My Baby is 9 Months Today

Nine months, unbelievable!?! What happened to this last month? Riley is been really healthy. She escaped the viral infection the twins and I had and the nasty cold the rest of the family had. She has her 9 month check-up next week, so I'll update with her weight.

She is very interested in different types of food. Lately, she hasn't wanted her bottle at all and would rather eat crackers. I've got to watch how many I give her. It's easy for me to set her in her high chair and give her some crackers so I can clean the kitchen. She just LOVES them. Her favorites are graham crackers, thanks to Grandma Krause. I hadn't given her any of those and when we went to visit, Grandma gave her one. She loves eating fruits (all kinds), vegetables (sweet potatoes, squash, peas) and Lil' crunchies. We're still weaning the breastfeeding. The only time she does it is when she wants to go to sleep. I don't know how I'm going to break her of that habit!

She started clapping yesterday. I tried to get it on camera, and she stopped immediately. We clap quite a bit for the twins when they do something cool, so she picked it up. It's pretty cute. Riley is SO close to crawling. She will lean over to get a toy and will be on all fours. I think she'll be taking off in a couple of weeks. She has also just started giving kisses. She keeps her mouth open while she does it, so it's pretty slobbery. It's just as sweet though!

Riley is still very unpredictable when she sleeps at night. Her bottom tooth just came in, so I'm really hoping she straightens out! We started laying her down when she's very sleepy but awake. She almost always falls asleep within 5 minutes. She has started taking better naps during the day. Though, I'd rather her sleep through the night than nap during the day. She'll wake up 1-3 times per night. She doesn't always want to eat. She wants to be held. I give in and put her next to me for an hour until she falls back asleep and then move her to her crib. She's usually in bed by 10pm and up at 8am with plenty of wakings during that period.

Her personality is more like Ethan's than Mia's. She loves to be where the action is. She'll cry if she's left alone in the living room. She is still a total momma's girl but is much better when Mike takes care of her. Riley smiles and laughs all of the time. She's a pretty happy baby but still very high-maintenance.

Having fun in my high chair.

Put your clothes away, Riley!

Pretty blue eyes!

Dad fixed her hair! She seems to like it.

Watching Mom while she puts up Christmas lights.

Riley's First Tooth

It finally came in! I hope this now means she will sleep better at night. God knows I could use some good solid sleep.

Talking of sleep, we're having sleep issues here. Ethan has known how to get out of his crib for a good month now. But, he hasn't been crawling out of it until recently. I laid Ethan and Mia down for their naps, and Ethan immediately came back into the living room. A little after he came out, Mia came out. My jaw about hit the floor. I know she's smart enough to crawl out, but she's just so little! I put her back and decided to watch how she did it. She went to the very corner of her crib and shimmied her way up and over! I tried laying them down for their naps a dozen times. They never did go to sleep. Finally, at 5pm, Mike was able to get them to take a one hour nap.

We laid the kids down for the night and decided to watch a movie. Sure enough, Ethan came out of their bedroom and snuggled in right between us. He ate some popcorn and watched the R rated movie with us. Thank goodness he doesn't understand it! We didn't get him to bed until 11:15pm after multiple attempts. The next morning, we heard him running around the house around 8am. I think he woke both girls up! What to do? Maybe it's time to move to a toddler bed? I don't think he will stay in that bed either, but at least he won't get hurt getting in and out!

Very Mischievous Little Boy

Ethan has been pretty naughty lately. I think it's because we can't go outside and burn off extra energy! Here are SOME of the things he's done in the past week.

-I laid Riley down for a nap and decided to take a bath. I leave the door open so I can see Ethan and Mia. As I was in the tub, Ethan open and shut her door a gazillion times and woke her up. She fell back asleep. He went to go in her room a second time, and I could see him in the mirror. I gave him "the look" and told him "no." He looked at me through the mirror as I was looking at him. Stare down! He promptly shut the bathroom door, so I could no longer see what he was doing (which made me laugh so thank goodness he couldn't see me!) I could still hear him though. He went into her room and woke her up a second time. She fell back asleep again. I got him out of there and went to the living room. It took me a second to realize he was gone. Sure enough, he was in Riley's room. This time, he climbed up on her crib and was shaking it. He woke her up a third time. Riley was pretty ticked off at this point. No falling back asleep for her!

-Last night, I had salsa sitting on the counter. I went to dip my tortilla chip in the salsa and it was gone. It took a couple of seconds to register that it was missing and at the same exact moment that it clicked, I heard Ethan giggling. I knew instantly that he had taken it. I walked out in the living room and he had dumped the entire container on my carpet. The mess spanned half of my living room. I put him in time-out for that one. Well, he now knows how to open doors, so he came strolling out right after I put him in there. I got up and put him back, and ten seconds later, he came out again. I put him back again, and he came out again!

-I put Ethan and Mia down for a nap today, and Ethan apparently didn't feel like sleeping. He came out almost immediately, and I gave him "the look" and told him to go back. He actually listened to me and went back in his room, but this went on for an hour. Poor Mia! She was trying to go to sleep but he was going in and out and being really loud. Finally, he came out into the living room and Mia fell asleep. He stayed in the living room for about 30 minutes and decided to go back in their room and climb into Mia's crib. Ethan started jumping up and down and woke her up. The poor thing was screaming her head off. I took him out of their room, and within ten minutes, he went back in there and did it again!

-He also likes messing around with my coffee maker. I love my coffee maker and would freak if something happened to it! He poured the coffee grinds out today onto the counter, floor and lazy-susan. He also messes around with my coffee bean grinder.

-He got ahold of some steak knives that were in the silverware drawer and started running around with them. I was trying not to chase him because I didn't want him to trip with them but at the same time, I was quickly trying to get them away from him. He did this twice. He also took a butter knife and stuck it in the toaster.

-I went to the grocery store and bought lemon poppy seed muffins. Ethan LOVES these. I put them on the counter and he knew they were up there. Mike left the juice on the same counter. Ethan was gone for a minute before we noticed. Mike went to the kitchen and he was sitting on top of the counter. He had poured himself a glass of juice. There was probably 2 inches of juice in the cup and the rest was on the counter. He was trying to open the muffins up so he could eat one!

If he keeps this up, it's going to be a very long winter!

Wonder Petted Out!

Ethan and Mia have started watching tv! This happened about two weeks ago. Their favorite cartoon is "The Wonder Pets." I have five episodes recorded for them, and we watch them over and over and over. Their favorite is the one with Ollie where they save the chipmunk. It's a cute cartoon, but it is getting a little annoying! Ethan and Mia usually want me to sit on the couch with them and watch it. I have all the songs memorized! There's an episode where they save a herd of sheep. Mike baaed like a sheep in his sleep the other night! I think it's safe to say that we are watching it too much! The nice thing about it is that they're learning all of their animal sounds. Mia learned to say guinea pig and I think I heard her say turtle too!

Dada

Here's a short video of Riley saying "dada." She says it in the most angelic little voice and sticks her tongue out while doing it. What a cutie!

Yey!

Thank you St. Anthony (Catholic patron saint of lost things!) Mike found my camera! The couch ate it. I looked under the couches multiple times, but he found it in the couch cushions, which I did not look. I'm so relieved that it didn't get thrown away!

Riley's First Word Is...

Dada. She actually said on back on November 16th, but I think I was in denial. She's said it several times since then, so there's no denying it any longer! I think it's kind of ironic since she's such a mama's girl. Ethan's first word was mama and Mia's was dada. I guess dada is leading 2 to 1!