Lydia // 9 Months

9 months in, 9 months out! She's super cute. Super loud. Super demanding. I'm super obsessed with her.

Lydia at 9 months:

- Rocking the chin/neck rash like all her siblings have from all the drool, face-washing, and dry air (plus eczema-prone skin)

- Army crawling like a pro, and her method is funny... she crawls using her left forearm and her right hand. We call it a "limp crawl" and it's hilarious. Not the most effective way to crawl, honestly, but she makes it work.

- Gets up on hands and knees all the time to rock, but won't actually crawl on hands and knees yet

- Getting better about solid foods, finally. She loves all fruits and bread products.

- Loves baths! A month ago she hated them. Now she's obsessed. She splashes and shrieks and gets right onto her tummy so she can kick around in the water (I keep it pretty shallow).

- Gives me pats on the arm/shoulder/back whenever I pick her up

- Averages one feeding per night now, as of the past week or so. Hoping to get rid of that last wakeup in the next month so that we're done with night feedings!

- Went to Disneyland for the first time a couple weeks ago. She handled it better than I thought, but was still very upset most of the times that I was away from her doing rider swap or whatevs.

- On the plus side, she returned from Disneyland with an increased tolerance toward letting people other than me hold her. Hallelujah. She's still a huge mama's girl, though, and only tolerates ME putting her down for naps or bed time... and basically wants to be around me always. So... not much is different.

- If I leave the room, she immediately follows me while loudly protesting my departure

- Has perfected her pincer grip, so I can't let her get near so much as a crumb or it will end up in her mouth.

- 2 naps per day

- When settling for naptime, she likes to be cradled in my arms with a pacifier in her mouth for no more than a minute or two to get herself "in the zone" and then she'll spit it out, and then she likes to stick her hand down my shirt and wedge it against my skin as I sing to her. Such a funny routine she's developed.

- Loves chewing on shoes, when she can get away with it

- Also loves chewing on/eating paper, when she can get away with it (which is often because Nicole gets home from school, empties the entire contents of her backpack, and leaves the papers all over the ground).

- Babbles in "baby talk" all the time

- Her 7th tooth is currently in the process of cutting through

- Has already had more illnesses during her first year of life than any of my other kids. I guess that's what happens when you have 3 older siblings who bring things home from school/preschool constantly.

- Can't go too long without her brother smothering her with love. He adores her and gets in her bubble constantly, and she usually doesn't mind. Her sisters are more hands-off, although Nicole has finally become brave enough to pick her up and carry her short distances.

- Just today, I was lying on the ground on my stomach, and she came up next to me and climbed on top of my back. Uh oh. It begins! I wonder how many days it will take for her to figure out she can do that to the stairs...

She's a handful and I love her. Basically.