9 Months

This little cutie in red is now 9 months old!

And mom FINALLY decided that she is old enough to have a ponytail, even though her hair has been long enough for months. (Who am I kidding? She practically could have one since the day she was born....ok, maybe not that long ago.) I don't know if it is because she has been around a lot more people this last month or what, but I feel like she has learned SO much.

She is officially down to two naps now. That third nap is no more. Which means she can stay awake for a lot longer periods of time.

She has survived her first big move....almost. Once her and I move to Casper, then the move will be complete. She has been THE BEST BABY through it all. She travels in the car like a champ now. She will practically entertain herself the entire time she is awake. Occasionally Baby Signing Time will have to do the entertaining, but not much.

And she can now fall asleep and STAY asleep for a normal nap time in the car. I now that seems weird to all of you who have car-sleeping babies naturally, but that was a learned thing for Alayna. It took some time, but finally at 8 months she has mastered it.

Alayna is now a waving queen. She does one of three waves: a flapping of the wrist, the opening and closing of the hand, and the Miss America wave. I guess it just depends on how she is feeling. We have tried to capture it on video, but to no avail. Someday you will see how cute she is when she waves.

Clapping is another one of her accomplishments. She doesn't do it often, and will NOT perform when prompted...just when she feels like it.

Are you still with me? There is more. I know. It's a lot.

Since moving in with my parents, Alayna has been showing an interest in table food. She thinks she needs to eat whatever someone else is eating. Here she is eating some pretzels in the highchair.

And here she is playing one of her favorite games with daddy. That smile says it all.
Besides those two bottom teeth, there are FOUR on the top. All of which, decided to come in at the same time. The two on the right side have come in faster than the two on the left, but pretty soon she will have six teeth total.

A new found favorite. The swing. Although, she can't go as high as her cousin Easton, I think she still enjoys it, don't you?

Oh, did I mention that Alayna is crawling?! Yep. She is mobile. Here she is crawling and puckering her lips at the same time. I don't know why, but she likes to pucker her lips all the time.

Here's the proof. A little video of her crawling.

Now that she is more mobile, she is all over the place. Here she is with her bum in the air. Maybe she is trying to do a head stand.

When she is not crawling or doing a head stand, she is pulling herself up to things. That's right, she can pull herself into a standing position. Yikes!

Whew! I think that is it, but I just needed to add one last picture of our beautiful, blue-eyed 9 month old.

P.S. Her stats are: 15 lbs. 1 oz. (5th percentile) and 27 3/4 in. (70th percentile)