have to come back later and update.

You’re also quite taken with your daddy.  It is so evident how happy you are to see him, even at such a young age, when he walks in the door from school (you’re not the only one happy to see him at the end of the day, I can guarantee you that!) Oh, and you said MaMa for the first time this month!  I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but if you keep up with the sweet mama babbling, you can probably get anything your little heart desires out of me.  (This does not bode well for us weaning those middle of the night feeds…) 

Love you always,

Mama