Nine Months

My little cutie is nine months old! Goodness! She has her check up next week so I will have some stats for you then.

Natalie has tremendously improved in her ability to move around this month. She rolls everywhere! She makes me laugh. She loves to roll when I am changing her diaper, trying to play with her, trying to get her to sleep, etc. I think it is her new favorite thing. This has also helped her to discover her new favorite way of sleeping - on her belly! Everytime I check on her she is face down, cuddled with her arms to her face. As far as actually crawling goes, we still may have a while to wait for that one. She is really good at scooting, rolling, and leaning while sitting but not much progress in actually crawling. I think she is quite pleased with her moving ability though. She can cover quite a bit of ground with the things she can do.

Sleeping is not one of her strong suits. I am used to Weston who not only sleeps for quite some time at night but also takes long naps. He loves being in his crib and loves sleeping. Natalie on the other hand will do anything to avoid sleeping. She is really good about going down for the night and sleeps straight through the night. She has an incredible internal clock though and wakes up at 6:00 every morning (give or take five minutes). It does not matter when she went to bed, she wakes up at the same time. I would think that since she only gets 11 hours or less of sleep a night that she would take good naps. Nope! She still takes a morning and afternoon nap, but each nap is usually only about a half hour to an hour (if I am lucky). So, unfortunately Weston and her nap schedules rarely overlap. Bummer for me!

We have some great news! Her two top teeth that she has been pushing through for going on three months now are finally through! I thought those things would never come in. We could feel them for so long and there was just never any progress. She is so much happier now. Now on to the next ones!

Natalie is a good little eater. She is putting those teeth to good use. She can never get enough and is always begging at the dinner table. She also can now pick up food with her thumb and forefinger and feed herself. She of course still prefers being breastfed though. It makes me laugh so hard when she sees me getting ready. She gets a huge grin on her face, starts giggling, and claps her hands together. I think she is going to get a rude awakening when she turns one. I am trying to introduce the sippy cup to her now, but she still just chews on it. I figure she will get the picture eventually.

Natalie loves exploring her surroundings. She is becoming more skilled in her motor skills and dexterity and loves manipulating objects. She also loves sneaking toys away from Weston. I think that is her most favorite thing to do. She always has a smirk on her face when she does it. I laugh so hard every time. Weston does not think it is so funny.
We are excited to see what this next month brings for her. She is so much fun!