Nine Months of Lily Harper

It’s the most wonderful time of year!  Celebrating Christmas with Lily was a day (and season) I will never forget and now three days later my big girl is nine months old! Lily has now been out of my tummy longer than she was in and it’s hard to believe  I am hitting publish on her ninth monthly update:

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Nicknames: Squishy, Monkey, and Big Girl. There were no new ones this month.

Firsts:  Of course the biggest holiday of the year, it was Lily’s first Christmas.   She sat up and unwrapped her Christmas presents both at home and in Derbyshire and loved all of the cuddles from family and friends.  We have also been practicing her standing while holding on the couch which she can do with support.

Weight: She is nearly 18 pounds.

Length: Honestly, no idea.

Teeth:  Nope.

Loves:  Grabbing ahold and chewing everything and anything. It usually is not the toy or object in front of her that is meant for chewing this includes zippers on clothing, shoelaces, and car seat straps among many others. For mommy and daddy this also includes our faces with particular affinity for ears and noses.  I also have to be careful with necklaces as she is getting quite strong and could rip one off my neck.

Her stranger danger has almost completely disappeared and Lily loves when others have animated expressions especially when people clap their hands three times while saying “clap clap clap”.  When we are home she loves jumping in her Fisher-Price Jumperoo (featured in this post) and her favorite toy is the Lovevery Stacking Cups.  In general Lily Harper is a very happy little girl but occasionally she has a meltdown and on the recommendation of a fellow new mom we started playing this song –  The Happy Song by Imogen Heap, and it has worked wonders. 

Lastly, similar to her eight month update in November she LOVES looking around, my girl has major fomo.

Hates:  Lily hates being left alone any time she is awake and now that she has been sick for weeks has developed an intense hatred for the snot sucker (the Frida Baby Nasal Aspirator) which we sadly use many times per day.

Memories I Never Want to Forget:

• It was Lily’s second month at nursery and we get great daily updates with photos, particularly of her arts and crafts.  This month I loved the reindeer footprint, the green Christmas wreath made of hand prints, and the tree with glitter and feathers that she brought home.
• When someone has a toy or object Lily really wants she will wriggle back and forth flapping both her arms and legs in excitement.
• She can sit up well enough that she was able to do “cuddles” with her cousins and kids of family friends this month sitting in their laps.
• We sent or delivered nearly 100 Christmas cards with the adorable Santa photo of Lily (see it here).
• Despite the cold weather we still go on long family walks but now we dress her in this Pink Fleece Onesie and then Mark attaches our Cheeky Chompers Travel Blanket over the Babybjorn carrier.
• We don’t leave home without her Sophie La Giraffe Teether and she has two that now permanently live at her nursery.
• Often when I want Lily to smile for a photo if she is not already giving her best gummy grin I squish both her cheeks with my thumb and index finger and say “squishyyyyy” which causes her to break out in a smile.

One thing that did make me quite sad, we took photos for this nine month update at my mother-in-laws house and my DSLR had been in the car.  As it was so cold the lens fogged up as soon as it hit the warm air but I thought the fiber cloth I used to wipe it had done the trick. Alas, it did not so thank goodness we snapped a few cell phone shots as well.  Here are two of the foggy ones for proof:

Lily Harper, it is crazy to believe that in a few days I can no longer say that I have a baby born this year – how is time going by so fast?!?