Flying into nine months

Our little peanut turned nine months old yesterday. Which means, despite the fact that we are leaving in approximately 9 hours and bags remain mostly unpacked, I had to whisk her outside today for just a few pictures.

Her sister got monthly photos in her first year, and by golly I plan to keep up the tradition.

Our Bella Grace has seemed to grow up quite a bit in the past few weeks. She has gone from refusing to eat anything but oatmeal to eating EVERYTHING you put in front of her. That is, everything she can feed herself. Try to spoon feed her anything and you’re bound to encounter her stubbornness and determination.

Her personality continues to blossom. This one has a deep seated joy that is hard to shake. But there are a few things that disturb the peace. She HATES to be left alone. As in 30 seconds out of sight of one of her people is pretty much the worst torture she can imagine. If anyone else is upset, namely her big sister who is approaching the emotional lands of the threenager, she tends to get upset as well. We can see a sweet empathy in her already.

She studies everything, especially faces. And those deep blues love to lock eye contact. I still swoon pretty much every time.

While she tends to go with the flow and be content in a variety of circumstances (as long as her people are close), she also has no problem communicating her opinions. “Buhs” and “Das” are her favorite babbling sounds at the moment.

She still has not figured out a way to make her limbs coordinate in such a way to propel her forward. Which still remains a source of great frustration to her. Her Daddy and I wonder if she’ll just go straight to walking.

Her sister remains one of her greatest objects of affection, and the one she studies the most during the day.

Her strong attachment to her people meant she got to tag along on an afternoon trip to Chelan as an early mother’s day surprise. In addition to leisurely trips to a couple wineries, she got to stick her toes in the lake for the first time.

And then use her very strong ab muscles to keep her toes from touching it a second time.

Tomorrow will be another first as well. She will take her first plane ride(s) all the way across the country for a dear friend’s wedding. If you would like to pray for this travel, Mommy and Daddy would much appreciate it. We have all been there. The stroll down the plane aisle. The sighting of an infant and the under the breath prayers that that is not your seat right next to said infant. And the dread when you realize that the next six hours, instead of being a quiet period to read and rest, will now be spent with a cooped up baby. Ah yes. Pray for our seat mate…or for an empty seat?

Or that this one will simply charm her way into that stranger’s heart.