goings on & 9 months

I survived the week of being dreadfully sick and home alone with 2 kids while my husband was on the beach. And I came back from the whole thing even stronger somehow. My running has really kicked up a notch and I feel AMAZING. I don't know why this is, but I'm not complaining.

The baby is NINE MONTHS OLD today. Time flies! She has had swollen gums for a few days and I noticed today that she magically cut one of her top middle teeth already, without much hullabaloo. I have to say, after all the troubles of the first 6 months with her it seems like life has just been so easy for her lately. She sleeps 11-12 hours straight through every night (couldn't tell you the last time she woke me up in the middle of the night--praise GOD) and she's just so happy. Don't get me wrong, she can be a real drama queen when she gets mad, but usually a quick scoop from mama's arms will solve any wrong. She's still on the same formula and I've been introducing more pureed solids in along with her stand by favorites like oatmeal and bananas. I scored some dairy and soy free puffs at the store this week (am SO THANKFUL there are good companies that make these things and GER.BER can BITE ME, they have so much processed crap in their foods) and she seems to like them, though she has NO idea how to get them from the high chair to her mouth on her own. As for development, the child has changed in leaps and bounds the past few weeks. She literally went from this little blob lying in the same spot on the floor to a fast moving, army crawling machine. I cannot keep up with her, you can see the smoke trails behind her when I turn my back from setting her down. I am not sure how to contain her just yet, the house is so big for a wee baby and I worry about her getting stuck somewhere or getting herself in trouble. (or eating dust bunnies off the floor, which I have seen her try to do already) She isn't pulling up much yet (THANKFULLY) but I am sure these milestone are not far off for her. The ladies in the church nursery laugh about how fast she can move from one end of the room to the next and how she always manages to just turn up behind you grabbing at your ankle when you aren't paying attention! I'm not sure when she'll figure out she can get up on her knees, but she seems to be getting around just fine dragging herself on her belly. Her arm muscles have got to be crazy strong! She's also just started waving and clapping her hands. A random man waved at her at the store the other day and she had the most SHOCKED look on her face as she waved back. Like "oh! other people do this, too!" It was adorable and it made that little old man's day.

We've also been dealing with the new world of defensive parenting. I was just going blissfully along enjoying the fact that the 2 girls got along so well and Little L was SO SWEET to her sister and then one day, baby S dragged herself over to L and yanked a toy out of her hand. And L pushed her to get it back and... you know the rest of the story. I grew up with 2 younger brothers so I know all about sibling woes, but I've never parented 2 quarreling children and had to teach much about SHARING. So this is new to me. And exhausting. "Don't push your sister." "Stop being greedy." "Be KIND." "Share." And the baby doesn't get it because, you know, she'll just play with anything she can get her chubby little hands on and this drives Little L absolutely mad. I actually watched as Little L defensively perused to playroom this week to pick up every toy she didn't want S to play with and put up on shelves out of her reach. Which would be acceptable if they were only L's toys, but several of them were BABY toys, too.

Parenting, phase 2?

The husband and I are trying to plan a little make-up trip for the 2 of us to Vegas at some point this year. We are at the mercy of grandparents who have full time jobs and busy schedules, so I am not sure when we'll be able to recreate the perfect little set up where we have time to get away but it is my mission to make it happen. We need it... we haven't had a real trip alone together in almost 5 years. (and sadly, I'm ashamed to admit we haven't even been on an alone date in 7 months---SEVEN MONTHS) We had been thinking about a big family trip at some point this year, but have decided to wait until next year to do that. I think it'll be easier to travel to Disney when the baby is on a one nap a day schedule instead of two and we'd rather save up to fly all 4 of us instead of driving anyways. There are a few little travel events here and there throughout the year, so we'll just make the best of those.

That's about all the interesting I have to share. I'm slowly catching up on blogs and commenting. With the week of sick and work and LIFE in general, I've gotten so behind. But know I am still following along and doing my best to keep up with you all!! Hope everyone is doing well!