Nine Months!!

Happy nine months to the sweetest girl in the world! How can this little girl be 3 months from turning 1 year? It's crazy! A lot has changed for our family. My recent job loss has given me the opportunity to be a full time stay at home Mom. I thank God for this opportunity to be with my girl so much. I am not taking it for granted. I get to see her wake up every single day. What a wonderful blessing! Although it is definitely a different change of pace for me, I really believe that God has given me this opportunity to teach me something. I really think I am learning it through Kate. I'll keep you posted as I discover more.


We took Kate for her nine month check up on Monday. She weighed in at 18 lbs 11 oz and was 27 1/2 inches. Her Daddy's guess was 23 lbs! And I confess I thought she was over 20 lbs for sure. Just goes to show, that you can't count on an accurate estimate from the 2 people that carry her the most. Especially when those 2 people live in a 2 story house and one of those 2 people is 7 months pregnant!

Kate continues to hold off on crawling which is perfectly fine with us. She will move to all fours and even rock a little but then roll over on her side and look up and smile as if to say, "Fooled ya didn't I? Thought you were going to see me crawl! Don't you know I am saving my breathrough in mobility for the first week that Carson is born and you are alone with both of us?" Jared and I have been guilty of trying to "teach" her to crawl and moving her legs to "show" her how to crawl. We finally had to ask ourselves, "Why are we rushing this?" So we are very content to let Miss Kate go at her own pace. She can stand up on anything supported. She has this super cool table that lights up and plays songs that she loves to stand on. I will set her on one side and will come back and she will be on another side so I know she is "cruising." One side note to this table: It plays the same 3 songs over and over again. One is a mexican ditty sung to the tune of La Cuca Racha (sp?). I find myself singing or humming it through out the day. Jared said he was on the rig last week and was humming it in his head. It is really catchy...too catchy! I am not kidding. Lock up a hardened criminal with this toy, playing that song over and over and in an hour he will tell you anything you want to know. But Kate loves it! She will even do this little dance to it where she moves her head side to side (a la Saturday night live dudes) and kick her little leg out (a la Elaine from Seinfeld). It is really cute and makes us laugh everytime. She can wave hi and bye although I am not sure if she is just mimicking us or if she knows what it actually means.

When I feed her baby food I make the sign for "more." As in, "Kate do you want more?" And although she doesn't make the sign she will clap her hands. Which to me is close enough! Also when she has had enough she will shake her head. Although I am still working on deciding if that is a consistent sign or not.

One definite mark she has hit is wariness of strangers. Last week I found this out when I took her to the nursery before church. Just the week before, I gave her to the teacher and she looked at me as if to say, "See ya later Mom, I'm off to play." This week? Tears! Double edged sword here. So sweet because she definitely knows I am her Mommy and has a real attachment to me, but so sad that she is crying.A hard milestone.

Can't wait to see what the next month brings. I thank God so much for this little girl and that He chose ME to be her Mommy!