Madelyn's Ninth Month

My sweet girl has now been on the outside longer than she was on the inside. She's so big and it makes me sad. I love every new thing she does but I find myself staring longingly at her newborn pictures trying to remember those squishy early moments that are almost impossible to commit to memory.

Miss. Madelyn has officially starting crawling. She started with the worm but that only lasted a week or so. Soon enough she had moved onto crawling on all fours and man alive is she fast! She has also figured out how to open the basement door if it isn't latched completely. She has also discovered the cat door and water dishes - fun!

Waiting for Daddy to come home from work

She has really started working with her pincer grasp and loves foods that allow her to practice. I can't keep blueberries stocked! On the food front, she also loves hummus, zucchini, and eggs. There isn't much she will turn her nose to. Nick and I's families are fixated on giving her ice cream so I am glad I was able to find a tutorial on banana "ice cream". Freeze a banana and then throw it in the food processor - soon enough it turns into an ice cream type consistency that Madelyn seems to love.

The problem with her developing her pincer grasp and her persistenent personality is that she will find the smallest things on the floor and obsessively work on picking them up and stick them straight into her mouth. Much to Ben's dismay, this means the end of Legos in the livingroom. Sadly, we have found a Lego on the floor one to many times and the bright colors are like a beacon to Madelyn.

Her favorite toys are her wooden puzzle and laughing baby doll. Nick has started using the jumperoo with her again and she has figured out how to really launch herself in it. Just when I thought we were safe to put away the swing she started using that again as well. We also installed a swing to our tree in the backyard. Madelyn loves spending time out there and can't get enough time in her new toy!

Just the other day she finally started saying the beloved "ma ma" and it was awesome! I went bananas when she did it so now it is becoming her favorite word since she always manages to get a reaction from me. She picked up the shaking her head no trick again and this time she knows people find it funny. More often than not she will use it at the right time and follow it up with a smile. I've caught her on more than one occasion playing the dog or cat toys - she look up at me, shake her head no and then smile and continue playing. *Sigh* I've got my work cut out for me with this one.

Her fangs seem to be coming in but they haven't broken through yet. It'll definitely make for some interesting pictures once they poke through.

We also "transitioned" Madelyn to her crib this month. I hesitate to use the word transition because it really was a seamless process. We kept with our normal bedtime routine but instead of nursing her in my bed, I nursed her in the rocking chair in her room and put her in her crib instead of the pack n play. She went to sleep without any issues and woke up at her normal times. She has also slept through the night a couple times so I think it was a good move! I had noticed we were waking her up when we went to bed - no matter how quiet we tried to be. Plus, the pack n play couldn't have been that comfy. Add to that the fact that Nick and I would hear every grunt or sigh meant neither one of us were getting a good night's sleep.

First night in her crib

Miss. Madelyn got to finally meet her friend Dexter this month! Yay! I think Madelyn enjoyed not being the oldest one for once and had a friend to interact with that was bigger than her!

Overall, another fantastic month! Keep it up sweet love!!