Happy 9 Month Birthday!

Sweet Anna you are 9 months old today! I can't believe it!

You look so much bigger in the picture I took of you this morning, like I do every month. You are changing so much & I am loving every minute!

You are crawling like a maniac and climbing on everything. Your Daddy and I love how when you crawl to something, you get so very excited. You smile really big, tuck your head and take off so fast. You usually end up head-butting whatever is your object of affection at the moment.

It is adorable.....as are you!

I have really loved watching some of your other recent tricks as well. You have discovered how to roll your lips together (with a good amount of drool) to make funny noises. You have also started combining a grunt with a squeal. You then look at our reaction and then perform it over and again for more smiles and praise from Daddy and I.

I love you more than I can say and this last week has been really tough. You decided you weren't going to be a good sleeper for us anymore. Every time we put you down, you either immediately woke up crying or woke up an hour or so later and wouldn't be put back down. I had tried cry it out in the past with you, but you never would give up and I could never go longer than an hour and a half. After talking with your doctor, I realized that it just may take 2-3 hours. And boy did it!

It just devastated me to make you cry for so long. Every fifteen minutes when I would go in and you would cry so hard for me, it would absolutely break my heart to lay you back down without grabbing you into my arms....the arms you belong in. On Monday you cried from 11:30 until 2:00 am and I gave in. I rocked you and you instantly fell asleep in my arms. Tuesday I resolved to try again. During nap time you fell asleep nursing and then woke up. You cried almost 2 hours and then fell asleep on your own. That night you cried an hour. Today is Wednesday and you gave me the best 9 month b-day present. I put you down for your nap and you cried just one short minute. I am so happy baby girl. So proud you settled yourself and so happy for the both of us that you didn't have to cry for so long. I pray this continues.

Thankfully, during this hard time you have given me a sweet, sweet blessing. You have started babbling momoma. I know you are still young and it may not be directed at me entirely, but it sure seems like it is and it fills my heart with joy.

You are most certainly Momma's girl. While we both know you love your Daddy very much, it is a fact that you have got the Mom's. You hate it when I walk away and will most always be vocal that you would prefer me to be holding you over anyone else. Sometimes it makes it hard for me to get things done, but most of the time it just makes me feel like the luckiest, most blessed woman on Earth. And I am.

I love how much you love your brother too. Benjamin can make you smile and laugh better than anyone. When you start getting sad, he brings you toys and jabbers at you and you almost always reward his efforts with a smile. That makes he and I very happy! The look of delight you get in your eyes when you get a hold of his hair is priceless as well. It is so amazing to me how much the two of you obviously love each other and how much time you already spend together.

I am so blessed to be your Momma and Benjamin's. I love you both so very much and am so excited to see your personality continue to grow. Right now you seem to have a lot of your daddy in you and that just makes me love you all the more. I have a feeling you are going to grow into quite the amazing little girl and I am so happy I get to be right there for every moment.

I love you Cupcake!

~Momma