9 Months

All decked out in her Husker gear

Myelle is 9 months old as of last week and just got back from her first trip to Colorado and the mountains. She is starting to learn so much and seems to comprehend something new each day now. She has understood what "no" means for quite a while and throws a fit when she is told not to mess with something. Now she is picking up on lots of other phrases, words, and some commands. She will lay her head down if I tell her to lay down and go night night. Since she's not a huge fan of being held/rocked/cuddled, this is going to be nice. She also waves when we walk outside or toward the car. She enjoys going bye bye and gets a little cranky if we don't go anywhere all day.

Myelle and Dada at the wedding in CO

Myelle and Mama at Red Rock Amphitheater

She is really starting to repeat sounds and tries to say lots of new words now. She has been saying Dada, Mama and Num Num (food) for a while. Then my mom heard her repeating her own form of "Frazier" which is their dog. Now she has a new name for grandma - "Nana." She sometimes really tries to say Kyler but just gets the end of it. And she also tries to say Night Night and Bye Bye. At her 9 month check-up she weighted 19 pounds (50-75th percentile), was 28 inches tall (50th percentile), and her head circumference was 17.5 inches (50th percentile).

Our silly girl has no fear and is always giggling

Baby version of hiking - she loves "walking"

She has spent a lot of time and miles in the bike trailer - here are the kids during a leg of our 12 mile ride in the mountains to and from Fairplay from Alma, CO

She is crawling fast, can make it up the steps if we let her, and is pulling herself up to anything and everything. She has no fear so I'm not looking forward to the day she starts climbing on things. She cruises along furniture once in a while but is more interested in just trying to take a step or stand without holding on. She tries to jump up and down if she's holding onto a railing and even jumped out of her shoe the other day. She loves the bathroom and is opening the kitchen cabinets all the time. Myelle also dances (bounces up and down) to music anytime she hears it. She has started to take an interest in books but has a very short attention span and very quick temper so it doesn't always work out. She enjoys it the most when I am sitting on the floor reading to the kids while she is playing.

She catches a lot of attention being a social butterfly when we are out and about

Have we mentioned her love for food!?!?

She still loves to eat and is doing well on table food and a formula/whole milk mixture. We are going to switch her to whole milk once she gets used to drinking it cold. Right now it is easier just to mix rather than trying to heat her bottles to close to room temperature. Her favorite food is strawberries. We were at a wedding this weekend and didn't have a knife so she was just sucking and biting them with her gums and couldn't eat them fast enough. She had about five of them and then ate everything on my plate at dinner to the point I had to fill a separate plate so I could eat once she was finished. She consistently eats more than her three year old brother.

Another bike ride - this time in Morrison, CO

We stopped along the way for some playtime

More "walking" in downtown Morrison

Myelle is now in size 3 diapers. Her 9 month clothes are getting really tight so she is mostly in 12 months and 18 months clothes now. She is barely fitting in some size 2 shoes, but probably needs a bigger size to wear socks. She takes her bottles well but doesn't do so great with a sippy cup. For some reason she doesn't hold it up correctly to take a drink. Maybe it's too big. She does really well taking drinks out of an open face cup and thinks she is pretty big doing that. She has a pacifier but really doesn't need it all that much. It's more of a crutch for me than anything. She goes down for a nap or bedtime after drinking a bottle. Usually if it is light out, she has to be completely to sleep before putting her down. Sometimes at night she does better just being laid down still awake rather than squirming in my arms. I usually stay nearby and keep telling her to lay down until she falls asleep.

The vacationers - the kids did great!