Nine Months

I'm so behind, that Emerson took her first solo steps tonight!!! She's currently 10 months old (almost 11 months). The most she took was six steps in a row! We'll see how long it takes for her to really get the hang of it and then she'll be unstoppable - and we'll be in trouble!

But anyways... I'm slowly catching up with my monthly posts. Emerson turned nine months on 5.25.14 and she was 19 lbs 12 oz and 29 1/2 inches! Still in the 98th percentile for height! Here's some of the fun stuff she was up to this month...

- She is quite the crawler and has really figured out how to move around quickly. She loves crawling after her puppies! She thinks they are hilarious and always giggles when she sees Brody across the room or when Buster gives her kisses. 

- She's been sleeping well and we are officially on two naps a day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Our routine has been going well - 7 o'clock bedtime and then she usually wakes up between 5:30-6:30. Not terrible (except on the weekends!).

- She pulls herself up on everything and started cruising around the couch. She likes walking around on her toy walker which is adorable! She is getting better at balancing and can lower herself down from standing.

- We went on our first camping trip as a family and met up with Zach's parents and sister at Lake Cushman. We planned on staying two nights, but this was our first overnight trip in five months (basically, since Christmas) and it was a little rough. We only ended up lasting one night since we were staying in the same camper as the rest of his family (cramped quarters!). Other than that, we had fun! She liked the campfire and the pack n' play finally got some good use since we couldn't really put her down in the dirt to crawl around. We went for a little hike and played lots of games. I would count it as an overall success for our first camping trip! Luckily we lived close enough where we could drive home easily. :)

- She increasingly became more of a squirmy wormy during this month and it got harder and harder to contain her! She's such a little busy body and wants to explore everything, especially places and things she shouldn't be touching. Like electrical outlets (baby proofing was in full effect!), dog bones, remote controls and cell phones, computer cords. You name it, she wants it! But don't worry, we baby proofed so she doesn't have access to these things (with the exception of some when we are with her).

- We started trying more finger foods - sausage, hash browns, taco meat, cheese, avocado (she didn't like the avocado). We are slowly trying to transition to eating more "real" foods. She's doing awesome with pureed foods - we are up to three pureed meals a day and she loves most everything except for bananas. She still doesn't like the texture (and maybe the taste too). She's still at five bottles a day.

- Zach had a month off between school and residency so we took a month off from daycare and she got in a lot of quality Daddy-Daughter time. I'm so glad they got to hang out so much before Zach starts in on his crazy hours!

- She's been babbling a TON! Lots and lots of Mamamamamama and Dadadadadada. She also likes Baba and Gaga too. :)

- She loves to flip through her books and pretend to read by pointing her pointer finger at the pages (probably copying me since I point at the words sometimes when I read to her)

- She's such a little ham and loves to make people laugh. When eating, she likes to have an audience and get a rise out of people. Such a goofball! I see a "class clown" superlative in her future!

- We went down to Centralia for a half day to a high school assembly where they honored my Dad. After 35 years in education (teacher, football coach, vice principal, principal), he retired! I made a sweet slideshow with pics of him throughout the years (complete with a pic of his awesome plaid jacket). My brother and mom were there too and it was lots of fun!

- We went on our first date night in months while Zach's parents watched Emerson. We went to a friend's wedding and it was fun to get dressed up and go out just the two of us!

- Every Friday, daycare has dress up days or themed days. This month there was a "50s Day" so Emerson wore her polka dots shirt and polka dot skirt! She was adorable.

- We celebrated my first Mother's Day by having both our immediate families over for a BBQ. Emerson and Zach let me sleep in and then woke me up with breakfast in bed. She (ahem, Zach) made eggs benedict, with coffee and fruit and it was delicious! Such a special day. The Friday before, daycare also had a "Moms and Muffins" morning breakfast where we did a cute little craft project (stamped both our hands in different colors on a piece of paper) and had you guessed it, muffins! It was really cute and I loved every bit of the corniness. :)

And now for some pictures :)