Nine Months of Blessings

My sweet Gracen Rae is 9 months old today. She is such a joy. She is happy most of the time and has the sweetest disposition. She is just so easy-going and I am thankful everyday for her personality. God must have known that a second cranky baby would have put me over the edge...joking! I actually haven't found many things that upset this precious angel. She enjoys car rides, bath time with Reagan, playing with each of us, visiting family members, eating, being rocked and cuddled, being sung too, being outside, looking at picture books, playing with toys, and exploring our house. She is crawling all over the house and getting into everything. You'll see this is some of the photos below. There are a few things that she clearly does not like. These include going to the doctor's office (who can blame her), getting out of the bath tub, having her face cleaned, and being left in the church nursery.Here is a picture of Gracen trying to stand up. She ought to have really fit thighs because she is always pushing up and squatting back down....over and over and over throughout the day. Amazingly, her little thighs are fat as ever.

Here is one of her new favorite little hang outs. She loves to stand up and recently she starting pulling on my blinds, just like Reagan did. Now, I have to keep them pulled up so she can stand here and look out the window. You can find her here throughout the day, just checking out the scenery. She is a short little thing, isn't she? That is really strange to me because Gene and I are relatively tall.

This is another favorite location. She is always crawling into Reagan's closet and pulling her shoes off the shelf. Oh the messes she is making for me. I find myself closing the door repeatedly through the day because Reagan cannot seem to remember to close it herself.

Here are a few shots of her exploring the house. I place her in the middle of our den and within a few seconds I find her heading to the bathroom. For whatever reason this is another room that she enjoys. We are having to keep this door closed as well. Just a few days ago she pulled up on the toilet and her face was level where bottoms sit and this grossed me out. Just saying! She will actually reach up and shut the door.....like in this picture...as if to say, "Just leave me alone. I'm exploring right now. I'll open the door when I'm done." Funny!
Here she is in Reagan's room. This is where she crawled too right after she finished exploring the bathroom. She made the mess that you see on the floor...not Reagan. She turned over the pink toy bucket that you see behind her and pulled everything out. Reagan doesn't particularly like this, and neither do I. But, this is where we are. If you drop by my house unexpectedly, this is what you will find. My floors always look like this.

Yes, I am constantly checking all of Reagan's things for small items that Gracen could choke on. It's exhausting. That little "Flounder" you see on the floor next to Gracen was picked up right after this picture.

I love these next two pictures. Gracen is always trying to get Reagan's attention, even when Reagan is watching cartoons and minding her own business, like in this shot. Gracen crawled all the way up onto the beanbag and Reagan cuddled her.

Isn't this too sweet!

Well that is all for the pictures.

Gracen is starting to eat more and more solid food. She eats an organic baby yogurt for breakfast, a fruit and a veggie for lunch, and a fruit and a veggie for supper. I am giving her more and more things from our meals, trying to let her try things. She really likes bread, green beans(from the table, not the pureed kind), butter beans, and cheese. I am still nursing her 4 times a day, which may be too much for her age. I am not really sure when I am suppose to drop down to 3 nursing sessions and then 2. But, I guess I will figure this out. She loves snacking on Cheerios and they get me through any errand I need to run. She also loves drinking from her sippy cup now. I would love to get her solely on her cup and off of me. She now has some teeth and she has nicked me about 4 times......No fun, I tell you, no fun!

She is also walking along our couch and love seat....holding on of course. I wonder how long it will be before she takes off walking on her own. She already tries to let go and continue "walking" but falls every time.

Gene and I will continue our Love Dare #1 today. Remember we are not suppose to say anything negative to each other. We couldn't really do this yesterday because I only saw him briefly before he headed to work....you'll remember the toilet incident. He had to go to Auburn yesterday afternoon and didn't get home until 1:30 a.m. Today he is off all day, so we will see how we do. I'll let you know.