9 months

Evangeline regularly says ma ma, da da, and ba ba. She usually says ma ma when she is upset and da da when she is happy. Just today she started shaking her head no, but I have a feeling she just finds it hilarious and doesn't actually know what it means. She will shake it so fast until it makes her dizzy. Since she isn't crawling or pulling up yet, Ari has taken it on himself to show her how it's done.

She has finally decided to eat solids and I am now getting more confident that she won't nurse forever. I was starting to wonder if she would since she used to refuse solids AND taking a bottle. She still won't take a bottle so that is on the list of things to accomplish, and soon! Ari hasn't asked to feed her much but I did catch him one time trying to give her small pieces of a tortilla chip. AH! He means well, of course, but I think we will stick to mushy food on a spoon for now. She still doesn't have any teeth, although I think she is in the beginning stage of them starting to move. Ari didn't get any teeth until he was 14 months, so I really have no idea what to expect.

Evangeline has really taken off with the way she interacts with us and things that she finds amusing. She has what we call a "spit trick". She'll let her spit hang out of her mouth, then suck it back in quickly before it falls. Then she will get it going more quickly where you just see it go in and out, in and out.

She also likes to play "Where's the baby?". While sitting on the floor, she will bend herself all the way over to where her nose is touching the ground, then wait for me to say "Where's the baby?" Then she will pop up as fast as she can and just squeal with delight when I say "There she is!"

As you can tell by this next picture, she thoroughly enjoys these photo sessions by herself. Neither of my children are camera shy and just pose away if I get the camera out.

She is 28 1/2 inches long and weighs 18 lbs. 9 oz. I was completely shocked that she was in the 50% for weight. Since she doesn't sleep well at night I have been feeding her at least once just to get us through. I thought that extra feeding was going to put her high on the chart. I was waiting for her Dr. to get on me for feeding her at night but he said it was fine and that some babies don't sleep through the night. It was comforting to hear that she will outgrow it eventually. She has started to sleep better even though we still get up with her 4-5 times a night. I know that might seem crazy but I'll take it! She used to get up that much and just cry inconsolably. But now she doesn't really cry anymore and just seems to be a light sleeper. My perspective has really changed over these last nine months of having a sleepless child. It would be easy for me to sit around and feel sorry for my lack-of-sleep self, but I just look at it like I get to spend extra time with her. We prayed for a child and our prayers were answered. Now I get to spend more time than I ever imagined with this sweet little one.