9 Months

This little 9 month old baby girl is very loved! We actually were ready early before church Sunday and snapped a few pictures. Emalyn is finally over her stranger/separation anxiety. The last month she was not a fan of being away from her family and would scream pretty much the entire time she was left at church, the gym, with a babysitter, etc. She started to be ok as long as Maddi or Cade were with her and now she fusses right when we hand her off, but she does well once we're gone. She cries again once she sees me when I pick her up from wherever she's been, but she's happy once again when I'm holding her. I hated that she was so upset when she was left, but I knew it wouldn't last forever, and thankfully it didn't last too long. She is happy as can be when we're at home and it doesn't matter if we're in the room with her or not, she's just happy entertaining herself and exploring the house.

I thought this picture was funny because it looks like everyone is talking and even Emalyn is probably saying "UUUhhhh". She is a talker and loves to be a part of the craziness in our household! When she sees something she likes/wants like Cocoa, food, or a family member, her whole body tenses and she shreeks with pure delight. LOVE it!

Emalyn is showing off her clapping skills here. She also waves hello and bye bye. Sweetest little wrist wave, we all love it and make her do it all the time. She'll wave at strangers too.

This little baby loves her Daddy! None of the other kids liked Brett this much at this age. She adores her daddy and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. She's pretty much got him wrapped around her finger. In fact, she's got Maddi and Cade wrapped as well. They will do anything and everything for her.

She loves her mama too and mama loves Emalyn so much. I honestly never thought I'd be able to love this baby as much as I do. I was done, D-O-N-E, having kids. It amazes me every day how she just fits right into our family and how blessed we are to have her. She doesn't say it often, but she'll say mmmmm-ma. Mainly when she's crying and wants her mama.

One of her favorite things these days are balls! Any kind of ball, she just loves it and she bangs them together and throws them. She's actually got quite an arm! She was at the DuPage Children's Museum and crawled right over to the ball area and stayed there for a long time. Other favorite toys are anything musical, her pinwheel, and the shapes from her shape sorter.

She is quite fast at crawling. I love watching her little butt wiggle when she crawls! She gets all over the house and is very curious. When the kids go outside to play or jump on the trampoline she crawls right over to the back door and stands up at the window and bangs on the window and says "uuuuuuh" as if she's saying "hey guys, you forgot about me!"

This is what the kids call her "cheesy smile". She scrunches her nose and when she's really excited she sort of blows out her nose over and over. Her fourth tooth finally popped through a few days ago. She now has the top and bottom 2 teeth and she will bite the heck out of you if you let her. She also grinds her top and bottom teeth and it's really an awful sound. She did it quite a bit for 2 or 3 days but isn't doing it so much anymore so I hope she's done with that.
Weight: Don't know yet, probably at least 20 pounds. Losing a bit of her baby chunk in her thighs, but as Brett says "keep crawling baby"
Height: Don't know yet (9 month well baby appointment later this month)
Diapers: size 3
Clothes: moving into 12-18 month, but can still some 6-9, very random
Sleeping: Pretty much 7:30-6:30. Somtimes wakes up around 5:30 or 5:45 and I'll give her a bottle and she'll go back to bed. Naps for about an hour in the morning (she's usually woken up if she's not already awake so we can head out for whatever we have going on that day), and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.
Feeding: Bottle every 3 hours or so. Eats pretty much anything you put in her mouth! Still eats baby food but also lots of "real" food. She won't feed herself unless you move her hand to her mouth. Instead, she picks up her food and drops it to the floor. She won't hold her bottle or sippy cup either, she is a princess and wants us to do everything for her (and we do!).