Life With Lauren, 9 months

Loving her avacado.

One of the most wonderful parts about being a parent is that each new milestone Lauren reaches brings a different joy to our relationship. Each stage is a little different and it is amazing to watch her grow! Friends and family who are a little bit further along in their parenting journey will say things like, "Now he's able to play with us... He's really getting to be a lot of fun!" I've heard that from them at various times, so I'm confident that this sentiment will continue as Lauren develops. Right now, though, we are having a lot of fun with our 9 month old.

I love her expression here. 

 Lauren is crawling and pulling up on objects and taking steps while holding on to hands. Pulling up is her favorite thing to do. She has a few bruises to show for her increased mobility too. Currently she's sporting a bruise in the middle of her forehead from taking a fall into the corner of a crate. Ouch! These bumps don't slow her down too much and sometimes particularly spectacular falls merit no response whatsoever. She is an extremely active baby. She is not a snuggler and only likes to be held if she can see what is going on.

The look on her face says it all.

One delightful change this month was sleep. Praise the Lord, Lauren has started sleeping through the night. Prior to a few weeks ago, I was fairly certain that I was not going to let her "cry-it-out." It felt too mean to let her wail in her crib. But after several awful nights of sleep torture, I was at my wits end. All of the old tricks that would help Lauren sleep suddenly stopped working. So with Dan's support -- I put him in charge, actually -- we let her put herself to sleep in her crib. It was rough the first night, but I knew in my heart that it was time for Lauren to learn how to go to sleep by herself. And it worked. Now she gets onto her tummy and snoozes peacefully for nights and naps, with a few off times here and there. Lauren sleeping has made me feel like a real person again. I am so, so thankful that she has learned how to fall asleep without the very strict conditions that would lull her to sleep before. And for all of the moms out there who are struggling with their baby's sleeping, I'm sorry. I feel your pain. Someday you will feel like yourself again.

Camping was an adventure. 

Lauren finally got a tooth this month, followed a few weeks later by her second tooth. She has continued to chow down on food without any major issues. She is plump and sweet and active. She is starting to be somewhat clingy to me. We've been traveling (camping with Dan's family and now we're hanging out with my family), so the changes in location and people might have thrown her off. I'm hoping the mommy-only stage doesn't last for too long. (That said, she still managed to hold it together during nursery at church, so she's not having a terrible case of separation anxiety.)

With Aunt Joanna.

Lauren's next doctor's appointment is in a few weeks, but her unofficial weight is 20 lbs and length is 28" (which I think is 1/2" shorter than last month, so something wasn't very accurate!).  Growing like a weed -- growing out of 9 month clothes and into 12 month outfits. As she gets more plump, her resemblance to me as a baby grows. We will just see who she ends up looking like!