The Nursery

Now that Brooke actually sleeps in the nursery, I decided it was time to post pictures!  I had a lot of fun getting Brooke's room ready.  I originally wanted the room to be gray, white, and yellow with white furniture.  Clearly, I ended up going a different route, haha.  I was having a hard time finding affordable white furniture that I liked, and then I found the bright fabric, which I loved!  Kevin was a little worried when I showed it to him, and commented that it looked like a "hippie circus".  Thankfully, he trusted me after a little convincing that the bright fabric would only be on the curtains and in the accessories :)

Kimberly helped me make the curtains while she was visiting last February.  I was very thankful for her help!  And Brooke is going to have the best book collection out there.  My mom has been collecting books for her grandchildren for years, and orders more every time she fills a book order for her Kindergarteners.  When I visited last November, I literally came home with 22 new books.  Hopefully we can instill a love of learning and books into our little ones.  For now, her favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?.  It is adorable to see her get excited and make little noises as I read :)

9 Month Snapshot

By some miracle, this was the first picture I took of her and she is looking at the camera and holding (mostly) still!  After I snapped the picture, she rolled over and I was unable to get another decent shot because she was too interested in the blocks over her head. I decided to try again later to get a little video of her (something I have done every month), but as luck would have it, she had a crazy blowout in that outfit, so I took her video and a few more pictures in outfit #2. 

Things to note this month (in order of how they occurred): started scooting backwards, adopted a new sleep schedule for herself (wakes about 8:30am, nurses, plays for about 2 hours, and is ready for her morning nap), falls asleep on own for naps, pulls up on coffee table, able to go from sitting to knees, enjoys fruit (clementines, blueberries, strawberries) in her mesh feeder, learned to clap, became more purposeful in her waving, drinks from straw trainer cup independently, occasionally signs for "more" and "milk", gravitates towards yellow toys, knows that "mama" and "dada" refer to us, started moving hands forward in crawling position, got first bruise on her head from falling sideways onto the wood floor, gets to sitting position by herself, smacks her lips all the time, and CRAWLED for the first time in the bathtub to get her little yellow ducky.

Her 9 month stats: 19 lbs 10 oz (75th percentile) and 29" long (95th percentile).  Dr. Joki said she looks healthy and is on target with her developmental milestones. 

 We went on her first "big girl" stroller ride.  I removed the car seat adaptor and she rode forward facing.  She enjoyed walks before, but I think she likes her view even better now :)

Grandma Meador made her a really nice cart cover which we use ALL the time.  It fits grocery carts really well, and I also use it on restaurant highchairs because in general, those things are disgusting!

She still loves bath time!  I bathe her in the morning or in the middle of the day so we are not in a rush.  On average, she is in there for 30 minutes, haha.  We stopped using the bath sling and now she sits in the tub like a big kid.

 Our little adventuresome baby!! I appreciate her happy demeanor :)

Swings

I had been dying to take Brooke across the street to try out the swings, but wanted to wait until Kevin could be there with us.  We finally had a Saturday afternoon free, so we put her in the swing for the first time, and she loved it.  She was all smiles and when the swing would come back towards us, she would do the sweetest giggle.  Kevin documented the whole experience on his GoPro camera, so if I can figure out how to upload that video on this blog, I will do it!

Our Little Valentine

I was planning on taking Brooke over to The Picture People to have some pictures taken in this adorable diaper cover and headband, but decided that I could do them myself and save $18 and a 40 minute car ride!  I am still trying to figure out how to use my camera, but I am happy with the pictures I took.  Mostly because I have an extremely cute subject :)

 She was REALLY excited to chew on all those pearls!

 Both grandparents spoiled her rotten, and she was just as in love with the wrapping paper as she was at Christmas :)  Grammie and Grandpa Clark sent her a Little People valentine set, and Grandma and Grandpa Meador gave her a Fisher Price purse that has music and a little phone, keys, credit card, and bracelet inside.

And I had to wear my heart sweater to match Brooke.  This picture seriously makes me so happy.  She is unbelievably sweet and I love my days spent at home with her.  She is growing up so much, and I am trying to just cherish the little moments with my little sidekick.