9 months old!!!

 Mila is 9 months old!!!!

I can hardly believe it! People always say that the first year just flies by and they are totally right! 

She is still not crawling and I have to remind myself that she will do it when she is good and ready. The competition between mothers is a very odd thing. I know it isn't intentional (at least, I don't think it is) but I HATE hearing what other babies the same age are doing. It instantly makes me think, "Well, why isn't Mila doing that yet?"

It isn't about me needing her to be ahead of anyone else, but it makes you start thinking that there is something that your baby SHOULD be doing. 

I know she will crawl when she has some place she just really needs to get to.

She can pull herself up and loves standing whenever possible.

 In the meantime...

Mila is very verbal and expressive. She has been saying "mamamama" and even a few "mama"'s--- she looks at me immediately after and smiles so it seems like she is gearing up to say it with real meaning! I will melt.

She has great grasp and pinchers (which she loves to use on Austin's arm hair).

Basically, her fine motor skills are on point!

She loves to point her finger at things and have us "boop" her finger with our pointer fingers.

She definitely seems to get jokes and likes to laugh and make us laugh too.

Also, she loves playing peek-a-boo and goes crazy with excitement when we sneak up on her.

She is a total character.

She loves to eat... 

her morning toast is her favorite, but she also loves cheese, apples, oranges, lemons (weirdly), rice cereal, veggie straws (she goes crazy when the bag comes out), any of her baby puff snacks, quinoa, black beans, rice... anything really.

Oddly enough, she is not a fan of the one food I craved so badly when I was pregnant: watermelon.

She weighs 19.2 lbs... less than we thought but I guess she is just really good at throwing her weight.

She also loves:

remote controls, any of her mama's jewelry (she loves to just hold pieces and look at them), stuffed animals, looking at Fernando or Amelia (the dog and cat), looking in the mirror, looking out the window, grabbing her daddy's ears/beard/face, snuggling with her mama, and biting her mama's nipples.

She is generally really happy but I just had to include the last picture. She had a cold and was pretty miserable. She wanted to be snuggled and was clearly not happy about being posed in a chair.

Turtle Twins

the little gypsy

Nana came to town!

8 months (and a week or so)

It is so hard to believe that Mila is only 4 months away from being ONE!

She is such a character and has a devilish sense of humor 

(I can't imagine where she got that).

She now has 2.75 teeth. Basically, two bottom teeth, one upper tooth that is still working its way into a prominent position, and a second upper tooth that is just peeking through. Regardless, those teeth can cause some serious damage to a nipple, a coffee table, books, or, weirdly enough, forearms (which she loves to bite).

Mila gave baby food about a moment's consideration before deciding she was on to bigger and better things.

She likes solids. And she will wash them down with water out of a cup that she holds herself, thank you.

So far, she has eaten (and enjoyed):

broccoli, carrots, toast, rice cereal, puff snacks, cheese, chicken, banana, oranges, tangerines, a french fry, avocado, a taste of chocolate, strawberry... that's all I can remember right now.

If it is edible, she wants it.

She is making strides towards crawling but no real self-powered movement yet (aside from throwing herself into the crawling position).

She is very verbal... and chats all the time, even while eating or nursing.

She can grasp anything and has great pincers. 

She understands object permanence and gets that reflections are just that (no matter how hard I try to convince her that the baby in the mirror is someone else).

She also waves to people when we say hello and goodbye.

Her favorite game is when you sneak up on her and tickle her belly.

She also loves flying in her rocket ship (pictured above).

She makes us laugh every single day and already has more sass than most women ever dream!

These past 8 months have been challenging with school/wedding planning/and so many other obligations... but Mila is the most incredible person and we are so lucky to be her mama and dada.