Nine Months Old

Dear Katelyn,

Words can't express how much I love you.  You are sweetness and goofiness and curiosity and craziness all rolled into one beautiful ball of energy.  You use your zany antics to seek out attention by any means possible - either by waggling your head, sticking out your tongue or shrieking like a cow gone mad.  I think I've mentioned it before that you're just a wee bit goofy and I love every minute of it.

You do enjoy your quiet moments and are more than content to sit and scratch through a book.  I say scratch because you grab at every picture as though you're hoping that just maybe this time you might be able to pick up one of the characters.  As much as you love books, you also love all-things media.  Or maybe I should just say anything with a light...clock radios, iPods, phones etc.  You zero in on the light and make a beeline to try and get your chubby little hands on it.  

At nine months old you:

- are sitting up on your own with only the occasional topple over backwards

- are trying to grow four more teeth simultaneously

- love your baths...you lay on your tummy and push yourself around the tub like a little frog

- wave bye-bye (or hello) to everyone

- love to clap your hands

- love any and all kinds of music

- are finally sleeping in your crib (not that you weren't ready months ago...Mommy just wasn't ready yet)

- love playing peek-a-boo

- want to pull open every drawer, cupboard, door that you come into contact with

- are still saying "mama" "baba" and "gaga"

- can feed yourself your bottle and select finger foods 

- have the best straight-from-the-bottom-of-your-belly laugh that leaves you breathless

My sweet girl...I honestly don't know how I filled my days before you were born.  I can. not. imagine my life without you in it.  I miss you when you are sleeping.  I miss you when I am out running errands. The longest I have been away from you is during the infamous Baby-Sitting Incident With Grandma And Grandpa That Shall Never Be Mentioned Again.  It will be a long, long time before I will be able to take a trip without you - not because I couldn't, but because I wouldn't want to.

Love Mommy

In the following photos, Katelyn is wearing the same dress I was for my nine month photos.  Her hair is lighter than mine and I had more curls, but I'd say there's a slight resemblance :-)

Photos by Jen McDougall of McBaby Photos