Moon-crawling

How quickly things change.  This is from just a week or so ago, when all I could seem to manage was pushing myself backwards, in this case, right underneath the Pack n Play.  Now, I can crawl forwards!  Though usually only far enough to be able to slump back onto my belly and stretch my hand out to reach whatever I was trying to get to (book, toy, foot).

It's been a big and busy week.  Besides starting to crawl, I also got more proactive about walking when standing up with my hands held.  Akong and Grandma C came to visit, and were thrilled with my growth, cuteness, and conversation.  I got lots of toys from them, too (COOL Mozart Cube!).  I had my first taste of fish (enh).  I had my first French fry (yum, when it's not too hot or crunchy).  It's been a big month, too: I got a bit better at actually chewing and swallowing food which is not totally pureed to death.  I got tons better at pincer grasp and getting most of the puffs or Cheerios or cracker bits or bread pieces into my mouth.  I turn the pages of my books when someone is reading to me.

This week is my first plane trip (and Mommy is SO excited about that, I can tell you!) and also a family reunion - all 3 2009 babies from both sides of the family will meet up for the first time.  Hopefully we will not end up slapping each other silly.  I will, of course, gets tons of attention which will be nice (and only my due, of course).  It will be my very first Christmas!

The many faces of Lyra

Yesterday there were a couple photo shoots, one to try to obtain a usable pic to use as a passport photo. I think I got one, after 30-40 shots.  The hardest thing?  Getting pics with her mouth closed!  Some of the "rejects" are collaged at left. The money shot is below...what a cute mug shot! (remember to click on the collages to see a much bigger version!)


The other photo shoot was for the Xmas card...I'll post those later!

As a sidenote:  yesterday was the first day Lyra managed to push herself all the way up to sitting from lying on her tummy.  Not apparently able, yet, to sit straight up from a supine position.

Bill, Jr.?

Check out the truly uncanny resemblance between Lyra and her daddy as a baby! Since she's a girl, let's hope it doesn't continue to be quite this close a resemblance as she gets older! She's definitely his daughter, though...

Reunited...

Tonight I got to see my first boyfriend, James, again. We have both grown so much since our last visit! Here, I have a visitor in my baby jail for the first time (well, the first BABY visitor). We look pretty ok together here, don't we? Too bad a couple minutes later there was a domino fall effect and both of us ended up crying (briefly). Later, after everyone had dinner, we said goodbye and shared our first kiss (my first kiss ever - I can't speak for James!). What a great night!

Hello...

...and a wonderful upside-down day to you all! I love shuffling around the perimeter of my Pack 'n' Play, especially with a lovely blue anklet on (an accident, but what a lovely one!). Today is a great day, and most definitely a better one than yesterday when I spent several hours puking my guts out. Poor me. Mommy gave me some soy yogurt to see if my guts were mature enough to handle it...apparently not. That really bit. I was so tired in between all the throwing up episodes, I lay in Mommy's arms like a wet noodle and actually fell asleep in her lap like I haven't done since I was a little girl. But as you can see, I'm all better now! Life is awesome! (Oh, and Mommy? Maybe you need to wait a while before trying soy or dairy again, ok? Thanks!)  And by the way, it was Thanksgiving, too...my first one, and I didn't even get any turkey.  Mommy did give thanks that I was only having issues with one end of my GI tract...

9 months old!

Just turned 9 months old this week! And just went to my 9-month checkup. No vaccinations today, cool.  Check out my new sweatshirt....Daddy got me a whole array of NY Yankees stuff including a championship onesie....

Latest Thing: Making this noise from the back of her throat that sounds like roaring.
Newest nickname: Lyra the Lion (sometimes the Lynx)
Stats today: 30.5 inches (>95th percentile), 22.45 lbs.

Kisses and roars!

Life...

...seems to rush on so quickly...Lyra is almost 9 months now. There have been so many changes, so quickly. She's grown more hair, for one thing, though it's still pretty sparse (still too little to clip a bow to!). She's sitting up by herself now. Not quite crawling but able to push herself backwards. Two lower front teeth finally coming in, without any fuss on Lyra's part. Looking back through the posts I think I've covered a lot of the last few months so I guess there won't be a "My life, part 3" installment since we're fairly caught up now. What else has happened in the last few months?

Newest talents: clapping (initially without sound, now actual clapping noises), blowing raspberries for minutes on end (see video below) rather than just occasional ones, going on hands and knees as well as hands and feet (like a yoga bridge, as demonstrated in the picture in the upper right corner), standing up with hands on support when placed that way.

Newest foods: just this past week, spinach and mango, both of which seemed to go across smashingly well. Chunkier apple sauce (courtesy of the food mill) did not, however, go across well, based on the gagging that occurred. Food milled pear was ok, though.

Funniest food-related episodes: eating cake for the first time (Jello cake made with apple sauce by nanny Susan) - lots of funny faces at the texture and strange turtle-like chin-tucking, culminating in finally mashing with gums and doing the bird-mouth to get more. Also, eating those "yummy"-looking teething biscuits which dissolve into cookie cement which covers baby face, hands, bib, highchair, Exersaucer, etc.

Best evidence for awesome babyness: waking up in the morning and entertaining herself for 40-90 minutes before Mommy gets up. Enduring all vaccines with minimal fuss (startled cry for 2 seconds then done), then getting her first H1N1 vaccine yesterday without even noticing it. Not crying much, and when she does, usually very easily soothed. Falling asleep most nights with little fuss, and sleeping through the night. Able to entertain herself in general for long periods of time.

Funniest things she shouldn't be doing: blowing raspberries while eating (not as much now, since being disciplined - "NO, no raspberries while eating!" and a pause before the next spoonful comes). OK, spoke too soon, based on today's lunch - the dining table is spattered with peas with turkey and rice.

Other things we want to remember: lots of "talking"- dadadada, mamamama, gagaga, vavavava (voom, we like to finish for her), dididididi. Screams of joy, or sometimes just conversation, I think. Squealing belly laugh when the finger-eating monster comes to town (or toe-eating...except she then kicked me right in the mouth, so perhaps not the best idea!) or she gets her belly tickled.

Current nicknames: sunshine girl, goo girl, chubbitha, missy messy pants.

By the way, her middle name means "relaxed sunshine" - definitely a case where the name appears to have made the person!

She has her 9 month checkup coming up soon...but I expect her height to still be >99th percentile (as she's currently wearing 12-month clothes which fit great, and 18-month clothes which are just a bit long. The other week while getting her flu shot she weighed over 22 lbs (but with clothes and diaper on).