Love This

According to the weekly newsletter I get from BabyCenter.com on my 9 month old's development, any day now I should walk into Collins' room after naptime and see her standing up in her crib smiling at me.

Standing in her crib? Yes....

Smiling? Not so much....

Giving Thanks

There is nothing in this world I'm more thankful for than my little girl. That's the obvious when thinking about Thanksgiving and what I'm grateful for this year. After a little more thought, here are the other related things I'm giving thanks for in 2011.

1) Family...I'm grateful for the family we have close and the family that is a couple of hours away and how invested they all are in Collins' life. She will be a better person because she has their love and influence.

2) The amount of time I've gotten to spend with Collins this year.

3) Watching Collins' personality emerge- we're already seeing lots of curiosity, determination and happiness.

4) Parenting with a person who is smarter and more rational than I am. This comes in handy in the moments when you are emotional, scared or have no clue what you're doing.

5) A new experience. Being pregnant and having a baby has to be one of the strangest, scariest, most thrilling experiences a person can have. I'm glad I got to go through it.

Finally, I'm thankful that my favorite meal of the year is almost here!

A Cool Down

This 80 degree weather in November is no good. After a couple of unseasonably warm days, I welcomed today's cooler, drizzly and cloudy weather. This feels more like Thanksgiving weather, and it allows for cute head-to-toe fleece outfits like this.

Bake Sale

I know I have an unhealthy obsession for the Barefoot Contessa. Brian gets annoyed with me because I refuse to make any recipe that doesn't come from Ina. But he wasn't complaining last night when he tried a leftover Barefoot Contessa pecan square that I made for the church bake sale. I am telling you- you need to try this recipe! The shortbread crust is almost as thick as the praline pecan topping- it's heaven in a bar form.

Here's what they looked like along with the link to the recipe.

Recipe for Pecan Squares

9 Month Check-Up

Reason I know we have made lots of progress since our 6 month check-up: Collins was interested in the fish tank at the doctor's office today. I love that she catches everything now- any movement, sound, touch- and that you can't put anything past her. Not that she wasn't interesting months ago (but honestly they are a little blob-like those first 3 months), but now she has an awareness that makes everything more fun.

Everything checked out good at 9 months. Here are her stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 9 oz (45%- really? this is it? my biceps tell me it's much more)

Height: 28 " (66%- people keep telling me she looks really tall)

Head Circumference: 17 7/8" (86%- yes this number does keep increasing)

After a traumatic flu shot, we were on our way with a clean bill of health. Next doctor's appointment- 1 year old!!!

Standing Tall

This baby isn't interested in crawling anymore. She wants to walk. In the last week, she much prefers to be vertical rather than horizontal and is standing at most times throughout the day. Like when she takes her bottle for example. She is also "cruising" from ottoman to table to bookshelf and getting more confident with each step. Any guesses on when she'll actually be walking? Baba called it early on, and said she'd be walking by Christmas. I think she might be right...

First Halloween

Unfortunately, Collins' first Halloween was a wash out. The rain fell for hours, and it was pretty cold. Not ideal weather for our neighborhood's first Halloween parade. The parade and the hayride didn't happen, but a party in a neighbor's garage did and we got to show off Collins' super cute candy corn costume. They weren't giving out any prizes for best costume, but if they were, we all know who would have won! Donna did a great job on the costume and was brave enough to let me get my hands on her sewing machine and make a few stitches. She gave a helpful sewing tutorial, and it was a fun project for us to work on together.

Festive attire all day long...

The finished product...

Dressed up!

Besides having an adorable costume, the other positive of the rainiest Halloween ever was the fact that only half of our candy got taken by trick-or-treaters. My chocolate fix is now taken care of for at least the next few days. :)