Erika at Nine Months

Today Erika celebrates her 9 month birthday! She has now officially been out of my belly for longer than she was in it. Some of the things that she's doing at 9 months:

• Trying to get up the stairs
• Eating everything in sight. She no longer likes mush - she'd much rather have what the rest of us are eating. And, yes, that is a rib bone that she's gnawing on in the picture.
• Wanting to play ALL the time - yes, even in the middle of the night. She has suddenly decided that sleep is overrated and would much rather play with Mommy in the middle of the night.
• Is starting to babble - saying da-da and ma-ma.
• Is wanting to do everything that big sister Marilynn is doing - it's adorable watching her imitate her.

Erika at Eight Months

Life is finally back to semi-normalcy again and I have my family back with me. I've decided that God likes to give me tests in life. If I ever wonder what it would be like to be single again and have no kids, I now know - it's completely AWFUL.

Anyways, didn't want today to pass by without celebrating that Erika turns 8 months old today. Unfortunately, I have no idea where our camera is since Ken brought back so many bags from Texas, so words will just have to do. She has changed so much in just the 10 days we were apart. She's:

• Crawling like crazy
• Able to sit up on her own and go from sitting to crawling and vice-versa
• Eating like crazy - she can eat an entire bowl of rice cereal with sweet potatoes like it's nothing
• Got 4 teeth (with one poking through on the way)
• Saying "daddy" (although I wasn't there when it apparently happened, so I'm not counting it as her first word yet)

My little baby is turning into a toddler before my eyes. It's amazing how quickly they grow up!

Erika's Two Front Teeth

The Christmas season must be upon us, because Erika got her "two front teeth" just a few weeks before Christmas! I tried to get a few shots of the tooth, but just couldn't quite get her to open her mouth. Oh well. She turned 7 months old yesterday and she's starting to develop quite the personality. Definitely now letting us know when something is not right and then also giving us such big hugs and smiles when things are right.