9 months

I don't have many pictures, but lots of stories...

1) Tuesday, Brian had to run an errand so I did the evening ritual. Juliana had a late nap at day care, so wasn't quite ready for bed. I let her play around in the kitchen while I washed her bottles from day care and filled bottles for the next day. She focused on a small (10 oz) bottle of apple juice on the floor. I had bought the 6 pack of small juices because I only needed a cup for a recipe, and didn't want to buy a whole big container of apple juice. She was sitting, started chewing on any possible surface of the juice, then dropped it. So she stood up on her feet, bent over, picked up the juice, and then started her sweet toddle-walk while chewing the lid. But she couldn't go very far because it quickly got too heavy for her grasp. When she dropped it, it rolled away a little bit, and she squealed with laughter. The process then repeated, and repeated. She had so much fun with it!

2) Her hair is finally growing. Actually, I've never been concerned with it, the longer it takes to grow and fill in, the longer I don't have to worry about any type of hair "maintenance." Here's Daddy's styling-do during bath time.

3) She had a few rough nights sleeping (Su, Mo, Tu), and it was on of those things where her cry was different, so we were at a loss as to what was going on, or what was wrong. But what always seems to happen (and conveniently I forget in the thick of things), Wednesday she slept great. Oh the joys of learning to be flexible.

4) A few days this week I have had to go into school early for meetings/workshops, so unfortunately I have had to wake her up. It's so hard when she's so cute when she's sleeping! Note the purple passey tucked under her? For easy reach =)

5) It's so funny how I'll worry about something and then she changes and I don't have to worry about it anymore. For example, for months, in order for me to get a little more sleep in the mornings (yes, I'm being selfish), if she's up at 6/6:30am, she'll eat and then not want to go back to sleep. So instead, I cuddle with her in our bed, and she'll fall back asleep. I was stressing about this choice. Yes it makes me happier to be more rested, I enjoy our cuddling, and I kept hoping that by doing this practice (sleeping until 7/7:30), she'd eventually just start doing it on her own... Instead, I started feeling guilty that I was starting a habit, or doing her a disservice or something. Brian told me to stop worrying about it, and this week, there were a few mornings when she woke up at 4:30am to eat and feel back to sleep for 3 hrs in her own bed! I'm not so sure I'm ready to say this is a new pattern, but I was also reading that our society puts so much stress and pressure on "sleeping through the night," as if it's something we can control. But instead I should be thinking of it as a developmental milestone. And just like babies learn to walk at a wide array of ages, the same thing is true for sleeping through the night. It's amazing how that mentality has lightened my worries!

Sleeping on my arm. She likes to have the "pillow." I also wonder if she likes the warmth on her head, because she can now get a serious "bed head" look when her little head gets so sweaty and warm!

 Shortly after waking up. Yes, she is always this pleasant when she wakes up.

6) Her 3rd tooth on the bottom is about to pop through the surface. So she's been a little bit uncomfortable.

7) She is now consistently "toddling" around. 5-10 steps at a time. So cute, and hard to believe at the same time.

8) She is a fantastic eater. Of course, maybe I'm just finding the right combinations of foods from my recipe book, but she has now branched to a chicken stew with peas, a braised beef with sweet potato stew, and leek and potato. I believe she's starting to want to feed herself more than be fed, so I'm trying to come up with ideas of things she can feed to herself. My most recent experiment (fairly successful, but messy) was grinding up cherrios to make a dust and cutting a zucchini into small, bite-size pieces. I cooked the zucchini, then tossed with the "dust." She was pretty excited about it.

9) She still only sleeps about 20-30 minutes per nap at day care, two naps per day. Whereas when she's home she will take a 45-60+ minute nap, two naps per day. But she seems to be adjusting fine to the full time schedule (this week was the first week). They love her at day care, and she gets so excited when we get into the room. So far, no Hugs & Hurts reports for this week!! I also took her socks off. I'll have her wear them to get to day care, and then on the trip home, but let her try walking during the day without them. She uses her toes so much to grip, and I think being able to sense the floor helps her keep her balance as well.

10) In other news, I'll be defending my dissertation before the end of the year (in essence graduating). Still too early to even START thinking about the next step, but I expect by the end of summer/beginning of fall I'll start sending letters and applying for jobs. Who knows what the next step will be and where it will take us!