Nine months!

Technically, Ivy has been in the world longer than she was inside of me, since some of her very early time was in a Petri dish. It's strange to think that such a life-changing time in my life has been overshadowed, not only by her mere presence, but also by the length of time she has been with us.

Today Miss Ivy is nine months old. She had her checkup today: she is 16 pounds, 3 ounces, only 10th percentile. Her head is only in the 8th! But we don't pay too much attention to the comparatives. The doctor said she is a bit behind (though not alarmingly so) on her gross motor skills, but I don't care about that either. She will do it when she's ready, and I get a little extra time for snuggles and for not child proofing the house.

Ivy is starting to become much more interactive! She:

• Claps
• Turns pages of her books
• Tries to mimic sounds (she says "mmmm!" when I moo, and smacks her lips like I do when we read about puppies chewing)
• Loves knocking stacks of toys over
• Doesn't care about stuffed or soft toys, much prefers plastic ones
• Moves from sitting on her bottom to hands and knees (or one knee and one foot) and back
• Screeches in higher pitches than before
• Pulls herself up using our fingers, and today she pulled herself up on daddy's leg as he lied on his side on the floor
• Sorta kinda fed daddy peas tonight for the first time, when we asked
• Gets happy and  excited when we clap and cheer for her
• Stands up when holding onto something
• Talks back to us when we talk to her
• Loves being thrown around and swinging and being held upside down

In two weeks, we are flying across the country, and I think she is going to do great, even though I'm a little nervous about the trip. Cory and I work at the same place, so we both have to work our annual conference in Florida. My mom is coming too. I'm so happy that our company is open to us bringing Ivy; I definitely wouldn't be able to go without her!

Also: my poor laptop finally gave up the ghost awhile back, and I have been posting on my iPad as a result, which is not friendly when it comes to trying to post photos. So here are some links if you're interested in seeing our little bunny:

Ivy's playlist on YouTube
Instagram