Our "little" 9-Month Old!

Ava turned 9 months old on Saturday and we really can't believe how much she's grown in the past two weeks. It seems like she started looking and acting older overnight! So this is what she does now...

She eats REAL solids! One day she woke up, saw Daddy's slice of Papa John's Pizza, talked her way into getting a bite and now she won't go back! : ) Some of her favorites are...cottage cheese, grilled cheese, macaroni & cheese (sensing a pattern?), bagels, canteloupe, mashed green beans and peas, mashed potatoes, chicken and fishsticks. We just can't believe how quickly she took to "big people" food. Once Mommy got over the anxiety of thinking Ava was going to choke on every bite, we got more comfortable with her new accomplishment and are actually starting to enjoy seeing what new foods she'll fling off her high chair or get mashed to her butt. It's amazing how that food gets back there...I don't get it...

Anyway, the arrival of a few more new teeth is probably what boosted her recent interest in food...she now has 7 teeth with an 8th on the way. She is also starting to become more vocal and pronounce more and more syllables. Her latest development has really just occurred over the last few days...she's starting to pull herself up on everything! Walking seems like it won't be far off! We've taken her to this outdoor play area at our local shopping center a couple of times and she loves pulling herself up on the things there. And everything is super soft and padded, so it's a great place for her to play...and you know, it's amazing how she knows that it's a cool, fun place to play. It's like, you can't really teach her that...she just knows it's fun...strange to think about... : )

Other than that, the only other Ava news we have is that she got her 9-month & easter pictures taken yesterday. We didn't have the same amazing experience we had for her Christmas pictures, but we still got some really cute pictures! I think Christmas was just an exceptionally good session that will probably never occur again... : ) Anyway, Ava is tons of fun, as always, and the more she grows up, the more sad I get because as my baby gets older, I realize more and more that I won't be able to protect her from everything I want to protect her from. I think that must be one of the hardest things about being a mom or a parent.

In other news...we are still working furiously late into the evenings and every waking minute of our weekends to finish getting our new house ready so we can move in. Praise God, we are under contract to sell our current house. We will have to be out by April 13th, but we're hoping to move in a couple weeks before that (Holy Week & Easter are not exactly the ideal time for us to move). : )

Well, please enjoy the new albums that we posted or new pictures added to existing albums...just click on the albums below to view the pictures:

January

First Valentine's Day

February

March

New House - Before & During

9 Month Old Professional Pictures