Happy 9 Month Birthday, Elliana!!!

Nine months. Nine Months!!! That's just three months shy of 1 year!! I just can't believe it...our little girl is growing so quickly. As I commented in a previous post, I feel like Elli's 8th month brought with it lots of new "tricks", and some fun new experiences.

We finally had to lower Miss E's bed to the 2nd level because she started pulling up on the ledge. We knew we were in trouble when we watched her (on the monitor) throw her paci over the side of her crib, and proceed to try to retrieve it Tarzan style! Luckily, she's not strong enough to truly fly over the side, but still...we didn't want to take any chances! The pic above is her peeking over her new "higher" bedrail. She's not quite sure if she likes it yet. Ha!

In other news, we're still not crawling. Not that I'm complaining, but I just keep thinking "today is going to be THE day!". She's so close, and just gets so frustrated when she realizes that she ends up further away from the toy than when she started! It's quite comical to watch, but I can only imagine how irritating it would be to continue to go backwards when all of your effort & concentration is willing you forwards! Don't worry, I'll keep y'all updated...I'm sure she'll get the hang of it soon :)

She's still great with sleeping, though the whole "sitting up thing" is starting to put a hamper on her napping. It's like her little body involuntarily sits up mid-nap, and throws her off. She'll start crying, and when I go to get her she's completely dazed and looking at me like, "how in the world did I get here...and why am I sitting up??". Again, quite comical! She's gone to eating 4 times a day, and we've found out that she LOVES rice puffs (the banana flavor). She's still in size 3 diapers, and wears 9-12 month clothes. We go for her 9 month well-baby appointment tomorrow, and I'm anxious to see how much she weighs. I'm thinking about 21 lbs, but we'll see! She can clap, is still working on waving, and can say 3 things: "dada, mama, & baba (byebye)". She loves to get into things...you name it, she's in it! And, as such, we decided to go ahead and baby-proof the house this weekend :)

Elli still has a very low-key, and sweet demeanor. She's smiling and laughing more every day (you used to have to really work at it to get her to smile...just like her daddy when he was a baby, I hear!), and hardly ever cries. She's still great when we take her places, and she loves sitting in her stroller the "right" way. So far, no tantrums, though I've seen a few more fist shakes than I'd like to lately :) Ha!! She's more fun every day, and is just a joy to be around. What a great 9 months this has been, what an adventure! I can't wait to see what the future holds for our precious baby girl!