9 Months Old!

My Baby girl is 9 months old.  9 MONTHS OLD!!!!  How time flies...  we went into this month wide eyed and ready for adventure.

This month Mallie has really started moving.  She can roll from one side of a room to the other in no time flat.  She tries, and it really close to, crawling but she can't quite figure it out yet.  She gets up on all fours, then starts to move and then her arms give out and she ends up flat on her belly again.  Which she doesn't seem to mind because it means she can roll to her next destination.  She has figured out how to rotate her body to get shift directions but is not a fan of corners... she gets stuck on them and gets pretty frustrated and usually hollers so we will move her.

 

 

Speaking of hollering, this little girl is becoming quite... loud and used to getting her way.  I foresee this being a problem and want to address the behavior but am a little unsure how to discipline a 9 month old.  I get the most frustrated with this while feeding her.  I will give her a spoonful of food, and go into the kitchen while she is "chewing" to grab something.  The second Mallie sees me walk away, she yells out to get me to come back.  I go back to her with more food... only to find her mouth is still full of food.  She also has started swatting the spoon while a feed her, making a big mess of things. 

In terms of eating, Mallie is doing great.  She eats meat, veggies, fruit, and her gerber cereal mixes and has started on dairy.  Plain yogurt is not her favorite but she loves vanilla flavored yogurt.  

 

We have been out blackberry picking on our daily walks and she is a Texas girl for sure, if by nothing else, her love for wild, fresh blackberries.  Yummy.  We have had lots of mid afternoon snacks along our walking route the past week or two. 

 

 

Sadly Mallie's Aunt Jamie's grandmother passed away in April.   On their trip to Texas, she (Jamie) and my brother Kyle stopped by the house to say hi to Mallie.  They also helped out in a huge way and babysat her for a few hours (THANK YOU!!!).

 

She LOVES Mackie, our dog.  Thankfully, Mackie is a very sweet and gentle dog because Mallie pulls, pokes and prods that dog all day long.  

 

She is able to get into the sitting position but we have not actually seen her make the transition.  I find her sitting in her crib in the morning, in the middle of the kitchen floor when I come inside from a quick trip to the mailbox, etc.  She is obviously very proud of this skill because she is all smiles when we catch her sitting.

Aprilfest time!  

And fun playing with family.

Her second tooth came in. That sweet gummy smile is growing whiter with teeth every day.

Separation anxiety is setting in and there are tears shed when someone new holds holds her.  They usually clear up the second I walk away and she gets distracted... but I am still hoping this is a short lived stage.

Mallie is all giggles and smiles at home (except for the times she is not) but when we go out in public she still stares down new people.  She is not amused by strangers (or un-regular non-strangers) and their grand gestures.  To win her affection, or at the least to get her to crack a smile, a  sides ways glance and slight smile or simple silly face express goes a long way.  Loud, in her face, giant movements seem to either annoy or confuse her.  I am certain that the being annoyed part she gets from her Daddy.  It would make things easier when we are out in public if she would give smiles away freely but I am sure in some way we will be thankful for this trait in the future.

At 9 months old this little girl is keeping me busy.  It seems like I have more to do now then when I was working full time.  The business is a blessing and we are very thankful for all that God has provided for our family.

March Update

In March our family made a major change - I left my full time job to spend more time with Mallie and focus on LindseysWhimsys.  It was pretty scary making the jump but it was a great decision and I am very thankful to be spending more time with my baby girl.

The highlight of March came on the 9th when Mallie took her first out of start trip to the swamps of Louisiana.  After a couple naps and lots of playing, finally we got to meet her new cousin, Baby Jack Michael (Jack's mommy is Megan of Megan's MerryGoRound).

 

During March, Mallie's diet increased... but her like of food decreased.  In the middle of the month she started refusing to eat chicken and banana.  She loves our dog Mackie and playing outsider is her favorite.  She has started sniffing and scrunching up her nose when she is excited... when you sniff back at her she thinks is hilarious and returns the sniff... its a silly game.

Mallie took her second trip to Warrington and was a great tag along shopper. 

And of course, pictures in the bluebonnets!  Mallie met the Easter Bunny and later loved picking up eggs during an Easter Egg hunt.  She did not do a very good job holding onto the eggs but she sure did try!

At the end of March, Mallie became a 8 month old baby!  Time flies when you are having fun!
 

7 months old...in Febrary

I've been really wanting to blog lately but... Life had been really busy lately. It reminds me of John Mayer's song 3x5... Basically I wish you could have been there to see all the great memories being made instead of relying on me to tell them but... I'll do my best.

Mallie turned 7 - and 8 - months old. I am going to split the months into two separate postings though.

She's becoming a little lady. Really, we are seeing her become a girl and it's amazing to watch. 

Her big accomplishment in February (from month 6 -7) was eating big people food(ie puréed food I steam every week or so). 

She accepted grown up food pretty well but struggled with avocado (I'm not going to lie when she made a face after having her first bite of creamy yumminess I questioned her  authenticy as a Texan. Since then, her love for natures version of butter has grown quite a bit.  Anyway, besides avacodo she also struggled with chicken. But she did love sweet potatoes, carrots, zucchini, summer squash and  broccoli.

She also started flipping from her tummy to her back to reach toys.  This made diaper changing a
struggle.  .

This is the last month she was able to sit in the bumbo - she bucks out of it and its a bit of a safety hazard

 Her laughs grew bigger, she cries louder and her smiles contagious. 

6 Month Update

My sweet baby Mallie is 6 months old today.  While her first trip around the sun is only halfway complete, she has completely turned our world around and left us spinning (in a good way!).  

This past moth has been really busy for Mallie.  She has been learning to tricks, trying new things and keeping us laughing (almost) non-stop.  Here's her month in review (this is a long post... so if you have been reminding me to update the blog please only read a section at a time and pretend each new section is a new blog post :).  I am a working mom, I am doing the very best I can!!!)

Half Roll - (December 31) Rolling over has been a bit problematic for Mallie.  She did her first half roll from her back to her side but never made the full roll over.  I think she was reaching for the dog.  We have to keep working on this skill.

Cry It Out and Moving to the Crib - On January 1 we decided that as much as I love to cuddle with Mallie and help her go to sleep, it was time for her to learn to self soothe and be able to fall asleep on her own.  We moved her to her own room, her big crib and settled in for a bit of crying.  We implemented the "Cry It Out" method for bedtime.  She cried for about 30 minutes then fell fast asleep.  Mr. Whimsy and I were pretty glued to the video monitor watching her.  As much as it pained me to see her cry and so unhappy, we knew absolutely nothing was wrong with her... she was just showing the early signs of being a strong willed child wanting to get her way (with me and Mr. WHimsy as her parents, is anyone truly surprised that our child is strong willed???).  I'll do a more detailed post (fingers crossed) on our experience with Cry It Out soon.  Now she falls right asleep once I lay her down for bed and night time is much more peaceful for everyone.

Sitting up (January 14)- Mallie had been trying to sit up for a while but would usually wobble and fall over about a second or two of "sitting".  Well she finally sat by herself one night while we were playing on the floor together.  She wobble and was a bit unsteady but after a few minutes she was pretty good in the sitting position!  She started playing with her toys, beating on her play piano and seemed to enjoy it.  I think her favorite part of sitting is the ability to see Mackie, our dog, eye to eye, and reach out and -----pet----- grab her hair and hold on.  She is getting better and better at this ever day.

Playing in the Bath(January 19) - After a long frustrating day with Mallie, I called my mom and asked for help.  It was and hour before her earliest bedtime and all she would do was fuss... I just didn't know what to do with her.  My mom suggested letting her play in the bath for a while.  Since she had JUST starting sitting up I was a little nervous about her falling over but she LOVED the bath time.  Her toys were only mildly interesting to her - it was much more fun splashing the water.  She kicked, splashed and generally had fun.  She is definitely my child with her love of water (she never cries during regular baths either).  I can't wait to swim with her this summer and see her fall in love with water like I was/am.  During her latest bath, the swim teacher in me came out and we  practiced "floating" on her back (her but was on the bottom of the tub) but she put her head back and didn't hate it - I want her to get used to this because when I taught swimming lots of my kiddos hated floating on their back because the water would get in their ears.  (Mr. Whimsy... take note, we need a pool :)).

Skating Pictures (January 21) - Mallie posed for pictures in her first "skates".  These were booties that my sister and I also have pictures taken in.  As many of you know, I pretty much grew up in a skating rink (my parents own the one in Brenham) and expect Mallie to spend lots of time skating when she is in Brenham.

6 month check up - (January 28) her check up when great!  Mallie is not going to be very tall (again, that should not be surprising to anyone considering who her parents are!).  She still has a large head (90th percentile...) but I am pretty sure her head is what makes her so adorable so we wouldn't change it!  She wasn't flipping over yet so the doctor said she needs more tummy time.  He said her muscle tone was good and to start giving her veggies (she still does not like cereal or oatmeal).

Grown Up Food - Mallie had her first taste of real food on January 28.  We gave her sweet potatoes that I made and she seemed to really like them.  She went back to the spoon for several bites then starting making a funny, indescribable noise.  We knew she wasn't choking because she was laughing, and babbling still but but it was a little concerning at first.  Since her first dinner of sweet potatoes she hasn't been as excited about them but I'm sure that will change soon (hopefully).

Rolling Over - (January 29) She did it!  During her nap time Mr. Whimsy heard Mallie start crying suddenly.  After looking at the video monitor, he saw she had flipped from her back to her tummy and was laying in a totally different position than he had left her in.  He didn't actually see the roll over but we are thinking she either woke up and rolled and it scared her so she cried or she rolled over in her sleep and the action of landing on her tummy woke her up.  Either way she did it!  She hasn't done it since but we will get there I am positive!  

My baby girl is growing up so fast, I can't believe how big/strong/smart she has gotten in such a short time period.  I love her more than words can express and can't wait to see what she has in store for us this coming month!

11th day of Christmas

On the 11 day of Christmas my Mallie helped spread the spirit of Christmas with caroling with the Cowboy Church. Mallie hung out with aunt Megan and uncle John, uncle Kyle and aunt Jamie and BeBe and Grandpa Jimbo.

We had a fun family night filled with dinner and games. Mallie was a great sport even though we confirmed the poor baby has an ear infection and started her on antibiotics.

10th day of Christmas

On the 10th day of Christmas my Mallie Bear went to Cowboy Church, explored an excersaucer (she a bit too small but seemed to like it), laughed at uncle Kyle and aunt Jamie and had an heart to heart with her BeBe.

She is still a bit sick so all she wants for Christmas is to feel better and for her stuffy nose to go away!!