9 months!!

This month has been a month of 2 steps forward and 1 step back BUT, great strides have been accomplished in that one step forward. We've been working really hard at getting Natalie's weight up and I've been documenting EVERYTHING she eats and noticed she was drinking more and more milk. I was pretty excited about this and also noticed that as she was getting more interested in people food. I've still been trying to feed her baby food, and she did eat a couple spoonfuls, which may not seem like much but felt like a MAJOR victory. Well just as we were getting her to try some baby food she got hit with a stomach bug that also got Ty. It hit her hard. She was throwing up at least 3 times a day and we went through about 4 outfits a day from diaper explosions. Needless to say when her 9 month checkup came up her weight was not where it should have been. She was down half a pound from her last weigh in. Her Dr. was very understanding but we are now back to every 2 week weight checks for now. I'm still not worried that anything is "wrong" with her, but would like to see some growth this month just to keep me sane. :-)
Natalie is quite the mover at this point. She can get anywhere she wants in a matter of seconds. She also wants to be put down ALL THE TIME so she can crawl herself and we're not always in the right places to put her on the floor. I can tell she is really starting to think about walking because she isn't holding on as tightly when we walk with her, and she is kind of throwing herself from the ottoman to my arms. She is sure trying!! We have also entered the world where she's figured out that behind those cupboard doors she has an endless variety of new toys. After she found the spot where my vases were we put rubber bands on all the doors. I already had the one under the sink locked, but now they all need to be barricaded a bit.
One funny thing about Natalie being sick (I use funny very loosely here) was that she was just SO lethargic that each day that she improved we were excited about her increase in energy. Now that she's obviously MUCH better we keep laughing at just how much energy she has. She just cracks us up with her smiles and excitement. Here is a little video of Natalie showing her smile and her new skill of blowing a whistle all by herself.

 

9 Month Stats! 
Weight -14.8 lbs
Diaper Size - 2 ....actually went back down to a size 1 while she was sick because I couldn't keep the 2s on her.
Clothing Size - 6 Months
Sleeping - Bed at 9:00 pm and awake around 8:00am
Naps- One nap from 10:30-11 and a second from 2-4

This month's picture is clearly NOT her best pic, but I wanted to get it done even though she wasn't feeling the best.

CLEARLY she was done and we took what we had. :-)

THIS is the smile I love!!

Nothing like the best daddy in the world to hold you and rub your head when you're sick.