Happy First Birthday, Clara!

I'll warn you all now, I loved how the pictures from today's photo shoot turned out so there will be a LOT! (Hope you don't mind.)

Happy Birthday, Clara! This day has been kind of surreal for your mama. How is it that it's been a year since you were born? Has it really been that long since I first met you? Have we really had that many days with you?

You are growing into a beautiful and joyful little girl. You had a smile on your face pretty much all day today! And not just a shy, little smile either...you have this new crinkle-nose, eye-squinty grin that is just adorable. It makes you look like you're having the best day ever. I hope it was just that for you!

This month, like every other month, you have grown up a lot! Your hair is growing longer and you are stretching taller. Your legs are growing into longer toddler legs and your whole body is just not quite so "baby" as it was just a couple months ago.

You are wearing size 9-12 month clothes - though you still wear the odd 3-6 or 6-12 month pair of pants. I just sized you up into 12 month pj's tonight because the 9 month ones were just seeming a little tight on the toes last night. I really have no idea how much you weigh. You're still so light, I would guess between 16-18lbs. You are 27" tall. Your hair is growing so much longer! It's definitely long enough to put a clip into and has the most adorable little curls behind each of your ears. I can't really say that you've had your first haircut, though I did trim a few stray hairs out of your face a couple days ago to give you more "bangs" and less straggly fringe. You have four teeth that are completely in now. They sure change your look. You don't look much like a baby anymore!

You have mostly seemed to have gotten over your shyness and are pretty friendly with people. You still prefer arms you know, but you seem to be pretty easily convinced that new people are friends too. Your shyness didn't last too long, probably about four months (Dec-Mar). You love to make people smile but are also content to just watch the action and laugh along with everyone else. You don't always need to be the center of attention.

You've started doing a few new actions this month. You clap all the time, often looking to one of us as you clap to see if we're clapping too. Sometimes you clap after you do something that you're proud of. That's pretty cute. You've also started waving in the last week or so. I'll say, "Say bye!" and you'll wave your arm to whomever is around. You will also hold a toy or hand to your ear and talk. I'm not sure what it is, exactly, as you've rarely seen anyone talk on the phone, if ever. But I always say "hello, hello!" when you do that and it's turned into a game.  

You have definitely said your first word(s) now. It sure seems like you think "ba!" is a word so I'll count it. You've been saying "ba!" for months already but it seems to have turned from sound to word now. You love to yell "ba!" into big, echo-ey spaces and hear your voice come back to you. You've also said "mama!" a lot. If I leave the room, you will call "mamaaaa!" in the most pitiful voice and start to cry. Sometimes, when you don't know where I am, you will just crawl around the house calling for me. One day, I was in the bedroom and you were looking for me, calling as you crawled around. I called you from the bedroom and heard you get closer before you called again. I returned your call and you came closer and closer, calling over and over again, until you found me. It turned into a fun game, going back and forth calling each other. When you found me, you were so excited! Another day, you were inside with Daddy while I was making supper. I heard you crying and crying from the kitchen but didn't know what was going on. I soon found out that you thought I was behind a closed door in the bedroom and you were banging on the door and calling for me, "mamaaa!" while you were wailing. Beautiful girl, I love being your "Mamaaaa!" 

You have no problem getting where you want to go these days. You crawl on hands and knees at a crazy speed. I love to watch you crawl, your little bum and knees going back and forth and hands slapping on the ground. You've tried some stairs this month and have made it both up and down the two steps into your bedroom safely. You've also gone up one step on the stairway to the upstairs apartment above us. I'm really glad you haven't gone further because the stairs have hardwood tread and there's tile flooring at the bottom. It would do some damage to fall down those! You've also learned to push on doors to open them and let yourself into rooms. The door to your siblings' room  doesn't latch, much to their dismay, and you know there is often fun stuff on their floor so you will let yourself into there whenever you please. You also pull yourself up on everything and will climb onto things if they're not too high (like a small stool or chair that might be sitting around). You will also walk while holding onto our hands but when you really want to get somewhere, you just drop to your hands and knees and cruise!

You are a really good eater. Your favourite food right now is potato salad, I think. It's interesting that you like it so much because you don't really seem to care for eggs on their own. Eggs are one of the few foods you will leave on your high chair tray untouched. You also don't seem to like hot dogs, which surprises me. I can't say I'm too disappointed about that one though! You love fruit: papaya, mango, pineapple, apple, oranges, grapes, berries, bananas...you eat them all! You eat whatever we are eating these days and LOVE milk. Water is thinner than milk and still makes you choke a bit from surprise when you have a mouthful of water when you're expecting milk. It makes me smile every time. You are now fully weaned and it hasn't seemed to phase you. 

You have been a little more snuggly this month, which I love. Maybe it has to do with weaning and not having as many snuggles built into the day, or maybe you're just getting older and deciding that laying your head on our shoulders isn't actually the worst thing in the world, but whatever it is, I love it! You are just the perfect size to snuggle in my arms and be held. That said, when you're done with being carried and want to explore something more fully, you can sure squirm and twist and try to get away! It really makes things difficult sometimes. Oh well! 

I've noticed this month that you have started to play a little differently. Instead of just grabbing things and either throwing them or putting them into your mouth, you take time to look at them. You put them into bigger things. You carry them around and yes, still put them in your mouth. But your play seems a little more intentional and it's fun to see your personality developing! 

You love every sort of animals and have started noticing other babies this month too. You really like Hatchi, the dog on the yard here and have learned that if he's nearby, you can throw your food off your highchair onto the floor and he will come closer. You love to feed him. You love water and have swam in the pool for the first time (I think?) this month. You either splash in the little kiddie area or go into the deeper part with Daddy. It's not fun if it's too cold, but if the temperature is right, you have a great time! On the pool deck, we put you in the shade of the umbrella and you don't leave the shade because you know that the tile pad is hot if you leave the shaded area. Smart girl! 

You like stuffies and have had a chance to sleep with both Levi's Rabbit and Maddie's Tigey this month (they generously offered that you could have them for a nap). Your favourite is still your Hippo, who you sleep with every night and nap. 

Speaking of naps, you are a pro. I really am so thankful that you go to sleep so well. I walk into your room and put you into bed and you snuggle your face into Hippo and go to sleep. And on the days when you're not quite tired enough to go straight to sleep, you play in your room for a while until you fall asleep. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You sleep from 8pm until about 7:30-8am and nap at around 10am and 2pm for about an hour or an hour and a half each time. You're finally sleeping through the night, my girl! I tried for about 4-6 weeks to gently wean you from nursing at night but it just wasn't working and you were starting to cry at night anyway so finally I just stopped going in to you. It wasn't easy to hear you cry, you cried for 2-2.5 hours straight for 3-4 nights in a row! But you weren't screaming quite as desperately as you did in previous months when I tried this. And after those few nights, you started to just sniffle a bit when you woke and then you were sleeping through. I am so glad!

Clara, you are a blessing to our family. We all love you. Your siblings fight over each other to say goodnight to you every night and give you hugs and kisses. Levi loves to take care of you. Kayden will run into your room whenever you wake up from a nap or in the morning. Maddie keeps you safe by telling you in the most gentle voice that you shouldn't touch something and helping you back to the floor so you can go somewhere else. (She also calls you "Miss Clara" every single time she refers to you!) You are a pretty special and loved little girl. I hope you always know how much your family loves you. Happy birthday! It's been an amazing first year with you!

p.s-you loved these balloons so much today. You wouldn't let go of them the entire photo shoot and not afterward either! I finally had to pry them out of your hands so you could eat lunch. You would just carry them around and then notice that you were still holding them and shake them violently up and down with excitement. And then you would chew on them and I'm pretty sure at least one popped, courtesy of those sharp little teeth you have.

Clara is ELEVEN months old!

Clara, how are you so close to a year old already?? I feel like this month you have changed almost more than any other month. Perhaps you haven't changed as much physically this month, but boy you have made up for it in personality!

You have got spunk, my girl! You were so laid-back for your first few months but you are making up for it now! You let us know what you like (squealing and reaching) and what you don't (yelling and throwing yourself). You're really starting to notice when you make your siblings laugh. I can see your eyes light up and you really try to keep them laughing. You can get quite angry if you don't get your way. This could be teething or it could be a sign of things to come, I'm not sure! You throw yourself backward and scream when you don't get your way. But on the flip side, you are also often content to just be walked around the yard to look at whatever there is to look at. You aren't quite as shy as you've been in the past which has been nice.

You're starting to babble a little bit more. It's still mostly "ba!" but every once in a while you will let out a sound that we think might be a word. You've noticed this month that if you crawl to the wall beside the bed in your room and look up, your "BA!" echoes. You'll go to that wall after diaper changes and just yell and yell to hear your echo!

Speaking of crawling, you've really mastered the technique this month and are working on your speed! You sometimes army crawl still, but more and more you are up on your hands and knees. The tops of your poor little feet are so chapped from the surfaces you have to crawl on here. It doesn't look comfortable but it's too hot to put shoes or socks on you! You're also often up on your hands and feet crawling like a spider (as Maddie called it). I'm not sure why you do it...maybe the tile is so hard for your knees? Or maybe the pool deck is too hot? You're also pulling yourself up now but no steps yet. You don't even really like to stand when we hold onto your hands. I won't rush it with an unfenced pool here on the yard!

You love to swim! You had a bath in a bathtub this month for the first time since we left Canada and I thought you would love it because you always seem to love water, but you just cried! You've been having showers only for the last 5.5 months since we got to Mexico so you just don't remember what baths are about! You love the shower though, and the pool. Whenever you see water, running or still, you always want to put your hand in it and feel it.

You are still very petite for your age. You're wearing mostly 9-12 month clothes still. Nothing has changed since January with clothing sizes. I imagine you still weigh about 15-16 lbs. Your hair is growing longer all the time and I've noticed that it's long enough to get messy now. Your eyes are still bright blue. I'll be surprised if they change now because there's no hint of any other colour coming in. They're a darker blue around the outside and a clear, bright blue closer to the middle.

You love animals. Whenever you see any sort of animal, you reach out your hand to touch it and get upset if you can't quite get it. That goes for pretty much anything you want to touch. You wave your arms and reach out for whatever it is that has your attention. We visited Grandma and Grandpa M in Canada this month and you loved their golden retriever, Sheila. You were covered in dog hair the entire weekend and loved every minute of it!

You get a lot of attention from everyone you meet and you've become a bit more ok with that again this month. Because you reach out your hand to people, not because you want to go with them but just because you're curious, you get a lot of high fives. After this, you'll often bow your head and hide your face from them. It is the cutest thing!

I've noticed that you've started putting small objects into larger boxes or toys lately. One day I saw that you opened a drawer, put two of my socks and a ziploc bag inside and then closed it again. I've also seen you put toys into boxes. You seem to be fascinated with dropping things and seeing where they go, whether it's a toy into a box or food off your high chair tray. You'll hold your hand out and look down then let go. It's a very intentional action. I don't always love it, especially when it has to do with food, but I do love to see you learning!

Your sleep this month hasn't changed much. You're mostly in bed around 7:30-8pm, you wake twice or three times in the night to eat, and then you're up for the day around 8-9am. I've been trying to help you learn to sleep through the night without eating in the last few days by slowly stretching out the space between your feeds and shortening the amount of time I feed you. I can't really tell if we're making progress yet but at least you aren't crying for two hours every night so I call that a win!

You started out this month nursing every two hours. I held with that through our trip to Canada and then once we got back, I started stretching your feeds out a bit. Well, you must have caught my intention because you ran with it and would refuse to eat for up to 5-6 hours at a time! With you not sleeping through the night yet, I decided to reign you back in and feed you more often until you could go all night without a feed. You drink milk and water out of sippy cups and straw cups with no problem. You eat nearly everything we do. I still try to fill you up with a pureed night snack, just to try to help you sleep well. Your favourites are yogurt, rice cereal with cinnamon, and mashed banana with rice cereal and cinnamon. You also love raisins, fruit (papaya, mango, oranges, bananas, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, pineapple, everything!), and crackers.

We had a real scare with you this month, Clara Mercy. You were lethargic and limp - for an hour and a half - and we were about to rush you to the hospital. We were all praying, of course, and just as the Hadime group prayed for you in the van on the way to a ministry evening, you started to perk up. Within about 5 minutes, you went from laying your head on my shoulder or laying in my arms, which you NEVER do, to sitting up on your own and acting completely normal. What a relief! Praise the Lord! Now, let's not do that again, ok?

This month you saw the ocean for the first time! You went for a trip to Canada. You popped two teeth (second bottom one and one top). You went swimming in the pool for the first time.

Seeing who you are becoming is turning into a real adventure, my Clara. I have no doubt that you'll take the world by storm one day. You have a beautiful personality and are growing into someone who loves deeply and lives passionately. We'll be cheering you on toward your first birthday, Sunshine. We love you!

And a picture of what the big kids were doing while I was taking pictures of their sister :)

Clara is TEN months old!

Clara, just like that you're 10 months old! I feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing about you being 9 months old and now you're another month older! I can't quite believe it.

This has been a fun month and a month with challenges. You haven't always been the happiest baby this month. You've been doing some teething...though you now have one bottom tooth to show for it! You haven't wanted to leave my arms, despite everyone wanting to hold you and talk to you. For much of the month, you would even cry if other people looked at you or talked to you. You needed to be IN my arms to be truly happy. Over the past week, you've started smiling at other people and high-fiveing them and sometimes even being held by them if you're distracted enough.

You always protest when I first put you down but you're often happy to crawl around and explore pretty quickly after. Nothing is beyond your reach now. You can get to any place you want to go. Well, you're not climbing yet, unless it's on one of us, but anything that is on the floor or within about a foot of the floor is fair game. You usually still army crawl but I've noticed you getting up on your hands and knees more and more and trying to get around that way too. You know how to push on doors to open them. You are fascinated with stairs but haven't tried getting up on any of them yet. You aren't too interested in walking yet. Sometimes you will stand on your feet if we hold you up, but mostly you just try to sit down so you can crawl away!

As you crawl around, you put everything in your mouth. Rocks and hair and threads and dust bunnies and leaves and Lego and everything you can find. It's pretty disgusting with all the stuff around here for you to find. I've just recently started letting you crawl around the outdoor dining space here but your tummy gets brown fairly quickly because it's just so dirty! But at least you're happy!

You love to eat and we've found very few things that you don't like. Avocados aren't your favourite. You do like most fruits though, and everything we eat. You do finger food very well! You also have a night snack of either yogurt or rice cereal with cinnamon or a squishy baby food pack if we're away from home. You do prefer your "mush" warm most of the time. You've also started playing with your sippy cup with water in it and, while a lot of it ends up on your clothes, you do also know how to take sips a little bit. You still nurse every two hours during the day and get mighty grumpy if your meal is late.

Your sleep has been getting a bit better this month. You're still up two or three times every night to eat. I'd love for you to sleep right through or only be up once. Maybe this month. You go to bed around 7:30-8pm and wake between 8-9am. You nap twice a day, once around 10:30-12 and again around 2:30-4pm. You go down for naps and night SO well. I just sing to you a bit and then put you in bed. Sometimes you play for a while and sometimes you cry for a while but you're usually asleep within 2 minutes of being put to bed. Thank you!

You love to snuggle your little hippo and a little burp cloth while you're in your crib or just waking up. You are never too urgent in your desire to be out of bed when you wake. Kayden asks every morning if she can go in to "help" you when she hears that you're awake. She will go in and you guys will play games like peek-a-boo for about 20 minutes before I come to get you. Your siblings do love to play with you and help you! Levi will carry you around and make sure you're safe. Kayden will entertain you and make sure you have everything you have.

Speaking of siblings, you sure seem like you just love to be a part of the busy-ness. When they scream, you scream in response! When they make lots of noise, you join right in. Your eyes light right up when you see them. It is beautiful to see. I keep asking them not to teach you to whine and fight, but we'll see.

You are a petit little girl. We weighed you this month for the first time since you were 5 months old. I was guessing that you were about 18 lbs but it turns out you're only 15lbs! You're wearing mostly 9-12 month clothes, though you still fit some of your 6 month clothes and already fit some of your 12-18 month rompers. You've been wearing disposable diapers so I've been able to pull out some of your smaller clothes again as a result.

Your hair is fairly light, but not quite white-blonde. It has grown a lot this month which means it's now at the length where it can get messy in the wind or when you sleep, and sometimes has the odd curl on the back. It is so soft! Your eyes are still very blue and you get comments about your beautiful eyes wherever we go! It sure seems at this point like they'll stay blue, much to your Grandma McCorkindale and Grandpa Buhler's delight! Well, it's to all of our delight, but it's their genes that gave you those "ojos bonitos."

Some fun things you've started doing this month are high-fiveing people and clapping! You went through a phase of clapping for everything! You still clap a bit but not as much as you did a week ago. When you see food you want, you yell for it. You also started taking some deep breaths before bed, just like I do when putting you to bed. I've found that if you're upset about going to bed, if I take deep, slow breaths, you will calm down more readily. It's worked for your sisters too, though it works better at a younger age. That said, this month you started breathing deeply alongside me while I held you before bed. It was the cutest thing. You would also sometimes "sing" along with me before bed.

One funny thing I've noticed this month is that you're starting to pretend. Until now, you've just been going with whatever emotions you're feeling, but in the last couple weeks, I've seen you squint up your eyes and pout out your lips and "be upset" when you don't get your way. You'll watch us to see if it's working and it's just the cutest thing. Of course I can't jump to give you your way the moment you do this, but it's sure hard not to! Your "I'm upset about this" face is just SO cute! You'll also make an "I'm amused" face where you squint your eyes and look up like you're rolling your eyes. I love to see your personality coming out more and more!

One word you've started saying, besides "Bah!" and other sound-words is "Mama." It always comes out in the saddest little voice whenever you're upset. You'll crawl or pull yourself around the house chasing me or looking for me and saying "maaa-ma!" Seriously, it melts my heart every time. I sure do love you, my girl!

You are an absolute delight, my girl. We love to have you around and to watch you grow and change and learn. I've loved this month just like I've loved every other month. I look forward to seeing how you grow this month. You're beautiful, inside and out. Happy 10 months, Sunshine. We love you!

Clara is NINE months old!

Clara, you've now been out as long as you were in! That is kinda crazy for me to realize. It feels like such a long, long time ago that we learned that you were growing inside me. And now you're here and your first birthday is coming right up!

It seems like this has been a tough month for you. You've spent a couple weeks now either teething or sick, or both. You had a fever for a couple days and once that left, you got a rash all over your tummy and back. You seem to be feeling mostly better now, but you still won't let me put you down. You want to be carried everywhere, all the time!

You seem to have become a little more shy again this month. For a while, you would consent to being carried by anyone who wanted to hold you. Now you don't really care for anyone but mom. Dad will do in a pinch, but mom is always your first choice. When someone holds you, you stick out your little bottom lip and squish up your face and start crying and looking for me. You reach out your arms for me and when I take you back, you put your arms around my neck and give me a big hug. I love when you do that!

As much as you are in a "please carry me everywhere" phase, you HAVE learned to crawl this month! You're not up on your hands and knees yet, but you can army crawl anywhere you want to go. Your big brother and sisters' Lego and Playmobil is no longer safe on the floor. You also find every little hair, string, dust bunny, piece of paper and crumb and put them all in your mouth. Lovely. I guess your little immune system will really benefit from that...

Speaking of eating, you are still mostly just nursing. You sometimes stretch your daytime feeds out a little more than every two hours now. It's not consistent though. You went through a bit of a nursing strike where you would NOT eat for more than a minute at every feed so I thought you could handle waiting a little longer between feeds. For a few days you ate closer to every three hours but now you're back to having a full feed every two hours. We give you a taste of whatever we're eating and you love to feed yourself. You still have some sort of night snack (like oatmeal, yogurt, avocado, rice, etc) in an effort to fill you up before the long night. I've gone back to feeding you off a spoon and it works pretty well. You gobble it up if it's the right temperature and taste!

Your sleep lately has been...how do I say this nicely? I don't think I can, Sweetie. It's been the pitts. You started the month doing as well as ever, even giving me one nice stretch of sleep from 1am-9am. Apparently that was thanks to your impending sickness because since then it has just gotten worse and worse. Just days before you got sick, I thought it would be a good idea to start night-weaning you to help you sleep through the night without feeds. You were doing pretty well and I was hoping that your 8 hr stretch of sleep was thanks to my training. Unfortunately, it wasn't and you are now up every three hours. That's more than you've been up in the night...ever in your life. Sometimes you're up after less than three hours. You really need to sleep, baby girl! I'm always nervous to fidget with a baby's sleep when their current sleep routine is manageable. Turns out I should have just left it alone. Oh well. Maybe this next month will be the month when you finally start sleeping longer stretches again!

You consistently take two naps each day. I can't complain about that. Each nap ranges from 1-3 hours with most of them being between 1-2 hours. You usually wake for the day around 9 and go to bed for the night around 7-8 (sleeping later and to bed earlier since you've been sick). To put you to bed, I usually sing a bit of our song (How Great Thou Art) and then put you in bed. You've actually started reaching for your bed sometimes when I start singing. You sometimes fuss a bit when I put you down for a nap, but you always put yourself to sleep. Your nap times are usually around 11am and 2:30pm.

In addition to army crawling, you've also pulled yourself up for the first time this month! You don't do it very often, but when you're on the couch or sitting in a laundry basket or beside something that's easy to grab onto, you always try to stand! You can easily transition from sitting to tummy, tummy to back, and laying to sitting (this is new too!). You're getting more and more mobile all the time. I love to see it. You will not be one to be left behind!

You are so curious and love to explore. I would love to let you explore all over the yard but thanks to dangerous bugs, it's not too safe to put you directly on the grass and the patio is always so dirty that you have few places to crawl outside. It's a shame, with all the grass and trees and leaves that you could be exploring. But safety first! For this photo shoot, you got to be on the grass for the first time since your six month photo shoot and you loved it! I wasn't sure how you would feel about the prickly grass but it didn't slow you down at all! You just explored and took it all in!

You love to babble. Your favourite/only word right now is "buh/ba!" You say it softly, you yell it, you can say it in so many different ways. But the sound is always the same. Buh. You sometimes also pull out a "mum" but only when you're pretty upset and complaining. I doubt you know what it really means but I find it a funny coincidence that "mum" is the sound you make when you're complaining. I think I know who you learned that from. You also have a real growl that makes Levi, Kayden and Maddie laugh.

You notice other children's voices wherever we go, but especially your siblings' voices. When you hear them, you always call out a loud "bah!" It's the cutest. When they're all yelling and having fun, you get all excited and start yelling with them. It sure seems like you just can't wait to go and join them in their fun!

You've really enjoyed your Jolly Jumper this month. I found a place to hang it outside right beside where I work on my Spanish studies so you jump while I study. Again, this is another thing that you don't enjoy much since being sick, but for the first half of the month you sure loved it!

You also get so excited whenever you see Hatchi, the big dog who lives here at MTC with us. You squeal when you see him and always try to touch him.

Speaking of touching, When there's something you want or want to touch, you hold your little hand out, palm up, and reach toward it. Cutest ever.  If your hand happens to actually touch it, you grab on have a really good grip! Kayden and Maddie don't really love that, as it's often their hair that your fingers reach for. Sometimes you can hold onto something for quite a while and other times you make a game of dropping things over and over again, as long as someone is willing to play along and pick it up again and again.

Your hair has really seemed to be growing this month. It's a light brown colour and fairly even all over. Your eyes are SO blue...lighter in the middle with a dark ring around the outside. They're absolutely beautiful. Everyone here who meets you says how beautiful your eyes are because they're so different from brown, Latin American eyes. You are still so small for your age. I have no idea what you weigh, probably still under 20lbs...maybe about 16-17 lbs if I were to guess? We changed from cloth to disposable diapers this month so you started the month in 9-12 month clothes and now you're in 3-6 month pants because you crawl out of your bigger ones! You're wearing 9 and 12 month sleepers, usually 9 month under with 12 month over top because it's so chilly at night.

A new habit you've picked up...spitting. You stick out your tongue and blow, sending spit flying everywhere. Your siblings think it's hilarious and encourage you all the time. As cute as it is, I'm usually the one in your spit-range, not them, so I try to discourage you from doing that. You've also learned to click your tongue this month...can you tell what I use as a distraction from spitting??

Your personality is ever-evolving and emerging. You like to be a part of things, but from the safety of mom or dad's arms. You don't like loud noises, unless you're the one making them. You like to be silly and make people smile and laugh, though you're also content to just sit and watch the action from your high chair. You're starting to copy us, both noises and actions. Things like tapping something to see what noise it makes or trying to make a noise that we make are fun for you.

Let's see, what else? You put everything in your mouth. You are nervous about things you aren't sure of. You get excited whenever you see your family and almost always wake up with a smile. You are so special and we love you SO much. No amount of sleepless nights or grumpy days can change that. We are so glad that you are a part of our family. Happy nine months, my girl. Thank you for being you!

And now, more pictures because you were looking so stinkin' adorable today!