9 whole months....

Amelia Jane-

9 months today, at this time, you were 1.5 hours old. You were probably getting ready to be transfered to the NICU at St. Vincents Hospital. You had an infection in your lungs. Mommy cried, a lot. So much has changed....

You now pull yourself up on anything that will sit still (or even things that don't). You talk, non-stop. I have no idea where you get it from... You have a little vocabulary including dog, hi, yeah and Dad. Or dadda, or daddy. You say these 3 non-stop. Like we don't know who he is. Like I didn't give birth. My day will come..of this I'm sure.

You have nicknames. Butterbean is Nana's, littles, Amels, Miss Amels, Miss Amelia Jane and rosebud. Soon I feel your new nickname will be "no". You answer to all, and quite frankly, I think you like the attention from the different names. Keeps you on your toes.

You finally got out of "army crawl" mode and figured out it's faster to get around on all 4's. And you fly. I can't count how many times me or daddy have dug you out of the dog's water bowl. Watching your eyeballs get focused on something and you going after it relentlessly is hilarious. You will be stubborn. You constantly make us laugh. This week you learned to "sing". Anytime music is on, we hear you. You soften when I turn the music down, and scream when I turn it up. This makes car rides so much fun!

You have 2 bottom teeth, and your top teeth are begging to come in. You drool constantly. You eat solid foods 3 times a day. You like sweet potoatos and corn, squash and any type of fruit. You have tried plenty of mommy and daddy's food. You LOVE green beans, your fathers child. Grandpa is happy mommy gave the "ok" to have a bite or 2 of pancakes. We don't know what his obsession for pancakes is.

You've had 3 ear infections in 2 months. Damn teeth. You take peach flavored floride for your teeth. It keeps them healthy. I didn't get my first cavity until college, you won't either :) You got out of sleeping through the night, but only get up once for all of 10 minutes. You sleep with a green blankie, as seen above. This was a gift from one of Grandpa's co-workers before you were born. It smells like mommy and daddy, and doesn't have a name. If you could, you would probably name it Elmo.

You adore Elmo. You smile and talk to him like you're old pals. You have 2 Elmo dolls, one adopted from mommy. One is big and hangs out with you in your room, the other small and goes with us on car rides. You are starting to wave hello and goodbye.

I am amazed at the daily growth and joy you give us. Being a mom is the best thing I've ever done. I never thought watching you grow would be so amusing, rewarding, challenging and lovely. You never cease to amaze me, and your personality grows by the day. I see more of your daddy in you, then more of me. People are saying you're starting to look like me. I like that.

You saw the good Dr. Culver early this week because of a projected ear infection (just fluid) so we decided to do your "well baby" check too. Your 8 month and 28 day stats are as follows:

Weight: 19 pds. 3 oz.- 50th percentile.
Height: 29 1/2 inches long- 95th percentile.

You don't fit into 12 month clothes because of your height, but are still too little for 18 month stuff. This makes you look like an orphan in clothes that are too big. You got your first pair of Nike's a couple of months ago, you don't know what to do with them. They, like everything else, go directly into the mouth. Please don't grow up to be an amazon woman. The WNBA doesn't look like it will be around much longer!

Mommy loves you.