9 Months Old & Baby Keaton!

First off, I want to say congratulations to my sister and her husband on their brand new baby boy Keaton William Comer!!  He was born on March 7 and is just as precious as can be.  I am spending some time in Jeff City right now to help her out and we are having a great time playing with all these babies!  Here he is!!!:

 

COUSINS!

And two days later on March 9 my little angel turned 9 months old!  She is getting bigger and stronger by the day.  That's probably the biggest change I've seen in her in the past month - her movements are so much more controlled now instead of flailing around and toppling over.  She is able to get herself into (and out of) some crazy positions!  She contorts her body in the strangest ways and even when she falls, she doesn't cry, she just figures out how to get back up and try again.  I hope she stays that way forever! 

Hailey has reached 2 big milestones in the past month.  First, she started pulling up on the coffee table, and then she started crawling!  I'm so proud of her.  She has been trying to crawl for the longest time and now she is really getting around (crawl forward, that is, as she has been crawling backwards for about 2 months now!).  Also in the past week or so she has taken some steps from side to side while holding onto the coffee table - she will be cruising before we know it!  Another thing she has started in the past month is getting from her tummy to her behind by spreading her legs and walking her hands backwards - yep, that's right, through the middle splits!  Her flexibility continues to amaze me, but the doctor isn't phased at all.  She was just like, "Yep, maybe she's double joined!"  Future contortionist on my hands :)

The one downside to her new ability to get to her behind from her tummy is that now she does that while in her crib. So that has brought a new challenge to her sleeping :-/  Before when she would wake up in the middle of the night, she would just whine for a little while and put herself back to sleep.  But now as soon as she wakes up, she walks her little hands backwards and ends up on her bottom, which startles her awake and she starts to wail.  Boooo for us!  Any advice for getting over this sleeping issue will be greatly appreciated!

Here are her 9 month stats:

Height - 28 1/2 inches (85%)

Weight - 19 lbs, 7 oz (66%)

Mommy's healthy girl!! 

Another fun new thing we've started recently is more finger foods and less purees.  She is doing great with it!  She hasn't rejected anything I've tossed on her tray.  Some of the things she eats are cut up pears, bananas and kiwi, small pieces of bread, cheese, and turkey, hard boiled egg whites, and black beans.  She also loves yogurt melts, puffs, and Yo Baby yogurt!  Plus she's a pro with drinking water from a regular cup (mommy holds the cup, of course!). 

She really just continues to be our happy, smiling, sweet baby girl.  She babbles all the time ("dada" is her fave word this week) and makes the most darling little squeals and screams :)  Can't believe there are less than 3 months until her first birthday!  Here are a couple {lots} more of my favorite pics from this past month.  Happy springtime everyone!