Erin Loves Brad: Letter to my Little Lily: 9 Months

Lily,

What a month it has been! It was full of so many firsts and fun. I really loved this month.

We celebrated your first Christmas, which was SO fun. You were oh so cute, enjoying the decorations and parties and people and wrapping paper. I had a great time dressing you up in Christmas clothes that Claire wore when she was a baby. It was a fun little nostalgic exercise for me. You were just the sweetest little spirit to have with us, bringing so much joy to all of our celebrations.

Another first that was in conjunction with your first Christmas was less exciting; your first cold. It was so sad. You were so congested and tired and generally feeling yucky. I was really sad for you. And also sad that so many family members who had never met you or who rarely see you were going to see you in a not-normal-Lily form. However, even though I could tell you didn't feel good, so many others continued to comment on what a wonderfully sweet baby you are. Aunt Jenny and Nikki were having a conversation about how sweet you are, and Aunt Donna told them that they weren't even getting to see the "real" Lily in her normal disposition. She's got your back, Lil.

I couldn't pick just one...

January also brought your first snow day! We didn't get out in the snow too much (because Claire wasn't here to thoroughly enjoy things), but I did sit you in a sled and let you play for a couple of minutes. You liked it!

Watching the snow from inside the front door.

Your mobility has increased so much and it is killing me. You are quite adept at army crawling. You are FAST, and we've had to up our baby-proofing game. You can shimmy across the floor in no time, and you really love to pick up fuzz balls off of the rug and eat them as you go. This is prompting me to vacuum more frequently than usual...which isn't a bad thing. You're not crawling on your hands and knees yet; it's more of an elbows and toes game. It's hilarious.

Oh, and on January 6 (Happy Epiphany!), I was trying to take your weekly picture in your crib, and you PULLED UP. I was in the middle of snapping a shot of you, and the next thing I knew, you were STANDING. So happily! And you were so not happy when I sat you down. In fact, you were so frustrated that you would not sit still for your weekly picture. You've become super wiggly for your weekly pictures as it is, but after the Pulling Up Incident, it was nearly impossible to get one. I told Daddy that we had to lower your crib pronto. As soon as he had seen with his own eyes that you could pull up, he lowered that sucker. You are keeping us on our toes.

A couple months ago, we started setting little bits of food on your high chair tray to see if you'd be interested in picking them up (and working on your pincer grip). You would mostly lean over as far as you could with your mouth wide open, trying to eat it right off the tray. There was very little effort going into pincer development. And then one day, you just decided to do it. Lo and behold, you were boss of that pincer grip! Now you pick up Cheerios like a pro.

This past month, you've also developed a deeper appreciation for your Wubbanub pacifiers. You used to be really intrigued by them, but you would, more often than not, pull them out of your mouth to look at them. Now, you really enjoy hugging the bunny or elephant while sucking on the paci. You genuinely seem happy to see them when we put you in your crib. It's very cute. Your love of bath time has intensified, too. We started trying to give you and Claire baths at the same, and it is such a WORKOUT for us. You love baths so much and have zero fear in the water! You'd be totally happy to completely submerge, if we'd let you (which we won't). You try to stand at the side of the tub, you lay on your stomach and seem to try to swim, you don't mind getting water in your mouth or on your face. It's funny and frightening all at the same time. You get up to all kinds of bath time hijinks.

We've had some changes on the Sleeping Front (but not in a bad way). We finally transitioned you to sleeping in the same room with Claire. It was time, but boy, were Daddy and I sad to lose you as a roommate. You really are the absolute sweetest, and unlike the stereotypical baby, you very rarely disrupted our sleep (after the first 2 months). In fact, we started trying to transition you the week after new year (when Claire was spending some time with Nana and Poppy), and we missed you so much that we rolled your crib back into our room before we went to sleep. Yep. We're suckers. But...we did finally gather our resolve and let you sleep in there. And you know what? You were a champ from the get-go. That makes me happy (and also a little sad that you didn't miss us).

Oh, also on the Sleeping Front: you've stopped sleeping so well on car trips. This is a less-than-happy development.

We've been having so much fun with you. You're a performer, which is hilarious. You love to shake your head back and forth, and if anyone laughs, you stop for a second, look at them, and then do it again so you can get another laugh. I absolutely love it and definitely try to get you to do it as often as I can. Blowing raspberries is still a favorite past time, as is rolling your tongue. You have also started doing "back bends" when we're holding you. It's really funny unless we have no warning, in which case we scramble to keep from dropping you. Yikes! You love it, though.

Raspberry blowing

Back bend in action!

And one of my favorite things you do these days: you can identify Mommy, Daddy, and Claire. If we ask you, "Where's Claire?" you will look around until you find her. This is a favorite game of ours, and we like to get you to play it daily.

You are still one of the greatest joys we could possibly imagine. We love you so much and are so grateful for what you bring to our family, Lily.

Love you so very much.