9 months

Piper at RAT beach-9 months

Our little cutie is 9 months old. Wow, time flies unbelievably fast. 9 months ago I gave birth to my beautiful little baby girl, and 9 months before that she was just being conceived. Piper is a strong, confident, happy baby. She is amazed with Cecily and it seems like she just cant wait to be as big and competent as her older sister. She is pulling up on everything and anything and her legs are getting stronger and more stable every day. She cruises around with her walker and looks so proud. Im not sure if she'll be an "early walker" (which I define as walking before a year) but she seems headed that way. She is so curious and is very interested in other people, especially children, and toys and books and "making music" (banging on things and singing/yelling). She is very snuggly and will give hugs and kisses freely. She is eating all sorts of interesting things now and likes most everything. If you eat something in front of her she will yell and try to grab it. She still likes to nurse (ALOT), and she still is sleeping in bed with us.

9 month stats:

Weight: 20 # 4oz

Height: 28 inches

Teeth: two, on the bottom

Walking with her walker at Gma/Gpa's

Disneyland

Oh my gosh we did it, we went to Disneyland. We were very resistent to doing this over the last couple of years for fear it would only lead to long lines and meltdowns, but we finally felt it was time. We kept it a big secret. We visited my parents for Easter so we planned our visit to the Happiest Place on Earth for the Tuesday after Easter. I hoped that the lines wouldnt be too long although it might still be spring break for some schools. We readied ourselves we sunscreen, a flexible plan for the day, and apps on my iPhone that showed wait times for the popular rides. On the car ride over there Cecily was very curious as to where we were going, we had only vaguely told her we were going on an adventure. Stuck in traffic we played "Im guessing of an animal" and I would guess a mouse and then say, "Just like Mickey Mouse" and Greg would do a duck and so on. When we were close enough to see signs for the exit we let her in on the secret.
 "Where do those animals/characters live?"
"Disneyland? Are we going to Disneyland? For real life?"
Before we even got in the park she wanted to make sure we were going to go again someday.
It was actually a great time. Cecily was beautifully behaved, just like a princess. Piper was good, ate, slept and enjoyed the few rides she went on. Cecily said her favorite ride was the GoGo Gadget coaster in Toon Town (she apparently likes thrill rides). Piper thouroughly enjoyed "Its a small world" and yelled out to all the dolls.

Very first ride at Disney-Alice in Wonderland

One of the highlights of the visit was the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique makeover. It is a little salon right next to Sleeping Beauty's castle where little girls can be transformed into the princess of their choice. Cecily picked Snow White because she didnt yet have that dress. She picked a hairstyle and crown and they did her makeup with lots of glitter. The hair was great because it stayed out of her face all day (and all the next day too, there was ALOT of hair spray). And Cecily loved that everywhere we went people oohed and ahhed and called her "Princess". Its a definite must for the girlie girls.

A little pixie dust from the Fairy Godmother in Training

Me & Piper waiting for Cecily's transformation



Cutie Pie



We quickly discovered we werent going to be able to avoid the "Character Meetings". This is the latest rage at Disneyland. Most of the characters dont randomly cruise the park the way they used to. Sure, I saw some second rate folks like Goofy and Captain Hook out and about but for the real celebrities you had to wait in a line to meet them. Cecily clung to her pink autograph book and waited very patiently to meet everyone. 

Twinsies

Rapunzel & Flynn Rider

 All in all it was a fun experience. Cecily was great, Piper was easy, the weather was perfect and the lines werent too bad. Im sure we will have many more Disney trips in our future.

Daddy's girl

Piper and her daddy certainly do look alike. People are always commenting on that. I think it is wonderful. And I have my own little mini me anyways, although Cecily didn't start out that way, she looked so much like Greg for the first year as well.



Cecily Then



Cecily Now

Waving, Clapping and other "Mad Skills"

Piper's two newest tricks: waving and clapping. She started waving about 2 weeks ago and then picked up the clapping last week. She loves to demonstrate her "mad skills" by doing these things over and over again. We've been playing patty cake and she will crack up hysterically.

She also seems to have super human strength sometimes. When she doesn't want to be changed, or put her in her high chair or any other type of confinement, she stiffens and pushes  with those strong legs and is quite hard to hold on to. She's got some muscles under all that padding!

She has been pulling herself up alot in the last week and is getting better at it all the time. She is quite proud of herself and will look around smiling for praise. But she is also getting into everything now and cannot be trusted for a second. If you arent looking she makes a mad dash for the art supplies in the living room and starts pulling out construction paper. She loves paper. She likes to crumple it, tear it, and (her favorite) eat it. Obviously that is not allowed, which makes the allure of paper all that much stronger.

Cecily's fun outings

Cecily went to a great birthday party in Half Moon Bay (twins bday: Taaran and Tanish). They had hayrides and pony rides.

Cecily and Greg went off on the Serra Preschool dads camping trip. Couldnt have been easier: the campground was about 5 mins away at the Rob Hill site on the presidio. They ate hotdogs and s'mores and hiked down to the beach. Cecily was thrilled bc she got to hang out with her best bud Sam.

Did we bring enough stuff?

One of the auction items we bid on was a trip to a recording studio. One of the dads at the preschool is a "certified" punk rocker and donated a recording studio kids party. Greg took her and although it promised to be quite exciting, most of the kids (including Cecily) were pretty shy and intimidated by all the equipment and didnt really record all that much. She had fun though.

Crawling

So Piper is officially crawling now. Up on all fours, tearing around the room, trying to get into things. She is very happy with her new skill and she gets herself all worked up and excited. I think this has led to her being a bit more fidgety at night too (yes, she is still in bed with me). She is also putting her feet flat on the floor and pushing up with her arms and sometimes "crab walking". Not sure if she is going to be an early walker, but she seems to be excited by the idea.