9 Months!

Well, actually Lyla is 9 and 1/2 months at this point. I am a little behind in my blogging which just means we have been super busy enjoying these last days of summer. Lyla and I went to her nine month pediatrician appointment last week and she checked out perfectly. She weighed 17lbs 9ozs (25-50%), her length was 27 3/4in (50-75%), and her head circumference was 44.5cm (50-75%). If she was barely on the charts before, she is definitely on them now! She did not have to get any shots, which was nice for both her and I. She had a CBC and everything looked great.

My camera is in the shop, it won't upload my pictures to the computer, so no pictures unfortunately during this blog. I will upload them as soon as we get it back, because there is lots to see. August has been busy so far. We started it off with a week long vacation to Hilton Head with my family a few weeks ago. It was so nice to get away again with Adam. We love it when he is off and has time to spend with us! The weather was hot but hey, it's the beach! Lyla had so much fun swimming at the pool and playing on the beach under the umbrella. We took lots of walks and spent lots of time outside. We went to Harbor Town and the outlets. It was fun to be there with Aunt Allison and Aunt Sarah, Mimi and Gramps, and Nana and my Uncle Fred. Uncle Dan had to come a little later in the week, but was able to jump right in and join in on the fun.

This last weekend we had some special friends come in town and meet Lyla for the first time! It was SO great to see them and get to spend time with them. Andrew and Gray are living in Jackson, Mississippi while Andrew does his residency in med/peds. Andrew and Adam lived together in college and they are some of our best friends. We are hoping they will come back to GA after they finish up. Or atleast be a little closer than they are now! We had not seen them since last June, so they had never officially met Lyla. Of course she loved them and they loved her. I am so glad they were finally able to see her. I know they will always be in our lives and hers and they will be special to her, just like they are to us. After all Lyla and Gray do share a name :) Not only did they come in to meet Lyla, but they also came in to help us celebrate Adam's birthday. He has the big 3-0 coming up September 4th and I thought it would be fun to throw him a surprise dinner with some family and friends. He had no idea and was so surprised. It was so much fun to share that special time with everyone.

Lyla is still a busy girl. The week before we went to the beach she started saying "Mama", which melts my heart everytime she says it. So now her words are up to two. Mama and Dada. Of course she is more vocal than that and talks non-stop. She gets louder by the day and I just love it. I am so enjoying being home with her and cannot imagine not being here to experience her changing everyday. She is all over the place. She crawls everywhere and just follows me around. She stands up and moves around furniture. She has, several times now, either let go of the furniture, to stand by herself or just stands up on her own. If she thinks about it too much she just sits right back down, not being sure what to do next, but there have been several occasions where without realizing it, she just stands by herself. I love it, but it makes me realize she will be walking soon and is growing up too fast. Her favorite things right now are, cell phones, car keys, wallets, helping load/unload the dishwasher, being in the fridge or the freezer and pulling things out of cabinets, baskets and drawers. She knows how to hold the phone up to her ear. She pulls up on our legs and then reaches up for us to pick her up. I love that! She still only has two teeth. She eats anything and everything. More finger foods now than baby food, which is fun and I have to think more through her meals and what I am feeding her now. It is fun that she is eating big girl food. Her favorite is cheese. Anything with cheese or that has cheese on it, or just plain cheese. She loves it. We can take her out to places and she actually likes to eat what we are having. She drinks through a straw now and I have started the weaning process with her nursing. That is sad but at the same time will be great to be done. She is down to three times a day. Adam and I can get her to REALLY belly laugh and it is great. Those are the moments I feel like a real family and the moments I want to remember forever. I need to get it on video. She still takes two naps a day. She loves pointing to different parts of our face and learning the names. Her favorite is our tongues. She loves it when she can stick her finger in our mouth and she can feel it. She just laughs and laughs. She has found our belly buttons too and thinks those are interesting. We brush her teeth now. She loves anything to do with big kids. Playing with them, watching them, smiling at them and waving. She waves at EVERYBODY! It is cute to watch. She is always blowing raspberries and loves to give us kisses. I love her kisses and will NEVER get tired of them. I can tell her to go get something or go somewhere (her highchair, her room etc) and for the most part she does. I am finally feeling she is understanding what I am saying, which is a new world.

I know this is long and no fun without pictures, but I want to make sure I get her milestones down before I forget. It goes so quickly and everything is so hard to remember. My favorite time with her right now is either right when she gets up, either first thing in the morning or after her naps, because she is so happy to see me and has the sweetest smile on her face. I also enjoy night time. When she is all clean and smelling like a sweet baby after her bath and she is snuggled up in her jammies with the feet on them. I nurse her and read her her books. We normally read a story, her devotional, and then "Good Night Moon". Then I pray over her and with her and give her kisses. She normally falls asleep in my arms and it is the one time of day I can just hold her and snuggle with her while she is asleep. I know this won't last long and I LOVE this time. She sleeps 12 hours at night and goes to sleep around 7-7:30pm.

We have one more beach vacation with Adam's family before summer is officially over. I will post pictures when my camera gets back.