OUT as long as she was IN...

Can you believe this little girl is NINE MONTHS OLD? It's kind of surreal. And it's hard to imagine that only nine months ago, she had been sitting contentedly in my belly... for nine months. Nine months ago I only had one kid to keep track of instead of two. It sounds so strange only because this little girl is such a natural fit for our family - it's hard to imagine life without her.


Some of things that we definitely don't want to forget about Ellie Jean at nine months are...

According to the Wii Fit (which isn't entirely accurate, but gives a good estimate), she weighs 22 1/2 pounds. Yeah. I know. I think Sadie weighed that when she was 18 months. Of course, I'm pretty sure Ellie carries fifty percent of that weight in her cheeks and thighs. :) I also I think it's safe to say that this kid needs to learn to walk, fast. I'm pretty sure I'm developing back problems from carrying her around!

She wears size 12-18 month clothes. Between that and the fact that she's got such an unusually toothy grin for a nine-month old, people mistake her for being much older all the time.

She recently developed her little pincer grasp (which means she can pinch food between her forefinger and thumb), and because of that, her new favorite place to sit is in the highchair with a variety of finger foods spread out around her.

We've tried a sippy cup a couple of times, but she just plays with it:

She's a bouncing maniac. The first thing she does when you stand her up on your lap is start bouncing up and down with a crazy grin on her face. It's SO funny.

No crawling yet, but she's a lot closer than I thought she'd be a month ago. She goes from sitting to all fours, where she rocks back and forth for awhile, like she's really considering going for it. Then she gracefully rolls to one side or sits back up.



Usually her feet are more behind her, but I love this picture because her mouth is open mid-jabber. Classic Ellie.

She compensates for the lack of crawling by rolling. She rolls everywhere and she rolls fast. She even rolls while she's drinking her bottle. She hasn't quite figured out that this is NOT the most efficient way to get the milk out...

She can also pull herself up to things. If she happens to be sitting by something relatively short, she'll grab onto it and pull herself up to her knees.

She has discovered a new fascination with mirrors. I love this picture.

Other things she loves: the computer, hair - especially mine when it's wet, baths, books of all sizes, throwing herself back and forth in her highchair so it scoots, and riding in the shopping cart where she can kick her legs to her heart's content.

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Happy #97 today is camping.

I love camping!

I love the fresh air, the smell of pine trees and of a big fire burning, the way food always tastes better, the s'mores, the cold mornings, and lying away at night listening to the wind rush through the branches of the trees outside the tent.

Now if it would only stop being terrible weather so we could go camping!