.Nine Months.

{nine month stats}
16 lbs 7 oz :: 11th percentile
28 inches :: 56th percentile

The 9 month mark is always a huge milestone for me.
I can't believe I've carried my baby in my arms for as long as I carried her in my belly.
I love every stage, but around 9 months has to be the top of my list.
I love how her little personality just shows through more and more everyday.
She is learning new things, new words, new songs all the time.
I just love it!

She has been a busy, busy little lady this month.
She FINALLY got her two bottom teefers in.
hallelujah!
You can't see them well enough to get a picture yet, but you can feel them and if she screams just right, you can catch a glimpse :)
She loves pat-a-cake.
Harlo plays it with her all day long.
She FINALLY says 'Mama' :)
She says 'uh-oh!' when she purposely drops something.
She says 'Boo!' when playing peek-a-boo.
She smacks her little lips when she wants kissies, but still opens her mouth to give the kissies.
She is such a little lovey.
She will hug anyone who picks her up.
She pulls up to her knees, and yesterday pulled up to her feet to the toy box!
She's getting a lot quicker at it and is doing it a lot more the last 2 days.
She has taken a liking to 'Papa' lately.
Every time he's around she just says 'hi papa' over and over and tries to give him kisses.
Harlo is usually too busy for papa lovins these days so I think he's really excited about Stella showin' the love.
She throws a fit when you take her toy (or rather what she thinks is a toy) away.
She arches her back when she doesn't want to get into her carseat.
She yells at you when she's mad.
Needless to say she's starting to get that little 'one year old attitude' as we call it around here.
I love it!
She has figured out how miraculous the dog bowls are.
What is it about those things??
She waves 'hi' and 'bye' anytime you ask her to.
She is constantly waving to strangers when we go places.
Makes for quite a few stops. :)
She is pretty good about drinking out of a sippy cup, but she likes it a lot more when she gets to drink apple juice from it (only if she's constipated, really)
I notice she gets a lot more bored with water.
She is still nursing really well most days but I feel like my milk is getting a little unpredictable.
Some days I feel like I have plenty and others not so much, so I've been taking fenugreek again which works wonders for me, but I've also started supplementing with formula.
Sometimes she'll take a bottle after eating and sometimes not.
I was pretty worried about it at first, but now I'm feeling a lot more relaxed.
I'll do both as long as I can, but I'll be happy whenever she decides to quit nursing.
I am still just over the moon that I've been able to nurse for this long!
She LOVES cheese.
For her after nap snack she has grapes and cheese and bread or crackers of some sorts.
She loves that snack the most I think.
If she ever sees me get the cheese out to cook with or anything she's immediately squawking for some.
My girls and their cheese...
I broke down and bought some organic bottled baby food the other day at the store just for when Brady has them or we're in a hurry...
I was feeling guilty about it already but lucky enough, she will absolutely not have any of it!
It's the first and ONLY thing I've ever seen her not eat.
If that's not a reason to make your own baby food, I don't know what is.
She actually eats 'big girl food' more now than she eats baby food but I still give her both.
She loves peas for a snack, too.
She's into feeding herself and does really well at it.
Black beans are another favorite.
:: Doctor Appointments ::
We had her nine month check up with Dr. Marsden last week and he of course was so impressed with how much she talks and how active she is.
He checked her eye again and said it still is looking quite clogged and that it was time to see the specialist.
He says it's important to get them seen in time for them to possibly be able to do the 'probing surgery' where they take a little wire through the duct to open it up.
Sometimes if you wait too long they have to actually cut the duct open and leave a drain in there for a few weeks/months and it's a lot more invasive.
I obviously was pretty upset about having either option done but of course I agreed to have it looked at.
On Tuesday we went to see Dr. Hendrix and he agreed she did need to have a procedure to fix it, but was confident that the probing is the best option.
It's a little bittersweet, I obviously would rather her not have either done but I'm glad the less invasive of the two is an option.
Apparently it's a really quick procedure with about zero down time afterwards. The main thing is that she will have to be put under with anesthesia which just freaks me out but the entire procedure will be about 15 minutes.
I really liked the doctor and he was happy to hear out all my concerns and we scheduled her surgery.
I think the hardest part will be having her fast from midnight the night before.
I don't really know what to expect.
This will be a first for me to have one of my girls need any type of surgery.. especially one I can't be in there with her for.
That's the main part that makes me sad.
(as you can tell I've gone back and forth quite a bit with my feelings about it)
My poor little babe.

Other than that little set back, Stella is a vivacious, sweet little thing.
She is quite petite nowadays as you can see she's in the 11th percentile.
I have to laugh at how opposite my girls are.
Harlo was so small until about 6 months and then started packing on the chub... she was nearly 19 lbs at 9 months.
Stella was such a little chub until she hit 6 months then started slimming way down.
I'm so interested to see when she'll start walking, but in absolutely no hurry!
I just bet it's no where near the same as Harlo did it.
She is still in her infant carseat which Harlo was way out of by now.
She seems to still be quite comfy in there and doesn't mind it at all.
She'll still fall asleep in it from time to time and I take it in some places so who knows?
She may be in it a whole year.
It's so funny how you're so eager for your first babies to grow up, but your second babies you try to savor.

She loves her big sister like no one else.

Stella is just the sweetest little thing.

She has really touched my life in ways I can't even explain.
She has added such an amazing spirit to our family and we're all so lucky to have her.
I can't wait to see what her 10th month will bring!
(Can't believe how close we're getting to the big B-Day.. party planning is officially in full-swing!)

Harlo Tidbits

Last week Harlo had her first popsicle.
She gets so excited when we tell her we have something "special" for her. How many times she says 'special' rates how cool the thing is, haha.
She thought it was so cool. The whole time she was eating it she said "look at my special-special, mommy!"
She continues to be the very best sister, ever.
She is so into Stella all the time, it's so sweet.
I keep thinking she'll grow out of it and the sibling rivalry will start, but the older Stella gets the more Harlo likes to play with her, it seems.
And the more Stella absolutely adores her big sister.
It's my very favorite part of my life watching my two girls play and giggle together.
We just recently learned about Storytime at the local library.
Harlo is IN LOVE with storytime.
She's so cute and enjoys it so much, and gets SO involved in whatever they do..
It literally makes me teary just thinking about it.
She loves learning new songs every week and always has them in her head when we leave.
Everyone we see on Thursdays she always says "papa, I storytime!" "auntie, I storytime!" to whoever will listen.
"popcorn popping" is her favorite song right now.
She'll go to bed easily anytime we tell her "let's sing popcorn!"
She really likes counting right now and I'm so glad because I've never really worked at it with her.
Her favorite movie right now is Tangled.
She would watch it on replay everyday if she could.
She knows all the songs and tries to mimick all the choreography and always wants to dress like "barbie".
She also has a new love for Strawberry Shortcake.
She now calls her Strawberry Shortcake blankie, formerly known as "birthday cake blanky", "Strawberry Birthdaycake Blanky."
It's still her favorite blanky.
"Ladybugs" is a close second and "spots" is a close third.
"Baby Cassidy" is still her favorite baby and the name still cracks me up every single day.
She thinks she is such a grown-up.
When I ask her anything she says, "ummmm... sure."
yesterday I heard her talking to Stella saying "Hi sweetie! Are you mommy's little sweetie-heart?!"
She is OBSESSED with Peach Yogurt.
Every single snack or meal she asks for Peach Yogurt.
Every single snack or meal it's an ordeal.
She'll also eat blueberries by the case.
She is getting a lot nicer with strangers.
This week Brady and I had a funeral to go to during the day and luckily one of my dad's clients, Patrice was able to watch the girls. Harlo doesn't know her REALLY well, but did so good the whole time. She didn't cry when we left at all. She went right up and took Patrice's hand and was such a big girl!
She also LOVES to go to the doctor...

as long as the appointment isn't for her.
Her new favorite thing is to have an entire conversation with me - while we whisper.
She can't say more than two words in a whisper without bursting into a fit of giggles.
It is my new favorite thing.
If she asks for someone and I don't know exactly where they are (usually Auntie) she says, "go find her."
Everything is a her.
Baby Tage comes over and she says "he's so cute. I wanna hold her."
She LOVES Baby Tage and she loves Angie, too.
She copies everything Angie does while she's here; talks with her hands, nurses her baby..
She's been throwing a bit of a fit when she's told to wait or she can't have something.
It usually stops as soon as I remind her how to ask for things, but goodness it gets tiring.
The other day in the car Stella screamed and Harlo said, "Goodness Sakes!"
She also says "whoopsie daisy!" when she drops something then immediately picks it up saying "it's okay!"
After she throws a big huge fit and she's over it and I say "k, we don't need to act like that, k?" she says "k, sorry."

ah! she's so good at getting out of trouble.
If I hand her a drink of water in a white cup, she'll say "I want some pink in there."
Doesn't matter what you put in it- if it makes it pink, she's all good.
She loves to pretend to order things at the drive thru.
At Starbucks she always says "chocolate milk, please!" as soon as we drive up and at Swig she says "Ice with a lemon!"
We obviously go there way too much.
She has a memory like an elephant, though.
We went to my friend Errin's house ONE time to see her baby duck and now everytime we're on Bluff Street near the turn to get to Errin's house, she says "Let's go see the baby ducky, mama!"
It's crazy.
She always recognizes places we go.
Weird, because I NEVER do.
I could get lost in my own neighborhood.
She calls everything "prettyful".
We're constantly talking about how "tender" she is...
She just says the sweetest things.
I love this age so much.

Easter 2011

{Happy Easter!}

gI absolutely adore Easter. It is hands down, my favorite holiday... But I must admit, I feel like a total slacker this year. April was SUCH a busy month for me and Easter doubled as Auntie's birthday this year so I was not quite myself in the holiday-planning department. It came together quite nicely, though. Even in the last-minute-nature it was planned :)
Harlo (as you can see) was a little miserable at first. One thing for sure, this girl HATES to be rushed. She also needs some time in the morning to "wake up" before we get going.. so rushing out of bed to all the Easter basket excitement proved to be a little much for her this year. Next year we might need to do our egg-salad toast breakfast BEFORE the basket hunt. {note to self}
Stelly on the other hand was on cloud nine. I think she likes Easter as much as I do.
They looked so cute in their matching outfits that Aunt Haley got for them. Getting a picture was a little hard with all the gifts the Easter Bunny left around ;)

Later we had an Easter/Birthday barbecue at our house that was so delish. I think Harlo was getting a little confused about it being Easter AND Auntie's birthday all in one.. she had a good time anyway, though. (side note: I took a ton of pictures of the BBQ party but now I can't seem to find them anywhere.. no idea how that happened?)

All-in-all it was an Easter success! Can't wait for next year.