Nine Months

Nine Months! Nine. I really can't believe it, it seems like just yesterday I was a slave to around the clock feedings and cleaning lots of spit up. I was feeling very grateful this morning for where we are. Nine months is so fun! Quinn has so much personality and we love her more and more each day. She has always been so happy, content, and curious. Now we are starting to see a little daredevil and stubborn side come out as well. I would also qualify her as quite persistent and determined. I am looking forward to her well check next week to find out her official stats, but my estimate is 18.5 pounds and 29ish inches.

We have fallen into such a great routine this summer. I am so lucky to have this time with her each day. She usually wakes up between 5:45 and 6:45 and goes to bed by 8. She takes a shorter morning nap and usually a pretty nice, long afternoon nap. In between is lots of playing and eating. She has milk 4 times a day in addition to 3 solid meals. We also take walks, run errands, and find kid things to do. I will write more in a future "Day in the Life" post before I have to go back to work next month. Her favorite things to play with are her stacking cups, blocks, and board books. She LOVES her books! They are the first things she crawls for each morning. Which brings me to my next point. The girl LOVES to be on the move. Much to my surprise she figured out crawling 2 weeks ago and has only become faster since. This doesn't mean her will to walk on her own has faded, though. She would still rather us assist her in walking around the house. She also loves to pull up and "cruise" along all the furniture. She is quite confident in her abilities too. She tries to stand on her own in the middle of crawling, which makes me very nervous. She has been successful a handful of times and has stood independently for a few seconds those times. Quinn also likes to turn from the couch and try to walk on her own. This doesn't really work in her favor yet.

A very common Q face, accompanied by blowing air and screeching. 

The official crawling method. One leg up, one leg down. 

In addition to her new found mobility she has started to point at things that interest her. And she is also able to mimic things you show her. She loves watching people and reading books with real people in them. Quinn especially loves other kids. She squeals and laughs and makes lots of noise when she sees new friends at the grocery store, library, etc. I think she is pretty vocal in general either laughing, squealing, screaming, making what I call the monster noise (sort of like a growl), or lots of babbling (mama, dada, baba, nana, gaga, goooo, etc.). Though she loves seeing new friends, she has developed a strong case of "mama's girl." I worry about this come end of August. Other current challenges include being confined to places like the high chair and car seat. The high chair situation is ever evolving, some days are better than others. She seems to be happier when she is feeding herself and we have taken the chair off the base and we are now using it as a booster which has helped. We switched her from the infant carrier to the convertible seat last night and I am hoping that helps us to see an improvement in the car.

Texting. Flash forward 15 years.

Quinn is now working with eight teeth, and I was hoping we would get a break from teething, but I'm not entirely sure that will happen. She still seems to be chewing EVERYTHING. I think this is why she prefers to eat what we are eating versus typically pureed food. She does let us feed her her oatmeal or yogurt if those are on the menu for the day.

Love reading!

These nine months have been like the blink of an eye. We are so lucky to have baby Q and enjoy her each day. We are looking forward to her first trip to the beach next week. Say a prayer for our travels as it involves quite a bit of car seat time!