9 Months!

Wow, time is seriously flying by. I can't believe it, but Ellie is already 9 months....well...she was 9 months on March 7! Love the picture above....it is rare that we get a non moving picture these days! We had her 9 month check up on March 15 and she is once again doing awesome! She is now 18lbs 4.8oz and 28 inches long. I knew she had gotten quite a bit taller because her pants are all starting to fit in length much, much better. Here are some things she is doing:

• She has been quite the little entertainer lately singing and jabbering constantly, especially when she is eating, or really tired. Patrick always jokes that she is like me because she can't stop talking right before bed and then she will just conk out. It is pretty funny
• She is into EVERYTHING! She crawls awesome and pulls up onto everything, she especially loves the stove, refrigerator and dishwasher. When I am doing dishes, she will pull herself up and loves to play in any water that is on it. I know....gross! She has just started to move a little around the couch or whatever she is holding onto, but not a lot.
• She loves to climb on everything. If I am sitting on the floor with her, she will climb up me and get on to the couch, chair or bed. She is always so proud of herself also. The first time she climbed onto/into something was into her carseat. Can't you just see how proud of herself she was?
• She enjoys having screaming wars...not because she is upset, but just because. If I scream or lately anybody else....even on the tv screams, she will scream back. It is hilarious! Although, it wasn't quite as funny during church...perhaps this will need to be stopped shortly:)
• She loves peek a boo and thinks its so funny when we put a blanket...or anything...over her and she will pull it down and just giggle.
• I say Uh Oh a lot when she drops something or falls....etc and she will say part of it, either Uh or Oh. The other night in the tub, she dropped a toy, and said "Uh Oh!" Patrick and I both cheered and she was so happy with herself!
• She loves to blow raspberries, I mean all day long, even when she has a mouth full of food.
• She eats so well and is currently eating 4-5 6oz bottles a day and baby food twice a day with snacks in between. She will eat pretty much anything, especially fruit. Yesterday we tried real pears which she loves. She also will eat strawberries, apples, bananas and peaches. She eats bread and really likes banana bread. We gave her Mac n Cheese yesterday and I am pretty sure that will become a staple around here:) She has also really gotten the hang of a sippy cup. The first couple of weeks, I didn't think she would ever get the concept. Now she does great, but she doesn't like to tip it up, I usually have to help with that.
• She has also started climbing the stairs. She does really good at this and climbed up the whole set by herself. However, when she gets distracted or tired, she will just sit down....and since it is a stair, there is nothing to sit on. Good thing we never let her go up by herself:)
• She is still a great sleeper. She had a cold a few weeks ago and was waking up a lot during the night, but is back to normal:10-12 hours a night! It is awesome. She doesn't do a lot of napping during the day, but I usually get 2 30-45 min naps. Here is a great nap picture. She will often be so tired but not want to sleep and this is how I find her:)
• Patrick does horsey rides a lot of nights. She thinks this is awesome! Here is a picture we got of it. She seriously just giggles and giggles. I ever taught her to kick his sides with her heals to make him go faster:) Luckily, she doesn't quite understand that...yet!
• Ellie absolutely loves shoes. This has become a favorite place to play. The other day I had closed my bedroom door(evidently it didn't close completely) I had the gate up so she could get even close to the stares and went into the bathroom for a minute. I came out and found her in my closet....with all the shoes! Please....PLEASE don't look too closely at how extremely messy my closet is....and how much laundry had piled up.
• Ellie has always liked faces. She likes to grab your cheeks, nose and eyes. Lately she has become really fascinated with eyelashes. She really likes to play with them, especially when she is going to bed or down for a nap. It is funny because she becomes so focused and sill just run her thumb over them so gently.

I am sure that I could go on and on, but that is all I can remember for now. On March 18 we went to Charlie's for some ice cream! She couldn't get enough of it(We didn't give her very much, but she loved it!) I have been loving the weather lately and we have been going on walks, which Ellie really enjoys. She loves to be going, anywhere and does a great job. She is usually pretty happy as long as we are out. We got an umbrella stroller and when we go to the library or mall we get that out instead of lugging the big stroller and she has a ball. I think she enjoys being able to see more and kick her feet all around. She really likes the play place at the Mall, but it's hard if there are lots of older kids, because she doesn't really understand the concept of moving out the a large kid jumping right above her:) She has so much personality and is a little social butterfly. She is so much fun and I love having her in our family!