9 Months Old!

This post is over-due, but better late than never, right? Our sweet baby girl turned 9 months old on the 11th. She had her 9 month appointment last week, and we were surprised to learn that Noelle is in the 50th percentile for weight and 40th percentile for height. We couldn't believe that she was actually on the smaller side for her age! We of course think she is perfect and know that she is just the size she needs to be, but the last time we went she was in the 80th-85th percentile in each. She has never really shown a trend in her growth...being on the high end on one appointment and the low end or middle on another, so we don't really know what "size" she will be when she is an adult. I suppose she has a 50/50 chance of being short and squatty or tall and skinny...and unfortunately for her later on in life, she already has my legs. :-)

Noelle can stand holding on to the ottoman, couch, chairs, her crib, drawers, etc. She is very sturdy! She is not showing much initiative to crawl. Yes, this bothers me. I figured she would be crawling by now. I know everyone says it's normal and some people don't crawl and I "don't want her to crawl because then I will have to childproof my house," but I think it is human nature to want your kid to do all those milestones WAY early. Like...she should have started crawling at 3 months, duh. No, no...I am kidding...I know I can't compare children to children, and that the milestones have quite a bit of range to them, but I am hoping that she will figure the crawling thing out here shortly! Luke and I comment that she might be a big of a "quitter" because she tends to try once and get frustrated and then just yell about it. I wonder who she got that from...?

But...all of that withstanding...Noelle is doing so wonderfully, and I can't wait until I am on Christmas break (tomorrow!) and I can truly enjoy this holiday time with her. I feel bad because I wanted to start all these mega cool traditions this year, and life has gotten in the way...so a lot of the things I have wanted to do and things I have wanted to integrate into our family's holiday celebrations will have to start next year.

Please enjoy her latest monthly picture installment and some of my favorite pictures as of late.

P.S. I am starting to plan her 1st birthday, and this terrifies me. How has it been almost a year already?