9 Months Old

Madilynn turns 9 months old tomorrow.  She's been out in the world a little longer than she's been in my belly.  I can't believe how the time has flown by.  

Here are some things that are new and awesome:

She can wave hello and goodbye.  She waves to Jordan and I all the time.  She's starting to wave to strangers, but it's hit or miss.  She'll even wave if you say "hello" to her without waving at her.  It's really neat.

She has 2 bottom teeth and 2 top teeth.  She's in the process of cutting more on top.  It looks strange.  It also hurts to nurse.  She's bitten me a few times and has drawn blood.  When she nurses her top teeth rub on my nipples when she eats and it's very painful.

She can move from her belly to sitting up.  This is a big deal because when she falls over she can fix herself to sitting instead of crying until I fix her.

She says "mama" and "dada."  She doesn't use the words right, but it's nice to hear.

She loves to eat real food.  If I'm eating something that she can "chew" and mash up in her mouth then I give it to her.  She LOVES food.  Just like her mommy.

She's sleeping through the night and takes a 2.5-3 hour nap a day.  Nice.

She can clap.  She claps when I clap or when I go "Yaaaaaay"

She's on the very of crawling.  She gets up on her knees and can crawl 2-3 "steps" before falling or moving back to sit.

We can have her sit in the shopping cart while I go grocery shopping.  This frees up SO much space in the cart.  She can look around and explore the food before I put it in the cart.

Here are some things that are not so great:

I'm gaining weight.  I was so thin after I gave birth.  I was looking forward to using that head start to maintain my waist line.  However, I was so tired and busy last summer and into the winter that there's just no time or energy.  Maybe one day......*sigh*

Madilynn's about to crawl.  I'm not ready.  I see all my mom friend's babies and they're all crawling and getting into everything.  It's stressful on them.  I'm happy with her sitting and playing with her toys in one place.

My stress and anxiety is still higher than I'd like.  It gets really bad around my period.  Jordan's really good at taking M and letting me have some alone time to de-stress.  It helps that I have mom groups to attend.  They know what I'm going though and it's great to vent to them.

What's new for me:

I've started sewing.  I've made one dress for Madilynn and I'm working on her St. Patrick's Day dress.  They're not perfect, but I have a lot of fun doing it.

The trim on the lower level of the house is almost finished being painted.  I can't wait for it to be done and for me to have my house back.

I'm starting to test recipes for Madilynn's birthday.  It's only 3 months away but I feel like I need to start planning now.  We're having it at our place and I'm doing all the cooking.  There's going to be around 50 people so I need to start practicing now.

Here are some pictures of when we took Madilynn to the city.