Dear Miss Maddie

You are 9 months old today! Wow - you still seem like a baby at times, so it's hard to believe that 9 whole months have gone by. Then again, you also are constantly reminding us just how quickly you are growing, as I feel like you are adding something new to your repertoire every day! Just yesterday I realized that you can climb stairs (and caught it on video), which means we really need to get more baby gates for the house!

This past month has been a bit bittersweet, as it's been spent doing (A LOT) of interviews for daycare. I dread the day that I have to leave you with someone else munchkin, and it's very quickly approaching. I keep telling myself that it will likely be harder on me than it is on you - that you'll probably really enjoy being around other kids and getting outside and playing, doing crafts - all that fun stuff, but you still seem like such a little baby, that I can't imagine someone else doing what I do all day long. That's just silly sappy mom stuff though - let's get into more fun and interesting stuff...

Some of the more memorable moments of this month include:

• your mastering the quick crawl (that's the crawl towards something I don't want you near when you think I'm not looking - like the cat's food dish)
• learning to clap (the CUTEST thing ever - and I love how happy with yourself you are whenever you do it!)
• starting to feed yourself - you've had Gerber puffs, Cheerios (you LOVE cheerios), broccoli, potato and banana
• you're trying your best to learn how to pull up and stand - you plant your feet, lock your knees and stick your bum up in the air a million times a day, but still haven't mastered that standing position - which is just fine with me! I'm still getting used to you being mobile, you don't need to learn to walk just yet!
  

You also are going through a more 'difficult' stage that means you don't like to be alone - ever. So if you are playing and look up and I've moved the kitchen, you crawl your way over to me. Or if we try to put you to bed in your crib, you are fine until we go to walk out the door. It's not fun and it's made bedtime a bit more challenging these days. You need sleep monkey - stop fighting it!

But in the end you are our pride and joy - we love you very much and can not even begin to imagine life without you now. Just try to give Mommy and Daddy a bit of a break and start sleeping through the night though, okay?

Love you monkey...

Mommy
xxoo