Nine-Ten months

Wow, what a month!  You've gone from barely crawling to pulling up on everything.  I'm pretty sure you'll be walking by your first birthday.  Which would be cool as you'd get to dance at Amanda's wedding!

You can also sign down, more, drink clap for "yay" and say "ah da" for all done.  You don't always do them at the most appropriate times, but you're close.  You don't like to perform and get very shy when we all get excited to praise you!

I've got a few minutes between Octonaut episodes entertaining a sick big sister, so here goes:

With your new abilities has come quite the clingyness.  You are no longer content unless you are attached to my hip.  And even then you still yell at me to MOVE.  I can't help but crack up at how you will crawl between my legs and knock your head back and forth to try and get my attention.  Reminds me of a cat :)

Several days of this.  But you had the flu too, so you did have your reasons.

Because of Fpies your are constantly eating.  No grains means looooooots of food.  If I can't hold you, one of your favorite places to explore is under your high chair.  Finally, a child who picks up after herself!

This day you were oh so fussy.  I finally took you outside and you discovered leaves.  They crunch.  You were quite content.

Your new mobility has made it impossible for a catnaps for mommy after school.  You always find me now...

So proud of herself!

 This also cracks us up- your favorite position! 

Of course, Sam likes to join in on the fun!

I was trying to catch your sideways head thing you do.

 After an afternoon of puking you felt better, crawled over to the coffee table and pulled yourself up.  And then loaded up your pants. 

 You also like to dismantle things.  The diaper bag and loads of laundry are your area expertise.

Love you to bunches, you little goob!!

Student Art

I love my artistic students.  They have abilities that just make me AWE.

My "art" ends at stick figures.  And even then they always look like they are doing something inappropriate.

I mentioned to a student that my daughter LOVES unicorns.  

So she brought me this one day.  Done in black and white for Samantha to color.

Samantha SQUEALED with delight!

Hair Fun

The girls were upstairs for QUITE a while.  We heard lots of noise, but no screaming or arguing.  

After about 20 minutes, Charlotte came downstairs to show off what Samantha had done:

Not too bad!  

Charlotte LOVED Sam's "do!"

*heartmelt*

Paleo Baby Finger Food

What's grain free and self-feedable by a baby with 4 teeth?

Good question!  It took me a few weeks of trial and error to figure that out!

Here's our go-to favorite right now:

potato-egg yolk-pancakes. 

They have potato and...egg yolk!  I made some tonight that were green due some spinach I added. 

Cooked in bacon fat and they are yummy!  I'd even eat them.

I has the water, Mommy!

"What?"

"He he, ok, I'll perform!"

"Nom Nom."

 She loooooooves bell pepper slices too.  Especially the ones she's dropped to the floor to find "later".

Eyebrows!

Curls

For Samantha's first Reconciliation I curled her hair.  

Which means, of course, that Charlotte wanted her hair curled too!

I love her facial expressions in the mirror!

First Reconciliation

The anticipation was almost too much.  I almost wish the school didn't "prep" you so much as I think it just feeds your anxiety.  We did an examination of conscience.  I read (age appropriate) questions from my examination of conscience cheat sheet.  Whenever you thought of something you would tell me to "stop" and write down what you thought of.  You took advantage of being able to tell me when to stop, but eventually took it seriously!

With your sins written down and tucked into your sock (you were so worried you'd forget) you proudly walked back to a line of a priest you "didn't know" (very important to you).  Daddy was home with Genevieve.  Charlotte and I waited and waited.  You finally came back and said your Penance.  

And the tears just filled my eyes. 

We were SO proud of you!

Idea stolen from a friend.  You got your ears pierced!

Charlotte was veeeery observant. After seeing a baby get hers done and you get yours done, she's declared that she will NEVER get her ears pierced.

Hair pinned back...getting a little nervous

A few tears...

...that INSTANTLY disappeared once you saw the mirror!

And yes, just as we've affirmed 1000x times since you got them pierced, your rainbow diamond daisy studs look fabulous!

Selfies

Charlotte asked to use my phone to take a picture of her drawing.

Here is her picture she took.

And here are the other pictures that followed:

That's 175, in case you were curious.  

761 if you count the ones "compressed" into collections automatically by the camera.

She had my phone for about 5 minutes.

Eyebrows

Almost 9 months here!

Eyebrows

Sh...the Eyebrows are talking!!

9.5 months

Chop Sticks

This favorite red-head stayed with us for the weekend.  He was a blast and we look forward to many more sleepovers with him!

No-longer-a-baby Gabby!

Playing chop-sticks after dinner at HuHot.  Will not be going there again.  Jeremy and I got food poisoning! 

The kids didn't, however, because they DIDN'T EAT ANYTHING.  They just wanted to play with chopsticks.

Water Bottle

This one is OBSESSED with my water bottles.  

And God Forbid it is empty.  Even though she doesn't know how to drink from it.  

She will crawl to a table under a waterbottle and flip-out because it's "so close yet so far away- GIVE IT TO ME!"

She saw me take a drink and wailed. Jeremy was so confused.  I casually handed her my water bottle and Jeremy BURST out laughing, "Seriously?!?  THAT's what she wanted??"

Yup...it's so pretty

I gots it.  It's MINE!

This is how she knows if it has water in it.

The morning she would NOT put it down.