9 Months

So I'm a couple weeks late with my 9 month post, and it's mainly because I can't seem to stay up past 8 PM lately: )  The past few weeks Malea and I have started a habit of having her night bottle around 7:30, and then we both fall asleep on the couch together before 8... but don't go laughing just yet at my early bedtime, because a lot of times when I lay her down, THEN I get up and do laundry, clean the house, etc... so I'm not exactly getting 10 hours of sleep every night: ) 

Malea had her 9 month checkup on the 15th, and much to my surprise, NO SHOTS!  I was going totally expecting shots, so it was a relief when I found out she didn't need any at 9 months.  Yay!  Once again, she got a great report from the Doc, and she appears to be right on track with everything.  She weighed 19 lbs, 8 oz, and was 28 1/4" long!  Growing all the time... She is still wearing a lot of her 9 month clothing, but she definitely fits in to most 12 month stuff too.  Her 12 month onesies are a must b/c she has a long torso like her Mama.  She must have a tiny little kaboose though because she still easily fits in size 2 diapers.  (That part doesn't come from her Mama: )

Malea's hair is really getting blonde, and LONG.  Her hair is well past her eyes in the front, needless to say we wear a lot of ponytails in our house these days, because Mama ain't about to cut her bangs yet!!  I was born with black hair, then it all fell out and came back in super blonde... I should break out some baby pics of Joel and myself to see who she is looking like these days!

Some of my favorite things lately are how she sings herself to sleep... how she pats my back when I'm holding her patting her back... how whenever she hears clapping, she starts to clap too... how she blows with her tongue out to make that funny noise like daddy... how when you say "bye bye Malea" she instantly waves... how she gives me slobbery kisses... how excited she gets when she is around Aubrey... and how she continues to giggle SO HARD all the time.  Oh how I adore my happy baby girl!!

She is going through a stage that I hope doesn't last long... the nobody-but-mommy-stage... don't get me wrong, I LOVE that she loves me so much and always wants to be with me, but if I am in the room, she wants me and only me.  If Joel (or anybody) is alone with her, she is awesome... but if I am near, she wants Mommy.  I know a lot of babies go through this stage... I'm just hoping it doesn't last long!!
Malea decided a week ago that she was going to start crawling on all 4's!   She had been doing it a little bit before then, but would usually end up dropping to her belly and army crawling the rest of the way.  But last week she decided she was a big girl and wanted to crawl on all 4's.  I know I always promise videos, then don't get them up... but I will try my darndest to get some new videos up!  She is pulling herself up on everything now too, and she looks so proud every time she does it.  She pulls herself up on the coffee table, and proceeds to "walk" the length of the table holding onto it.  The other night when she got to the end of the table, Little Ms. Fearless let go of the table, fell over backwards, and nailed her head on the wood floor... : (  BUT, after a quick cuddle with Mama, she was right back to her giggly self.

Well I have lots more I would love to talk about (I still need to get a post up about her Valentine bear, our bowling outing for work, and Malea's first impression of the farm...), but instead of waiting to post this for another week, I will just leave you with this, and work on another post just as soon as I'm able!  Thanks for reading!!