9 Months!

Julia is 9 Months Old!

(The heat, coupled with obscene amounts of mosquitoes, made it extra difficult to get a smile out of Julia, who seemed to be scared to move an inch off of the blanket!)
"Yes, I would like to take a break for some Puffs. Thank you very much!"

"Wow! So that's what this green stuff feels like down here in TX!"
I will never get tired of hugging this kid.
Big girl!
She's ready to take on the world...
Gran and Grampa YoYo..... Julia looks like she's about to take off running!
Me and my girls!

Julia and Mommy

9 Months! She's been out now as long as she was in...... and, the time has definitely passed by much more quickly with her here!

Here's an update:

Eating

She's nursing 4 times a day, and eating 3 meals (+ lots and lots of Puffs (see video below)). Towards the end of this last month, she has started to prefer feeding herself, so I've been trying to find good finger foods that are soft enough for her lonely two little teeth to handle, yet firm enough for her fingers to pinch and carry to her mouth. She's a big fan of mozzarella cheese and cheerios. She's also handled smashed peas pretty well. We tried eggs (scrambled, hard boiled, and snuck into her cereal) but she is far from wanting anything to do with it. She was exposed to it for a few days as we attempted to try it, so I'm assuming that at least she isn't allergic to it, and she'll come around to it some day down the road. Today we practiced feeding herself with a spoon, but we're going to need a bit more practice with that..... Messy!

Julia in her stroller about to take Delaney for a walk.

I filled the compartments with Puffs, and she instantly dove in and started popping them into her mouth. By the time I came back with the camera, half of them were gone!

Play

She just gets more and more "fun" to have around! She easily entertains herself, but in the process, entertains all those around her, too. She is speed crawling now, and constantly trying to climb and reach to new heights every day (who needs p90x when you have a mobile 9 month old?). This morning she discovered that she can reach my ceramic jack-o-lantern lights I have hanging under our television.... it's only a matter of time before they come crashing down, I'm sure. She is starting to experiment with standing on her own without holding on to anything, but this only lasts briefly, and then she's toppling over. I've witnessed her best acts in doing this while she's in her crib. She will climb up the bars, stand there for a minute, then let go with a dramatic hand lift off the railing (as if to say: "Look Ma! No hands!"), and she dives backwards, falling into her crib. Crazy girl! Something new that she loves doing is giving kisses! She will kiss anything you tell her to (and sometimes even things you don't tell her to - today she was kissing various characters in the touch and feel book we were reading), and every time she gets so excited for herself after doing it. I must say, it is awfully heartwarming to receive a big wet kiss from her after telling her to "Give Mommy a kiss!"

She continues to love her walker, and is getting very creative in maneuvering it. No matter how safe Delaney thinks she is hidden in a corner of the house, on the carpeting, or behind our table/chairs, Julia will find a way to get to her. She definitely doesn't quit! Delaney and Julia have become even better "friends" this month. When she wakes up in the morning or from a nap and I carry her out of her nursery, the first thing she looks for is Delaney and when she spots her, she gives a very appreciative grunt and squeal to her. She also seems to be catching on to what it means to "do nice" when petting Delaney.... we don't have nearly as many tail and hair pulls anymore as we once did. Julia is becoming more and more verbal every day, too! This month she added "DaDa" to her list of favorite sounds to make, and just yesterday we were lucky enough to witness her call Andy "DaDa" when he said "hi" to her. We were not expecting it at all, but were pleasantly surprised to hear it and see that she knows he is "DaDa." Next up, calling Mommy "MaMa!" MaMa was the first sound she made, but I'm not convinced she knows to label it to me yet.

Julia saying "DaDaDa" for the first time....

Sleep

She's fallen into a pretty good routine that only seems to be disrupted when there is good reason.... i.e. teething. We're going through this right now. She seems to give me early morning 5am wakeups when her teeth are trying to poke through, and once she's up, she's (very happily) ready to start her day. On a "normal" day though, bedtime is about 7pm. She sleeps through the entire night usually 'til 6 or 6:30am and then takes 2 naps lasting about an hour and twenty minutes each. And, she typically goes to sleep really easily, too! For naps, she will play in her crib for a few minutes before conking out, and at bedtime will typically protest for a little bit, but is usually quick to settle in and fall asleep. I really can't complain about sleeping these days (as long as she isn't teething!). Life is good!

Teeth

Still, she only has her two bottom teeth. I'm confident that her top two are going to poke through any day now, but nothing yet.

~

Here are some pictures from the past month! (By the way, it just so happened this month that every time I pulled out the camera, Julia often was wearing one of two outfits...... don't worry, she doesn't wear the same clothes all month long!)

This is how she fell asleep one afternoon for a nap..... TOO cute.

Julia had her first "real" babysitter this month when Mommy had a doctor's appointment. I think this smile on her face sums up the experience. She loves her "Auntie" Sandy!
Baby legs.

This is a "Thudguard" ... and every moment she wears this helmet is a hysterically funny moment. She hasn't needed it much any more now that she's a little more stable, but we still put it on her just for the entertainment value.


This is the look she makes when she is trying to do defeat or accomplish something...
"Hey Delaney... where we going?"
"Wow, that Delaney sure can crawl fast!"
"Do nice."
She loves the nightlight.
.... how I wonder what you are...

Baby toes.
Flowers for Mommy in Mommy's "Mommy Pot".... these were my birthday gift.




"Oops, I spilled. That's OK - my Mommy says so."


Tiny girl. Big window. Huge world.
Julia is happily obsessed with two certain Sesame Street videos - The "Fiest" 1, 2, 3, 4 song, and The Alphabet with Elmo song. And, no matter how many times she's seen them before, she will ALWAYS get so excited and happy when we play them for her. She will even find her way over to the office (where our computer is) when she is in her walker and she'll stand in front of the computer making grunting/squealing noises until we find her and turn on the video. Anyway..... this is what she was looking at here in these pictures.

When she first heard the video start playing...

Listening...

Watching...
Julia and Mommy - on our way to Cole's first birthday party.
"Thanks for sending me these fun Halloween decorations, Grandma! They look fun enough to EAT!"

"Gimme those back!"
In action...
Throwing it into reverse...



Sleepy.
Do you like our pretty window decorations?
Diva.
Gran and Grampa YoYo came to visit us this month! They were amazed at how much she has grown and changed since seeing her in August. Julia liked having the company, and so did the rest of us!

Gran playing with Julia

Julia climbing "Mt. YoYo"


"Do nice."
(She's making her grunt/squeal noise to Delaney right here.)
Gran and Julia outside
Gran and Julia reading books...

Julia spotted the camera and she's off!
Watching TV
"No thanks, I don't need a teething ring, this will do!"

Julia and Daddy hanging out on the couch together...

This was the afternoon that we tried eggs for the first time..... nothing but business here...
Her reaction speaks for itself.

I think the camera made her smile here, because it surely wasn't the eggs..... she despises them!
"Do I have to eat this?"
Day 2... let's try this again.... hard boiled this time...

happy.
not happy.
"Do I have to eat this?"

Julia had her 9 Month well baby check-up last week, as well. She is in perfectly healthy condition and her pediatrician said that she has hit a lot of her milestones early for her age. She continues to fall around the 50th percentile for both weight (18 lbs, 15 oz) and height (27.25 inches), and her head has grown this month bumping her up from the 50th percentile to the 75th percentile.... gotta store all of those brains somewhere, I suppose! This appointment was one to look forward to because it was all info and no shots.... however, we decided to vaccinate her with the flu vaccine, so we weren't able to make it out of the office without any tears. She was quick to recover this time though, which made it more bearable for all!

At the doctors~

"Mom!! Don't take my picture, I don't have any clothes on!!"

Ofcourse the ordinary object would be more interesting to her than the fun, colorful book!
Gran and Julia at the doctors

Mommy and Julia at the doctors..... this is very typical of her these days - such the busy body and wanting to move onto 'what's next!'

Wow! That was a post and a half! Next up this month, Grandma is coming to visit in 2 weeks and we're looking forward to her arrival - we're getting spoiled with all of these visitors! And, Halloween is on it's way!