9 Months and Making Progress!

The growing continues! This beautiful outfit is from China, given to Aiyana from Grandpa Rock. We love the pretty colors on her. (Thanks again, Dad!)

 

 The face she made when Dan came outside, as usual. She is so happy when he comes home on the weeknights from work.

 Ah, this grin melts my heart and made me cry a little just now. I absolutely adore her. Dan reminded me today of a time before I was pregnant with Aiyana when I wondered if I could love a baby as much as I love Ty. . . The heart does heal and grow after all. Motherhood everywhere allows this to happen.

Kisses for Daddy

STATS:
18 lbs 10 oz (53 %tile)
27 inches (30th %tile)
Estimated to be 5"5 like her Mama. (who barely makes the cuts these days. I think I'm shrinking already!)

This is how my baby girl wakes up from her naps. Happy as can be!

Here she is, holding out the same note as she hollers, "ahhhhhhhh!" You sing beautifully, Sweetheart.

FUN FACTS

• Crawling! Sort of. Right at 9 months, she started pulling herself forward with her arms, army-style. She has not realized she can utilize her legs--like, at all. She just drags them behind her like dead weight. I couldn't help but call out to her, (Imagine male, southern drawl) "Lieutenant Dan!" (Forest Gump reference, people. Come on. Dan says I'm going straight to you know where for saying that.)
• Sleeping Oh So Good. After she turned 8 months, I started putting this little elephant-blankie in her crib with her whenever she napped or went to bed for the night. Worked like a charm! I love watching her snuggle it with both hands, pulling it close to her face. (Thanks for the gift, Pawn!) Aiyana had been sleeping well off and on up to this point. Now, she only wakes up needing help occasionally. And most days, she's increased her morning nap to 1.5 hours, and still keeps her 2 hours in the afternoon. So awesome.
• Zerberts: Aiya loves to blow zerberts on my shoulder after she drinks water from my cup. She also gives wet, open-mouthed kisses or zerberts on our cheeks or chin. Such a slimy, gross, sweet gesture that we love.
• Giggle-Box: She laughs all day long -- with some tantrums in between -- But she's so playful and happy, and makes me feel like I'm the funniest person alive. One look at her and she busts up giggling. Thank you, Papaya, for my self-esteem.
• Speaking of tantrums: I absolutely love her little fits in the crib. Occasionally, she'll wake up an hour or two after I've put her down so when I go in there, I just rub her legs or pat her tummy to pacify her. . . She never likes it initially. In fact, it seems to only irritate her more. While crying with her binky in her mouth, she'll quickly grab her binky with one hand and chuck it at her feet in one swift move, all so her cry can better escape her opened mouth. I can't help but laugh, especially when she bats both arms wildly at me when I try and put the binky back in her mouth. 
• Massages: I've discovered she loves massages as much as I do. One pm church is hard because it's prime nap-time, so it takes a lot of work to keep her happy. This is where massages come in handy. Rubbing her legs makes her so relaxed.
• Eating so well! In this last month, she really mastered this gummy chomping business and eats just about anything. Favorites include ham and turkey lunch meat, broccoli, and bread of any kind. That's my girl. (I needed a partner-in-crime when it came to devouring the banana bread. I'm pretending she played an equal part in consumption.)
• Nursing to Bottles: I've been working hard to encourage the use of bottles. We've gone through 4-5 different types of bottles and nipples, trying to figure out the right combo. I think she's just stubborn and doesn't like bottles. However, she's most consistent with the Tommy Tippee brand, "Close to Nature". She will drink 2oz or so before she doesn't want to drink anymore formula for a while. We need to keep working on this because I'm drying up fast. I'm kind of sad about it (and Aiyana is apparently mad about it because she bites me all the time now, like, "What the heck? Where's the goods??) We'll keep trying.

Love that belly.

This is how she naps and sleeps every night: Sleep-sack, binky, blankie.

It is so fun to "rescue" Aiyana from her crib every day. She wakes up babbling to herself, then eventually calls out. If I take too long, she pulls down on the bumper and peeks between the bars to see if I'm coming. I love watching her in the monitor! Lately, we've started playing hide-n-seek around the crib, also, where she pulls down on the bumper looking for me until I pop out and startle her. We love it.

Yay to be rescued!

As I was trying to get us out the door, (and moving fast! We only have the car two days out of the week so there is lots to do)  I left Aiyana  by my purse for less than a minute. I came back to find that she had retrieved her snack bag, as well as discovered how to make her snacks explode everywhere.

She drinks best from this sippy with the straw.