9 months

Dear Afton-

(First of all can we address how hilarious this picture is? Note the squished food in her hand. That habit makes for a very fun cleanup. Also note the huge chunk of peach stuck to her chest. This just makes me laugh. Not to mention the face. Now THAT is a funny face.)

Where to start? These past few months have brought so many new exciting adventures to our family. You mastered sitting up and then went on to scooting around on your butt. You entertained yourself often with that maneuver. But of course that wasn't enough so you taught yourself how to stand up in your crib. Then you were pulling yourself up on anything and everything. Then came crawling. Now we can't leave you in a room by yourself for more than 30 seconds (if we're lucky!). And all that in a 3 short months. Whew!

I'm tired just thinking about it. But it is so fun to see you learning something new everyday. When your face lights up with a smile because you know you accomplished something big, my heart melts.

You also have your first two teeth now and I am pretty sure you are working on more due to your mood swings. But don't worry we love you all the more for those. Except could you PLEASE sleep through the night maybe once a week? Right now you are waking up at least once a night (the last few nights has been more like 3-5 times) and it is killing your dad and I. See what you can do about that, k?

You also know how to feed yourself pretty good now too and have been trying lots of new foods lately. I still try to feed you mainly fruits and vegtables but we have tried beans and corn now. Of course all your grandparents and aunts and uncles sneak you some good stuff now and again (I.E. mashed potatoes, popcicles, ice cream and ketchup).

You love Baby Einsteins and always give me a big smile and a scream of excitement when you hear the music or see the caterpillar at the beginning of the DVD. You also are starting to explore the house more. You have tried to eat Oliver's dog food on multiple occasions now and are getting pretty good at cleaning our floors of any lint.

You have waved once for Grandpa Terry although we can't get you to do it again. You also clapped your hands when Dad was playing patty cake with you the other night. AND you repeated "Mama" for me the other day. No one else was around to hear it but I am thinking about putting it down in the books as your first word. We shall see. We shall see.
Afton you are such a sweet little girl. I get told everyday from strangers how beautiful and well behaved you are. You are the center of my world now and I don't know what I would spend my days doing without you. Thankfully you still let me rock you sometimes and those are my favorite times. I am trying to remind myself to slow down everyday and spend time with you because you are growing up so fast. Thank you for bringing me so much happiness and making your dad and I better people. We love you.

Mom and Dad