Nine Months?!

9 months....that's how long I was pregnant and NOW that's how old my little girl is! It doesn't seem possible that we are nearing that 1 year milestone. It feels like I just found out I was pregnant and so it seems like just a blip of time since she was born. Now, there is the occasional day that seems to never end and I do remember those 1st few weeks when people said to cherish every moment because it goes so fast....I really thought they were insane when I felt like every day was a marathon. But, now that our little family has found our groove, time just clicks on by.

Amelia is our little sunshine. She just makes me smile and laugh all the time. I'm blessed and so thankful for a baby who wakes cheerful and ready for the day. I peek in the crib and there's her smiling little face. Well....now sometimes her little smiling face is peeking over the top of the crib since she's figuring out how to pull herself up. She's been doing all kinds of new things lately....she learned to crawl 2 weeks ago. My mom and dad actually got to see her do it for the first time while they were visiting! And, in 2 weeks she has gone from timid, slow crawler to zipping around when she sees something she wants. For awhile she was very suspicious about crossing over from the living room into the dining room, but now she's a full on little explorer. This morning she zoomed right through my bathroom and into the walk in closet without hesitation. And, as cute and fun as the crawling is....I can no longer even take a bathroom break without securing the baby:) Another new thing she has been doing is yelling and screaming (happily) at the top of her lungs. Kind of cute....but also kind of annoying:) Very stressful in a restaurant and when I'm trying to feed her. But, I guess she's just testing her limits...and mine. My strategy is to completely ignore her. At first...you know..you respond and laugh and smile about it...but this is a phase I'd like to pass quickly...so I ignore her. Her other not so fun habit is being totally spastic on the changing table. You know how you like to get the diaper just in position before securing it nice and tight....well...no chance at that working out for me. She arches and rolls and flails...so she's usually in a baggy lopsided diaper.

Her 9 month sleeping habits haven't changed too much lately. Her bedtime is around 7:30 and she sleeps until about 5:00 when she wakes up and starts playing and talking in her crib. I give her a quick snack and back to sleep until about 8 ish. I'd love advice on how to get rid of that 5 o'clock snack...but it does work great now. Then she naps at about 10:30 for 1 - 1/2 hours and then the afternoon is when we go out and have some fun or play at home. Afternoon nap at about 3:30 and typically she sleeps for about 2 hours and when I'm lucky for 3. Then it's time for dinner....which is often Chad's job to feed her and then she gets in some more playing with daddy before bed.

Another fun thing about Amelia now is that she really recognizes us. The other day I met Chad for lunch and his car pulled in and he was aways across the parking lot, but Amelia spotted him and broke into a huge grin. Moments like that could just make me cry. I know she isn't always going to grin when she sees us. I know there will be plenty of eye rolling in our future. But, for now I love knowing that we are her 2 favorite people in the world:)