9 months

My Sweet Gwenivere,
9 months old... you've officially been out here as long as you grew in me (in fact exactly as long, since you are 39 weeks old today). Every hour, day, week, month that I spent dreaming of you, well now I've gotten to live with you that long too. And let me tell you, it was even better then I thought it could be.

This month you met my longest, best, forever friend Heather... not once, but twice! Yay Auntie Babs. You guys hit it off just like I knew you would too.  ;-)  And thanks to you, Auntie Babs now thinks that maybe kids would be a good idea after all. Of course she thinks that! You are fun, happy, smiley, and sweet.

Mornings are your sweetest times too. Lately you haven't been sleeping that great... you'll wake a few times in the night, and often you don't want to stay asleep in your crib once you wake around 5:15 in the morning. So you come to bed with us, and we all snooze together. When you've gotten good sleep, you wake up so happy. You crawl all over us, pat our faces, "talk" up a storm, and are just so happy to be awake!


Also this month, your first Halloween. This is the first of mama's trio of favorite holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas). I was so excited to share it with you, though this year you were too little for the full trick-or-treating experience. But we did dress you up and show you off to the neighbors. So far, I don't know that you are too impressed with this holiday. You aren't a fan of pumpkins, and wondered what all the fuss was when we dressed you up (I wear cute clothes everyday guys!), but I hope that you'll grow to love this holiday as much as I do in the years to come. I can't wait to see what you want to be next year.

I can't believe how big you are getting. You are still so much my baby, but you are getting to be such a big girl too. You crawl at quite a clip, and pull up on all the furniture. You've started letting go for a few seconds, and will walk along the furniture as well. Its only a matter of time before you don't need me to hold your hands to stand anymore, and that is both exciting and sad. I hope you'll let me hold your hands for years and years to come.

You are also eating more and more foods all the time. In addition to all the veggies and fruits you already loved, you now eat chicken, and had a pancake for the first time the other day. You get a kick out of food and I love sharing Cheerios with you.

Thankfully you are also still breastfeeding like a champ. Sometimes you are just too distracted and you don't want to eat well... but when we get somewhere quiet, you snuggle right in. I love our quiet moments together.

Gwen, I love all our moments together; even the frustrating ones. Even the middle of the night, too tired to keep my eyes open, won't-you-just-go-back-to-sleep ones. Especially the squealing, laughing, chase me down the hall and catch me while I crawl, moments. I love being with you. I love that you love me so wholeheartedly; and I love that I love you back with equal abandon.

You are my silly monkey, my little troublemaker, and I love you.

Yours,
Mama