9 Months!

I can't believe I'm writing this, but our sweet little girl is 9 1/2 months old!!!  She's now been out longer than she was inside my belly!  Time has seriously flown by!

We have loved every stage so far!  There are things we miss about her being super little, like being able to just cuddle her for hours.  Now, it's a miracle if she lays her head down and cuddles either of us.  She's just so busy now!  When she's sitting on my lap, and she decides she wants to get down, she'll wrap her hands around my pointer fingers, and slide herself down to the floor.  Then she takes off(all the while still holding my fingers and dragging me along) and starts walking wherever her little heart feels she needs to go!  She waddles like a duck, and it just makes me laugh because it's SO cute!!!

She also loves her walker!  She practically runs around the house in that thing!  She'll go super fast, then she'll sit down and just slide until she comes to a stop.  It's so cute!  When we're in the kitchen, it gets a little tight with 3.  Especially because Brooklynn follows one of us everywhere.  So whenever we turn around, she's RIGHT THERE!  When she runs into our heels with her walker, it's painful!  So, we're constantly trying to dodge her!  So funny!

She still LOVES books!  She does a pretty good job of turning the pages, and she definitely has books that are her favorites.  We know instantly if she's not interested in the book we chose, because she'll try to squirm out of our lap down to the floor.  If she likes our pick, she'll sit there and help turn the pages.

She has 6 teeth now!!  Four top teeth quickly started showing a few weeks ago, and they are almost completely in now!  Her little toothless grin is quickly disappearing!  She has grabbed our fingers before and decided they would be a great teething toy.  OH MY GOSH IT HURT!!  Needless to say, that doesn't happen anymore.  Those things are painful!! She can eat a lot easier now though, and it's fun to watch her chew, or to hear her chomping on some veggie straws or something else crunchy.  She's a great little eater.  She'll try almost anything, and after a few times of tasting it she generally likes it.  There have been about 2 baby foods that she just didn't like at all.  She'll eat fresh bananas, strawberries, oranges, and apples.   She loves cheese, and eggs.  She'll come running over in her walker ever morning when I eat breakfast, so she can get some eggs.  I have a hand masher, and it's so funny how much more she enjoys her food when I make it.  I'll just mash up veggie soup, or chicken and potatoes with greenbeans, or whatever we eat that she can eat and she's just in heaven.

She started crawling this past week!  CUTEST THING EVER!!!  The first couple of times, she was like a newborn doe trying to stand.  You could tell it took a lot of thought and effort on her part and it wasn't very fluid.  She's getting better though.  I just love watching her, it's so cute!!  

She still loves bath time! I usually bathe her at night, and Joe puts her down for bed.   I'll take her to her room and undress her to get ready for bath time, and then put her down on the floor and she'll hold my fingers and practically run to the bathroom.  She LOVES it!!  She has some little rinse cups, and one night I just poured a trickle of water in front of her that she could stick her hand in.  She loved it!  Whenever I would try to be done, and set the cup down, she would pick it up and hand it to me.  She's started having us repeat things a million times!=)

We still rock her to sleep, and it is still one of my favorite times of the day.  I just LOVE holding her.  It's one of the few times she's still.  When she's tired and ready to sleep, she'll get really excited when she sees either her bottle or her paci.  She knows it's nap or bedtime and she gets excited.

She is still the happiest little gal I know.  She is ALWAYS smiling at people and it just makes people stop and talk to her!  It's so cute!  She makes me excited to wake up every day.  I feel SO incredibly blessed to be able to stay home and take care of her every day.  There is nothing else I would rather be doing.  Nobody makes me laugh like she does.  I LOVE watching her learn and pick up on new things.    She brings us so much joy, and we couldn't imagine our lives without her!

She has a little friend from church that we get to see often.  He's exactly 3 months younger than her.  They have so much fun together! 

Just a couple more things I need to jot down so I can remember them.  Brooklynn hates wearing socks! That, or she just thinks it's too much fun to pull them off.  Whenever we go somewhere, I'll get ready to pull her out of her car seat, and I realize that her socks are off!  At the gym daycare when I pick her up, they often hand me Brooklynn and then her socks!=)  

She also does this growl that is so funny!  I'll do it back to her sometimes and then she'll do it again, and we just have a little war to see who will give up and stop doing it first!  SO funny!  She also has this super cheesy grin that she gives sometimes.  I really need to get a picture of it!

In the morning when she wakes up, she will usually play in her crib with her blankets or stuffed animals quietly until I go in her room to get her.  It's so nice, and she's so cute when I walk in.  Her little head will pop up and she gets super excited!  

She LOVES her Daddy so much!  When he comes home from work, we are usually in the kitchen making dinner.  When she hears or sees him she'll scream and get really excited!  Her legs and arms start flailing, and Joe can't pick her up fast enough.   He'll say "Daddy's gonna get you!" and tickle her till she gets the hicups from laughing so hard.  They have a strong bond, and I love watching them together.  Our routine is that I bathe her and get her ready for bed, and Joe will read to her, feed her, and rock her to sleep every night since I get to do it twice a day for naps.  He loves getting to spend that time with her, and I love that he enjoys doing it.  

That big smile just melts my heart every time I see it!

We love you so much Bookie!!

For those who are wondering.....Bookie is her nickname.  We say it Boo-key.  Not sure where it came from, we just started calling her that and it stuck.