New Talent

Holland has recently taught herself how to walk...with the help of a stool we keep in the kitchen. She loves to crawl to it, pull herself up and start walking from one end of the kitchen to the other. It's so cute and we think she's pretty darn brilliant for making her own "walker."

When she gets bored of walking, she does a few laps on the kitchen obstacle course - over, under and around every chair. Hey - it keeps her busy, entertained and helps her keep that girlish figure of hers.

Nine is Nifty

I know, we’re shocked too. How can she be nine months already?

Here is a little snippet of Holland as a nine-month old:

• Has six teeth, four on top and two on bottom, all of which she used today to bite Grandpa Craig’s finger. (Sorry Grandpa!)
• Loves to stand and will pull herself up with anything in sight – we found out about this on January 1^st, which you can read about here.
• Says “Dada” all day long – but we’re pretty sure she hasn’t actually connected that to mean Dada quite yet. But Tyler still loves to hear it!
• Waves bye-bye and has mimicked us saying “bye-bye” a few times.  First time was on January 21^st while Grandma Lucy and Grandpa Chuck were here – must have been Holland’s little birthday gift for Grandma. We were all SO EXCITED to hear those cute little words come out of that cute little mouth. And, coupled with a spastic wave of her hand makes it doubly presh!
• Crawls super-duper fast in a semi hands-and-knees/army-crawl style.
• Eats dirt from “Mother” (my Mother-in-Law’s Tongue plant)
• Still chews, rather than sucks, on her pacifier, and is happy to just have one in her hand at all times if we would let her. But she is definitely not attached, if we took it away I don’t think she would miss it at all.
• Has a love-hate relationship with her Exercauser, and she’s not afraid to let us know which one she is feeling at any given attempt to put her in it.
• Is easily entertained by our phones – either watching videos or scrolling through pictures of herself (of which there are a ton!) 
• Finds pure enjoyment in emptying the contents of any box, drawer, cupboard, bag, etc. 
• “Helps” daddy build fires in the fireplace by pulling herself up to the hearth and intently watching (yep – Sheri – I said hearth. “Don’t step on my hearth!”) 
• Is the Bell of the Ball every Sunday – she is definitely adored by the members of our ward and she really is a pretty reverent baby. 
•  Still nursing about four times a day and eating baby food and anything else we will give her – her fave is daddy’s “Secret” Rice. 
• Not afraid of heights or adventure, which you can read about here. 
• Sleeps from about 7 or 7:30 p.m. to 6:30 or 7a.m., then nurses and sleeps again until 8 or 8:30 a.m. Love it! However, sleeping in the day time (aka naps) is a whole other story. She does take two naps a day – one around 10 or 11 a.m. and another around 2 p.m., but the lengths and/or the energy to get her to do so are greatly varied.  
• Very curious, attentive, alert and independent little girl. We often times wish she were more cuddly (cuddlier?), but she’s just not.  So, I have to sneak those moments in at the end of nursing her before bed – because honestly, that is the only time she will lay her head down and just be still. All other times she is on the go, go, go!

 We love this little cutie nine times nine times nine times nine...times infinity!!!

Still Swimming

And still loving it!

Today was Holland's third lesson. It is so fun to watch her learn. The instructor uses typical children's songs, with a few words changed, to teach these little babies - most of which are between six and 10 months old...and then one three-year old.

• Humpty Dumpty
• The Wheels on the Bus
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• If You're Happy and You Know It
• Motor Boat
• Red Rover

And, yes, I find myself singing the new words in my head all the time!

Holland is getting really good at kicking and splashing. She hasn't yet dared to blow bubbles with her mouth in the water, but each week she gets a little more brave.

After class we get to play in the splash pool. It has lots of toys, slides and spraying water. It’s a little overwhelming for Holland and she’s usually pretty tired after class…but it's still kind of fun - and definitely warmer water!

Sundays and Naps

Saturday is a special day...it's the day before Sunday, which is the day of only ONE nap! Holland usually naps at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. We go to church from 9:30am to 12:30 p.m. So you can see that her schedule is totally thrown for a loop every Sunday.

We book it home at the end of church - no more socializing in the halls and hanging out to see what our friends have been up to. We have a very tired and hungry girl on our hands by the time (and often before) that final bell rings.

Holland and I head straight to her nursery for a diaper change and nap routine - which usually involves reading a book or two, but on Sundays she rarely lasts long enough to get changed out of her dress. She's chomping at the bit and just wants to get to the whole nursing business. Truth be told, she usually falls asleep midway through and cannot be awakened to get a whole feeding.

Even though it's rough on her (and us) that she only gets one nap on Sundays...she seriously handles it all like a champ, and is just so stinking cute when she wakes up.

Question: What Do You Get...

…when you have stairs like these?

And, a baby gate propped up like this?

Answer: A baby at the bottom of the stairs.

 Oops!

Luckily there was no damage.

Well, we didn’t inspect the stairs very well…but the baby is fine.

A Very Happy Birthday

Today my Mom celebrated her 67^th birthday. You would never guess it, but,  yep – she’ 67!

I wanted to help her celebrate, so I asked her and my Dad to come up and spend the day.

We met for brunch first, then we had planned to go bowling, but of course, it was “league” day and Holland was getting tired anyway. We went back to our place and put Holland down for a nap. Then, Mom and I went exchanged the shirt I gave her – for some reason I totally got the wrong size, and then picked up a movie and some groceries for dinner.

The movie was Mom’s choice, and it was seriously a great film. Courageous. Check it out – it’s really good and uplifting too. I know, uplifting movie? Rare! But this one really is.

Holland woke up half-way through the movie and hung out and crawled around while we finished watching. She was a good little self-entertainer….and only tried to nibble on SOME of the popcorn that had fallen on the carpet.

Dad and I made dinner and, well, really…Dad made it and I helped a little. Salmon, sweet potatoes, spinach and lemonade. It was really yum! We made brownies for dessert, but of course, we were all too full to eat them. Darn.

It was a fun day and I’m so glad that we got to celebrate together!

Hope you had a GREAT birthday, Mom!