9 month checkup

Sometimes I feel like an idiot at these checkups. I feel like I know my child, but I still find myself saying "I don't know" to too many questions. Does she bang stuff together? No sure, but she does bang on things. Does she respond to her name? Not sure, it could just be the sound of our voices. Does she imitate you? Not sure exactly, but she seems to babble in response.

This time I also had to say no to too many things. Does she crawl? No. Does she pull herself to standing. No. (It's just been this last week that she has even been willing to stand when we hold her up.) Does she scoot or roll to get to things? No (Drew disagrees with my assessment here).

Does she hold a bottle? To play with, but not to drink. She's happy to drink from a bottle or sippy cup if we hold it for her though. She also doesn't try to put food in her mouth. She just plays with the Cheerios and other baby treats and waits for us to pop them in her mouth for her. When I explained all this to the doctor she said, "Oh, she's a princess." Hmmmmm.

Stats: 25 3/4 inches long (7%), 16 lb 11.6 oz (15%). Here I thought she was getting so big, but she's still petite. It's funny because the other day someone asked her age and when I said 9 months, the lady said "oh, BIG baby." I think it was because Alaina was in shorts and the fat rolls on her things were quite evident.

(I should have taken the above picture before she got her hep b shot.)

Take home from our appointment: We need to work on movement.
We have been working on crawling and rolling, Alaina's just not into it yet. On Tuesday I put a pile of individually wrapped licorice in front of her to try to encourage movement (sidenote: she does not eat the licorice, she likes the crinkly sound from the wrappers).

Late

This morning as I was trying to hurry Liz out the door so she wouldn't be late for school she said, "I don't care if I'm late. I like to be late because then I can stop and look at all the pictures."

If she gets to school on time Lizzie waits in the cafeteria with all the other kids, and then her whole class is escorted to their classroom. If she is late she has to walk to class alone. Here I'd been thinking that she went straight there, but now I know she dawdles and looks at artwork hanging in the hallway and is even later than she would otherwise be . . . . Typical.

Below are pictures from Lizzie year-end picnic at school (moved inside thanks to last night's rain).

And the next picture is from the park yesterday. Thanks for the super cute dress Rachael!

More pix & a milestone

Milestones: Alaina ate Cheerios this weekend. I have always been nervous about babies choking on food. I was super nervous with Liz and put off giving her stuff for awhile. She was actually given her first Cheerios from Wendi Maney, and first popcorn from Sharon Pomeroy while they were babysitting her. Anyway . . . Alaina ate Cheerios, loved them, and didn't choke.

Food milestone/progress for Liz: she tried and liked both meatloaf and bananas (again). Hurray!

Below are a bunch more pictures taken by Penny Lutz (these are for you Nana and Papa):

Pictures of the girls

I had a lady in my ward take some pictures of the girls. I really like the way they turned out. Here are a few of my favorites:

My baby is 9 months old

And it's going by so fast!

Alaina still has no interest in crawling or standing. In fact when we hold her up, instead of putting her feet down to stand she holds them straight out as if waiting for us to let her sit.

She loves her sister, and I think laughs more for Liz than she does for Drew and I.

Alaina reaches for everything, but most especially phones, tv remotes, and our drinks.
She alternates between being mellow and yelling. The other day my friend, Wendi, commented on how rough Lizzie plays. I think it kind of surprises people because she's so little and girly. The same is true with Laina. She's super mellow and petite and then she starts yelling and drowns everything out.

Updates

MY WEEKEND (starting with last Thursday): book group (I'm still finishing the book--Three Cups of Tea--it's excellent), Stake Emergency Preparedness activity (I'm now inspired to prep my documents, beef up my meager food storage, and finally start saving water), birthday party for Lizzie's classmate that took up most of my afternoon, ballet performance at the temple Visitor's Center (ugh, I don't like traditional ballet and spent most of the time watching Liz watch the stage), volunteer in primary (hilarious), and evening stroll at the FDR Memorial (Liz also picnicked).

----- I attempted to take a decent family picture . . . . . ----- . . . then a Good Samaritan stepped in and took a better one.MY DAY TODAY: drove Drew around a lot, cleaned apartment, grocery store run, afternoon at the park (where I managed to keep Alaina out of the sun but got a sunburn on my arm), FHE at Fort Ward park, then FINALLY FINISHED DEEP CLEANING OUR BEDROOM (thanks Drew--now onto the other closets/rooms?).

IN OTHER NEWS: I think I may have broken my new-to-me cell phone. Drew is a little pissed.

Dance Pix

Yesterday Liz had her dance pictures. I wasn't going to buy any, but then she looked so cute and she asked so sweetly . . . so I happily gave in.

A bunch of older girls were also having their pictures taken and they had TONS of costumes. We asked some how many they had--11, 14, 15 costumes! If I remember correctly I had to pay about $100 for Lizzie's reindeer suit and if that holds true for the older girls, then their parents forked over more than $1,000 for costumes alone! At those prices I'm not sure how much longer I want to keep Liz in dance. . . .

White gloves and dark makeup. Not a good combination, but we made it through photos with only a little on her costume. I was willing to leave her makeup on for Drew to see, but she wanted to take it off immediately after pictures.