9 Months, a Lady

This happy face is just... the best!

 Carolina turned 9 months old yesterday, which means she's been out in the world for as long as she was in. We just love our little lady so much!!! Every day is new and wonderful (except for when she was sick, that was not wonderful at all).

 And as you can see, she is clearly feeling back to her happy old self.

 Thank. Goodness. 

I still don't know what exactly was the matter, but I do know that life is normal again -  although at any sign of fussiness or of being too warm I've given her Tylenol. But she hasn't had a real fever since last Saturday night.

I love this progression of shots:

 Can you believe she's so big already? It feels like no time as passed to me. 

She'll be a year before I know it. :'(

 If you want to know how I manage to get these smiles - here:

Here is a quick rundown of our 9-month routine - 
Sleep: Her naps are not nearly as long as Liam's were, and still are - but then he didn't have an older sibling stomping around the house and making tons of noise. 
- Wake-up is between 7:30 and 8:00am
- Nap 1 about 9:30-11:00
- Nap 2, about 2:00-4:00 (at the same time as Liam's.)
- Bedtime is at 8:00pm
Eat: She definitely weaning, and nursing her has become quite the challenge! Before she got sick, the girl was starting to be hungry all the time, so now she's just catching back up to her old-old routine. 
- Meal 1, she nurses easily upon waking (most of the time), then rice cereal with formula and maybe some extra bottle if nursing didn't go well.
- Meal 2, nursing/bottle, jar of fruits or veggies, and a snack like puffs, whole wheat bread, small pieces of fruit.
- Meal 3, by this time she has no patience for nursing so it's a bottle, jar of fruits/veggies, another snack.
- Meal 4, bottle in the rocker, in her jammies, and nursing if I'm lucky, then straight into bed. This meal is probably phasing out since she's eating bigger dinners.
Size: At the doctors visits (plural) last week, she was 18 lb. 14 oz. I believe, so almost 19 - big girl! Her 12 month clothes fit her fine, and some of the 9 month things are getting to small (boo - I don't like this at all!)
Play: When she's healthy and happy she really doesn't need to be entertained, although she loves to be by her brother and the dog. Otherwise, she happily crawls around and climbs on things or gets into things she shouldn't. It's funny how she definitely knows what "No" means - she pauses, looks at you, gives an unhappy grunt, and usually goes ahead and does what she wants anyway. And if you open the fridge, no matter where she is, she will be there trying to pull out bottles of soy sauce before you can blink. She doesn't really have a favorite toy, since she's much more into non-baby items - but she does like the little steering wheel car quite a bit. She loves to take one of Liam's cars, or anything really, and carry it around in her mouth like a dog looking for a place to hide it's bone.She can allllmost stand up on her own; if I reach down to pick her up she will reach her arms up to me and practically stand up all the way. I must say, the girl also loves the bath and the pool. She still has some stranger-danger, but she's getting over it slowly-but-surely, and is long-since over being afraid of everyone but Todd and I. She still hates grass.