vivienne | 9 months

My new favorite picture of Lou. Scott thinks we need to take the same picture 18 years from now.

And a few more faces.

Lovin' the swing.

Yup, really lovin' the swing.

These pictures are unedited. I was really trying to capture the blue of her eyes.

Hey, at this point you'd think I actually know my daughter's birthday! I only paused for half a second when the pediatrician asked for her birthday instead of a whole one...

Wow. 9 months. The specific birthday has been on my radar because a long time ago when we planned our vacation to Vegas (April 21-24) I knew Lou would be 9 months old and at the time, I couldn't even imagine her being such an age. Well, here we are.

At 9 months, Lou is just fabulous. Like I've mentioned, I am savoring every single last second of her babyhood because I know what's just around the corner. There are still no signs of crawling but truthfully I am enjoying a non-moving Lou because goodness there are enough small pieces (it's Legos this week) lying around the house. I know the time is coming where we're going to have to be extra vigilant about such things. I don't really have a sense if this little lady is going to get into everything or respect the boundaries we set for her like her brother did. With Avery we could have made it through toddlerhood without baby proofing anything. Fingers crossed.

We do however, have waving, clapping, and an increasingly complex way of playing with toys. Even though mouthing her toys is still number one, she has started banging things together, playing the pop-up toy, putting things into the walking toy (while sitting, of course) and her new favorite, the circular racetrack. She watches Avery intently, studying what he's doing and how he plays. Can you imagine how organized by size, color and shape all of the things in our house are going to be one day!?!?

Each evening when Nikki leaves, she pulls out of the garage, stops in front of our building and gets out to say goodbye one last time (talk about going above and beyond). So, all 3 of us gather on the porch to wave and say goodbye. Well, yesterday Lou wanted her turn and waved and said her first "bye-bye" to Nikki. It was loud enough that Nikki even heard it two floors down. We can really see her trying hard to speak, and even though she has not used any signs, when I ask if she wants 'more' she always breaks into a huge grin.

I can't say it enough. I love her so much. I swell when I see her or think about her. I can't get over the relationship she has with Avery. She has fulfilled our family and my heart.