Who you callin' a baby? I'm nine months old

Ava hits nine months this week and it's hard to believe she was a helpless seven and a half pounder not that long ago. Every week there's some new motor or physical development with her and she seems more and more like an actual little girl instead of a baby. That goes for her diaper as well. Uh, suffice to say, the introduction of several real foods over the past two and a half months has also meant the introduction of really awful diapers. Really awful. It's got me wondering: can't we just feed her breastmilk or formula until she's potty trained? Okay, maybe not, but the new moms and dads out there know what I'm talking about.


So the latest advances are clapping, playing peek-a-boo on her own, and the appearance of two upper teeth poking through to join the two little Tic-Tacs on the bottom. And now: standing! This week, she pulled herself into a standing position in her play yard and later pulled up on the laundry basket.

Note the baby junk in the trunk. Finding pants to fit is already a challenge. I'm telling you, Baby Apple Bottom pants are a clothing niche that needs to be filled.

In the video below, Ava has just pulled up on her changing table. What's hilarious is that after the screeches of triumph at being up, she seems to decide, "While I'm up, I'll just rearrange this blanket. Who put this here anyway?"

I am loving being a mom to my growing little girl. Putting her down at night is still challenging sometimes: she goes down for an hour or two at 7:30pm, then wakes up and hangs with us for another hour or two until we go to bed. But after spending a few minutes nursing while fiddling with my chin, cheeks and lips, and trying to stick her fingers up my nose, she soon drifts off to sleep and basically sleeps through until morning.


Compared to the nights, the start of the day is wonderfully languid as I wake up and spend a few moments watching her sleeping and breathing lightly before I get up and rolling. She looks so deliciously cute and plump with her curls alternately matted to her forehead or sticking up wildly in all directions, I could just dunk her in milk and eat her like a cookie.


She is more and more of a hoot every day and J. and I feel very blessed to have her.