Miller Time: 9 Months Old!!!

9 months already?! It's crazy to think that Ellison was only a couple hours old at this time in February. We hadn't even moved up to the postpartum unit yet! She has grown and changed so much in such a short time - from a tiny helpless newborn to a (still kind of tiny) little lady with a BIG personality. She is so feisty and fun, and learning new things so fast. She pulled herself to standing on furniture for the first time less than 2 weeks ago and now she is so quick and can pull herself up on almost anything. She can support herself with only one hand holding on very lightly and has already started to let go to move from one thing to another (like her play table to the couch). Today she even started letting go with both hands and was trying to stand with no support at all. She's still a little wobbly for that. She is cruising along the furniture and starting to try to climb things too! Her crib is now in the lowest setting...

Ellison has learned how to get herself into a sitting position in the last couple of weeks too. I have started to find her sitting (or standing) up in her crib, babbling away, while she is supposed to be napping. She also likes to kneel. I caught her on the video monitor the other night, kneeling and holding onto a crib rail with one hand and waving (at who or what I don't know) with the other. We have been working on getting her to wave, but so far she really only does it when no one else is around and while she is eating! Clapping is another thing we have been working on that she has not quite mastered yet. She will bang two objects together, but not her hands.

Very into modern technology!

Ellison is SO FULL of energy. I call her the Energizer Monkey (she's definitely not a bunny, because bunnies don't try to climb everything) or Energizer Ellison. I am looking forward to the day we can start putting her in activities to help her work off some of that excess energy! Swimming lessons ended today, so I am trying to come up with something else fun to do. We are going to skip the winter session of swimming because of the weather. I'm really looking forward to when we can put her in gymnastics, dance, and sports to tire her out! It has become quite the workout trying to follow her around and make sure she doesn't get into anything she's not supposed to. She has been trying to chew shoes this week, and she is still obsessed with the laundry. She got herself into a laundry basket earlier this week and also managed to fall into the toy bin in her room. I just can't believe how mobile she is Jay even had her climbing the stairs this week! I will be shocked if she isn't walking, or very close, by Christmas. She is a very determined little girl, so I think all it will take is her really wanting something that's not within her reach. I'm not ready, but I think she will be!

Another new development is that Ellison has started to "play" with her stuffed animals. There have always been a few in her toy box, but she never showed much interest in them. But in the last week or so she has started to drag one or two around with her wherever she goes. I brought more of the small ones down from her "pet net" because she seems to enjoy them so much! She chews on them, shakes the ones with rattles, and just looks at them. It is really cute watching her with her little friends!

Playing and sleeping with her buddies

I am really looking forward to the upcoming holidays, despite how stressful they can be. Our work schedules and various family commitments make December an extremely busy month, but it is so nice to get to spend time with our families. We definitely have more "Christmases" than the average family, but Jay and I are pretty used to it by now. It will be a little different this year with Ellison, but we managed to schedule all of our celebrations on different days rather than cramming multiple things into one day. I realize Ellison won't really know what is going on this year, but it will still be fun to dress her up in Christmas outfits and see what she will do with the presents and decorations. I'm a little worried about setting up our tree since she is starting to get into everything...we'll see how it goes though!

Her hair still kills me!

I should have some new pictures to post soon...one of my coworkers is a very talented photographer and is taking some pictures of E tomorrow! 9 month stats should be posted in the near future too (appointment is on Monday).

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! I really can't believe it is already this time of year!!!