Eating Lunch

Mommy's Little Helper

Please note: Having one bare foot and one stockinged foot is essential to proper laundry help. (P.S. How often does one have the chance to use the word "stockinged?")

Bean is 9 Months Old

How in the world did 9 months pass so quickly?!  We are just having so much fun that I forget to look at the calendar.  Suddenly another month has gone by and I barely had a chance to blink!

So, at nine months of age Jill still doesn't have any teeth (a thing for which I am most grateful), she's still not sleeping through the night, and she's creeping along on her belly like a little commando.  She is no longer swaddled to sleep (because she outgrew the biggest size they have), but she still loves her pacifier.  She enjoys eating out because there is so much to see and so many places to throw her Cheerios.  We're working on learning to eat finger foods.  Cheerios are it so far, but I'm slowly sneaking more chunky foods into her jars of baby food.  Her new favorite toys are her piano, her telephone (thanks to Laura for both), and her stacking rings.  She has no interest in stacking them, she likes to unstack.  

We still read everyday but she is no longer content to hold a book while I read another; she has to have the one I'm reading.  Since I have them all memorized this hasn't slowed us down, but she is getting more and more busy by the day.  She can hardly be bothered to stay still enough for her milk anymore because she'd rather roll, kick, pull at her socks, twirl her hair, pull my hair, grab the buttons on my shirt, undo my belt with her toes...oh the list goes on and on!  I know we're in for it when she starts walking.  I'll never see her be still again!  Thank goodness for the ExerSaucer because without it I'd never be able to do anything!

She had her 9 month check up today and she weighs in at 21lbs. 9oz. (89th percentile), is 27.75 inches tall (57th percentile), and her head circumference is 46.5cm/18.25inches around (97th percentile).  Jill has (as I've always said) a very big brain!

Our Jilly is very loud and giggly.  She has an abundance of personality that she shares with everyone.  We are having a wonderful time with her, but we have to admit we'd enjoy seeing less of her in the middle of the night.  The doctor told her very seriously, "Jillian, you're nine months old now.  You don't need to eat in the middle of the night anymore, and you can sleep the whole night through also."  Ha!  We'll see whether or not she listens.

Here are some photos and video of our happy, chubby, adorable little girl.  A man at Target went out of his way to tell me today that I have a beautiful baby.  I thanked him, but what I really wanted to say was, "I know!"

Jilly in the morning

Kristina says Jill's brain is so big it pushes her tongue out!

after lunch with Daddy at Elliott Bay Book Company (we visited him at work in Seattle)

9 months old, after lunch out with Erin

one of my favorites

Jill's St. Patrick's Day shirt from Grandpa Mike

all dressed

I love my phone!

playing the piano

Who has a rotary phone anymore?

Jill crawling toward me, using her own style:


Jill plays "Smash and Tickle" with Daddy:


Here's a glimpse of what meals with Jill are like these days:

New Skills

I take back what I said about six months being the age I'd like to freeze. I still love it, but eight months is even more fun! Jill has learned many, MANY new things these last couple of weeks. She can now clap her hands, eat Purely-Os (organic Cheerios), click her tongue in response to Steve doing it, laugh her head off when we tell her that her feet are stinky, and she's getting better and better with mama, dada, and "Hey-ay" when we say, "hi." She also says, "Duh, duh, duh," when she sees the doggie (Henny).

Here is some video of Jill showing off her new accomplishments.

This one shows Jill eating Cheerios. This is a big deal because she had been trying for days and days to get those little oat circles into her mouth, and finally success!


In this one you get to see us playing the "P U Stinky" game. She was laughing hysterically until she spotted Daddy and then the camera. So instead look for the spontaneous clapping. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever! In case you're wondering, when she claps you must clap too and say, "Yay!"


Ignore the crazy camera work in the beginning of this one. We have to sneak the camera up on Jill because she just wants to smile at it. You'll get to see her hamming it up and exchanging clicks with Daddy.


Finally, here are some cute photos from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Standing in Mommy and Daddy's big bathtub

I know she's making a funny face, but look at her feet!  

Within 10 seconds of getting in this thing she has those socks off!

Just a cute girl

The one and only time she's worn her new sunglasses

Happy girl with her sippy cup

A List, Because I Never Want to Forget...

1) What it felt like to have you snuggled up on my chest like a little bug when you were tiny and new.
2) The serious look on your face when I ask for a kiss and you lean in, mouth open, trying to give me what I want with all your heart.
3) How you look in the morning when I come to get you out of the crib...your smile is something I'll carry with me forever.
4) How you kick while riding on my hip when I ask if you want water, milk, or to take a duck.
5) How you kick and get excited when we go to turn off the alarm and I say, "Daddy's home!"
6) All of the various versions of your talking, and lately at night when it's time to go to bed and you keep talking through the pacifier in your mouth.
7) How you love to have your milk and how you roll over and smile at me while you're eating and when you're done.
8) The feel of your bare feet poking my stomach when I feed you.
9) How hard you pull on my glasses when you want to take them from me.
10) Napping with you.
11) Our daily walks and how you always lose your chupo and even though I retrace our steps I can never find it.
12) How you'll sit for 30 minutes straight while I read you 26 stories, and how you kick and make noise when I reach the end to let me know you want more.
13) How your face lights up when we turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and My Friends Tigger and Pooh.
14) The way you look on the changing table before your bath, all chubby cheeks, thighs, and belly.
15) Reading the Harry Potter books to you while you napped. You hung on my every word during your first 5 months of life. Now you want to be more interactive, so we're still stuck in the middle of book 5.
16) How you breathe through your mouth as you touch my face with you soft, chubby little exploring fingers.
17) How you love your sippy cup and figured out how to tilt your head back and drink your fill one day.
18) How you're so patient and persistent with learning how to feed yourself. You work so hard to get one piece of food clutched between your fingers, and when it falls out of your hand you don't react except to grab another one and start again. Those are admirable qualities, my girl!
19) How after 8 short months I can't even remember what my life was like before I had you, because I don't want to remember a life without you in it.
20) The sight of you clapping your hands and how seriously you look to us when you do it, to elicit our expected "Yay!" response.
21) How perfect you are and how much I love you, Sweet Bean.