9 Months

Ella's monthly pictures are getting more difficult each month as it's harder and harder to get her to sit still - as evidenced by the following picture (putting her on her chair is no longer an option as she tries to lunge at me off of it!)...

Nine months in, nine months out!  Nine months seems like a big milestone to me as Ella has been with us for the same amount of time that she was growing inside of me.  Her doctor's appointment went great this month (no shots - yay!).  Our doctor informed us that (despite her chub) she is tall and slender for her age.  For how tall she is, she is actually a little underweight.  According to our doctor, based on the fact that she has tall parents, Ella is growing exactly like her genes were designed to do :).  Her nine month stats:

Height 29.5 inches - 95th percentile

Weight 20 pounds - 75th percentile

Head Circumference 17.5 inches - 75th percentile

Nine months also seems like such a major developmental milestone as she is doing something new almost everyday!  Her newest achievements this month include:

• Clapping
• Giving "high 5" (mostly pounding on Dad's hand when he holds it up)
• Standing unassisted for 10+ seconds before lunging into our arms
• Picking up finger foods off her highchair tray and feeding herself
• Consistently saying "mamama" over and over (makes this mama very happy!)
• Rolling from one side of the room to the other and only stopping if something gets in her way (in which case she just rolls in circles in that one spot)
• Doing the army crawl for short spurts 
• Sitting up from a laying down position
• Pulling herself up on the side of the bathtub (and protesting when mean mommy makes her sit back down)
• Getting wedged in odd places now that she's more mobile including under the bed, under the tv stand, etc.
• Telling us no if she is done eating or doesn't want something by pushing away what we're giving her and shaking her head 
• Becoming increasingly social - she will grunt, growl, smile, squeal or do whatever it takes to get a new person's attention (especially when they don't acknowledge her right away).  I think a trip to Target is her absolute favorite thing these days with new people to interact with every time!
• Having a growing fascination with balls and loves kicking and chasing after them (makes dad very happy :))

Here's what she's been up to over the last month from her perspective:

Skyping with daddy while he's out of town for work...

 Loving standing up and playing with my toys...

 Helping mom and dad with yard work and making sure Lily stays put...

 Working on my crawl...

 ...but preferring the inch worm/army crawl technique to reach what I want...

 ...and being so proud of myself when I get what I want!

 Balancing without holding onto anything - I have to concentrate real hard but I love practicing!  Usually I fall into mom or dad's arms after about 10 seconds of standing on my own...

 Spending time at the beach...

 Putting my toes in the sand for the first time...

Mom calls this my crazy hair.  She says I have been cursed/blessed with her curly hair - especially when it's wet!

Being super cuddly...

Being full of smiles and funny facial expressions...

Holding onto furniture to stand up...

The following video features some of Ella's latest tricks: dancing to music, pulling all her books off the shelf (and loving watching mom put them back), clapping, and giving high 5's...