9 Months

My baby girl is 9 months old. This means that she has been on this side of the world as long as she was growing within me. Somehow this is truly huge for me. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I remember feeling like the time I was pregnant flew by, but also feeling like I was pregnant for a really long time.

I also feel like Smug-Baby was always here. I have times when I think about something Smug-Hub and I did or a place we went, and think "where was Smug-Baby?" and then I have to catch myself that she was wasn't here yet.

I am amazed by how much she has changed, how smart she is, and how much she is learning everyday. So, what's new this month?

She is full on crawling now. She still prefers to walk, but if she gets to the end of the furniture, she will drop down and crawl where she wants to go. She is not doing the commando crawl anymore at all. She is also going from standing to sitting, sitting to crawling, crawling to sitting, and sitting to standing. She's got the full cycle down!

She has been letting go of the furniture without realizing she is doing it. She will balance for a few seconds and either grab onto something or drop down. Or, she will realize that she is not holding onto anything and get scared and make a scared noise and grab for me.

She will mimic you now sometimes. If you make a noise, she will try to make the same noise. She is however too smart and if I say "mama" she just smiles at me. When she sees a dog, she will say "da" and wiggle her feet and then she will make a "woa" sound like mimicking the doggy's bark.

"da da" seems to be her go to word for everyone she is happy to see. She says "da da" when her daddy gets home from work, when Smug-Grandma comes over, when Smug-Sister comes down the stairs, or when she sees her Grandpa.

She knows what Binky's are. When I ask her if she would like some Binky's she will giggle and pull at my shirt. When I start getting myself ready for nursing she makes this happy, excited, hurry up noise that I just love.

Her word for me is "ba ba". I think that this might be a cross between "mama" and "Binky" but she seems to only use it when she is upset, scared, or hungry.

She has started pinching me when she is nursing and it is downright painful! She grabs little pieces of skin on the Binky, my arm or neck and rolls it tightly between her little fingers. I can suffer through it unless her nails are long and then OMG!!!

Speaking of nails, cutting them is horrible. She hates it and cries as though her heart is breaking with real tears and runny nose and it kills me. Smug-Hub can't listen, he has to leave the house, escaping to the garage until it's over. It really is horrible and if she weren't pinching me or grabbing her cousin's face a lot, I would probably just let them grow. I cry through the whole thing. I have tried to do it while she sleeps, but the snap of the clipper as it cuts through the nail wakes her every time.

She hates covers. She kicks them off every night and when I put them back over her, she proceeds to kick them off again. Since she sleeps in the middle, this results in Smug-Hub and I often without covers as well. She also likes sleep with her face pressed right up against one of us. I guess she likes the warmth and the smell of her parents. It is really sweet actually.

On the food front, she is still only nursing except for the occasional taste of something. I am trying to keep everything harmful away from her for as long as possible. No wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts, sugar - you know, all the crap that we eat everyday without thinking :) She has had some broth from vegetable soup and she likes that and I even picked up a few jars of organic baby food and she has had a few bites of carrots. She seems to be getting used to the texture, but she is not overly excited about food yet, so Binky's are still number 1!!

I love her more everyday and I noticed today how much like a child she is becoming. She doesn't seem to have that little baby quality anymore. Her little personality is starting to come through. As excited as I am for the coming stages of her growth, I am sad to see her changing so fast. It would be fine with me if she could stay a baby for a little while longer.