9 months

This is another pictureless post, but tomorrow will probably be a whole post devoted to only pictures, so bare with me. We had Emily's check up this afternoon and everything looks great for the most part. Em has passed all of her milestones with flying colors with the exception of 2. She isn't clapping yet and she isn't waving. The doctor seemed concerned at first and then said she wasn't worried because Emmy is really outgoing and has a great personality. Either way, we are going to work on this at daycare and are determined to have her clapping and waving by Friday. What's funny is right as we were leaving, the doctor waved at Emily and Em waved right back. So she actually marked it as an accomplished milestone. She is very pleased with how she has grown and how vocal she has become. Emmy chatted up the doctor the whole time and offered lots of smiles. The doctor said she has the best personality and thinks she is a total ham, so that made me feel a lot better. She did mention that overall she thought Emily was an advanced motor skills baby for her age with the crawling, pulling up and standing. So here are Emily's stats.

* She weighs 17 lbs 3 oz and is 27 inches long. She is only in the 20th percentile for weight and even less for height, but the doctor said that was perfectly fine. She is just petite.
*She is now wearing size 3 diapers, mostly because we ran out of 2's and had several boxes of 3's and there wasn't a big difference in size
*She wears some 6 month (3-6 months) shorts, but is mostly in 9 month (6-9 months) outfits. I have a feeling she will fit in this size for a couple more months because a lot of the clothes are still big.
*She sleeps for 11-12 hours each night and sometimes more on the weekends.
*Bed time is between 7 and 7:30. She is a champ at going to sleep by herself. This kid loves her sleep.
*She pulls up on everything and is starting to test her balance limits by letting go.
*She walks awesome while holding your hands.
*She has 3 teeth that are all the way in and 3 more that are just breaking through. She looks so funny. I got some good pictures of her grill yesterday, so stay tuned.
*She is still drinking 24oz of milk a day, however we are working on transitioning her to a schedule that the 1 year old room follows. She drinks a bottle before school, but she started taking 3 oz of milk with her morning snack and 3 with her lunch. Then has a bottle at 3 and one more before bed. We are also working to increase the amount of solids she is taking in, with 3 main meals and a snack during the day.
*Speaking of solids, this kid will try anything you give her as long as she can feed it to herself. For the most part she loves food, but there are days that she will really like something and then hate it the next.
*She LOVES her sippy cup. We just started transitioning her to a straw, but she hasn't quite got it yet. She LOVES her water. We are not giving juice for a while. There is just no nutritional value in it and she doesn't need the sugar.
*She has a thing for stuffed animals these days. There is a lamb at daycare that she is obessed with and will apparently throw a fit if anyone tries to take it away.
*She definitely has developed a personality and at times a little attitude. She is "sassy," according to daycare, sometimes and likes to test your limits. She usually follows it up with a cheesy grin. She likes to see what she can get away with.
*As of 2 weeks ago, she and James are the "big" kids in the infant room and they like to boss the babies around.
*She chats up a storm, loves saying dada, but still no mama.
*Taking posed pictures of her is impossible.

Really Emily is just so much fun. She always has a smile on her face, with the exception of last Saturday (sorry Shannon and Jodie, she is usually really happy, I promise. Damn teeth!). She is just a great kid. We love her so much and are truly amazed at how fast time is flying by. We love every minute we spend with her and and watching the little lady she is growing to be.

Emily, you are such a special gift. Thank you for being you and for bringing so much joy to our lives. Your dad and I cannot imagine our lives without you in it and look forward to many years of happiness to come!