Nine Months

Those eyes! LOVE!

I am loving nine months so far! You are getting to be so much fun, and you are so happy to be able to get around a little bit. It makes life easier for both of us.

Here's what else you're up to at nine months:

*Lots of creeping! You'll rock on hands and knees, but you aren't moving forward on your knees yet. But you'll lunge and army crawl your way to get Lego wheels or pieces of lint off the floor.

Rocking on hands and knees

Christmas is lots more fun when you can get into everything:

Checking out the Christmas books

"I pick...this one!"

"Let me just get these out."

"Who, me? I am totally innocent and not going to make giant messes."

"Whoops. Guess I'll just have to eat...I mean read these now."

"Or I could eat your computer cord instead. Delicious."

Back for more books.

*You had (have?) a terrible bout of tummy issues. After a week of non-stop diaper changes, we tried taking you off dairy, and then gluten. Nothing seemed to matter. It seems to be slowing down, if not totally going away now. Guess it was just a really long-lasting bug!

This was every diaper change.

Meaning about every 30-60 minutes.

We went through about $20 in diaper cream.

"Diaper cream is my best friend!"

*possibly related to the terrible round of sickness: a constant rash around your mouth. But the rash started before the pooping and stuck around after. No idea. We think you just have extra sensitive skin. Hooray.

*You're down to nursing usually twice, but occasionally once a night. Hoping for more sleep in the future!

*You have some great hair. I was hoping for something as epic as Aaron's, but you have Elise hair, not Aaron hair. Still lots of fun, though! My favorite part is the long, long pieces that somehow still manage to stick straight up.

*Still not totally settled into a nap schedule, but it's all good. Your naps get messed with frequently for shopping trips or sibling activities.

*Going from laying down to sitting and reverse. We were very surprised the first few times you did this--we didn't know you could and kept trying to figure out how you got into a sitting position.

*Still eating like a champ. You prefer to feed yourself, messy as it may be.

Helping me cook and eating cheese.

This worked really well until you started creeping.

*Finally hearing some babbling! All you say is "ma, ma, ma." Maybe you'll be my first child to say "Mama" before "Dada"!

*Kind of leveling off on the growth. Still size 3 diapers, 6-9 or 9 month jammies. You do fit pretty well in some 12 month shirts.

*I really don't enjoy nursing you. You are constantly distracted, always stopping to sit up and look around. This is mostly Aaron's fault. He LOVES to distract you while nursing. But you'll stop and look around for him even in the middle of the night.

*Got rid of that pesky car seat and went straight to the seat belt. Not really--Brie just wanted to take you home with her after piano lessons. Like she does every week.

*You are thrilled with the cooler weather because it means socks. And socks are great entertainment during naps and car rides. You usually just rip them off and chew on them.

*Your favorite activities are baths and swinging.

You always smile and giggle while swinging.

Also, this is my favorite jacket of all time.

You loved the tub before, but now that you can move around in the water?

Best. Thing. Ever.

*You have five teeth--three on top, two on bottom. Also, I've spotted a few freckles already!

Happy nine months, baby girl! You are so loved.

Pinewood Derby

I was always jealous as a kid that girls didn't get to do a pinewood derby. It sounded like so much fun! I don't have any brothers, so I never even attended one. Seth's first Derby was mine, too!

I can safely say that we are not "those parents." Seth finished painting his car just hours before the derby, and Jon didn't finish getting the weights on until...oh, 15-20 minutes after it started. We're awesome. 

Placing his car on the ramp

His is in slot 3: the Hum-Vee.

He painted it himself after I showed him how.

Watching...

Winner of the heat!

Seth, Grayson & Owen wait to race again

He might have been a bit excited.

Cub Scouts

Someone else was quite pleased with the whole Derby experience:

Cookies! Yum!

Best seat in the house:

Seth can get competitive with things like board games, so I wasn't sure how he would handle the Pinewood Derby. Thankfully he seemed to have fun no matter what. He was thrilled when he won, but there were no tears or tantrums when he lost.

We bailed out before the final races (8 pm is way past bedtime for Aaron & Elise), but it was fun to watch the craziness. I'm very grateful for all the leaders who put so much effort into this calling!

A Sunday Story

I hate, hate, hate, hate Daylight Savings. HATE. An extra hour of daylight means nothing to me. All it means is that instead of being up at 7 am, my baby is up at 6 am. 

Still adorable, even at 6 am.

I guess.

Catherine picked this glamorous outfit to wear to Stake Conference.

She also apparently thinks this is a great pose.

I see it a lot lately.

Aaron was happy with his train sweater:

And Seth is still working on the concept of white undershirts.

We'll get there. 

Sundays are long days with little ones.

Sometimes you just can't make it up that last step to the bedroom:

Thank heaven for Sunday naps!

Family Pictures

Another year, another batch of family pictures. Melissa and I repeated our joint photo-taking session (this time we did Blood and Knox pictures on two different days instead of trying to get everyone at once). My kids were not particularly cooperative, but we got some decent ones!  I have WAY too many to post, so here are some of the highlights:

Emma came along to be her mom's assistant. Elise looks a bit terrified here, but Emma is great with her. But Emma's main job was getting Seth to smile. He was SO not cooperating. Most of his pictures look like this:

Emma tried teasing him about girls, but that just made him pull crazier faces. Want to know what can get Seth to smile like this?

Farting noises. Boys (sigh).

Acorns were the only thing that got Aaron & Catherine to look at the camera by the end.

This was Catherine by the end:

Tell us how you feel about being done with pictures, Catherine: