Nicole // 9 Months

Nicole has reached the "9 months in, 9 months out" milestone! She has spent just as much time out in the world as she spent in my tummy. Crazy! I think the 9 months of pregnancy seemed longer, even though I only knew I was pregnant for 8 of those months.

Anyways, 3/4ths of a year! Whoo! And it's been quite the month for her! As you can see from pictures below, she has started to pull herself up on anything and everything. It doesn't even have to be something with an edge she can grab... she can shimmy her way up a flat wall (or, more often, the oven door because she can see herself in it). We have to keep an even closer eye on her now, especially because she can cruise along furniture and is daring enough to only hold on with one hand.

I love to open her bedroom door after her naps and see her standing up in her crib waiting for me. So cute.

Mommy is her favorite jungle gym. If I lie down on the ground she'll make a beeline for me and climb over and around me. In fact, the first time she pulled herself up to a standing position was when I was sitting on the ground writing something... I felt her tugging around on my shirt, and the next thing I knew she was completely pulled up against my back!

Her favorite sound to make (other than "Aaaaaaaaah" which is still her favorite) is "Dadadadada". I keep waiting for her to say "Mamamama" but we're having no such luck. ;)

Crawling, of course, is old hat. She can book it on all fours in the blink of an eye, and she's silent as a ninja when she does it. I only have to turn away for a moment and she'll disappear.

I love watching her figure things out. I can see the gears in her head turning when she plays with something new, and she gets the cutest expression of concentration on her face. Her eyes light up when something catches her interest. She'll stand on her tiptoes and reach as high or as far as she dares. She'll be such an explorer when she starts walking!

Speaking of reaching as far as she dares... she is rather fearless. I can toss her high and she'll giggle. She attempts to crawl headfirst off my bed and will stare strangers right in the eye without a single whimper.

Dancing with her is a sure way to get her to laugh. She loves to dance, and she loves music! I mentioned a couple posts back that she likes books, and I'll just add that her favorite ones have real pictures of animals in them rather than illustrations.

She still only has one tooth. She has spent the past 1.5 months working on cutting her second tooth, and it still hasn't broken through. We can feel it and see it right under the gums, but it just won't cut. Fingers crossed that it's not like this with all of her teeth! Especially the pesky molars!

Speaking of teeth... here's a clear shot of the single pearly white she has :)

She wants to steal ALL my food, ALL the time. Especially if that food is pizza.

She is still so snuggly. Maybe I'll be lucky and she'll never stop loving her snuggles.

She loves getting into the DVD collection. We need an entertainment center with doors.

Baths are no longer fun. She immediately tries pulling herself up on the side of the tub, which I discourage because it's slippery, which makes her cranky. I just bought some bath toys yesterday, so we'll see if that distracts her from trying to stand in the tub.

Even though she's slowly losing her baby chub, she still has glorious fat rolls on her thighs. Many people have reached out to give those thighs a squeeze, and I don't blame them. They're just so squishy.

^^^Those thighs. YUM.

Love ya, Nikki baby! I'm so excited to share my favorite season with you over the next couple months! I'm determined to find a pumpkin that's as big as you so we can have you take a picture by it!