Eden, the 9 Month Old!

9 Month Check-Up
Height: 28"
Weight: 19lbs 2oz
Head: 17 1/2"

compare to 6 months
compare to Addison 9 months

Eden measured 50-75th percentiles for all categories. So even though we think she's become such a porker, she's actually closer to average than her first few months!
The doctor went to check out her teeth, but our little Eden doesn't have any yet. The doctor didn't seem concerned, so guess we'll just wait it out? I don't think there's anything we can do to help that process along anyway. 

This was a quick check-up, no shots or anything. 

It's the Holiday Season

The excitement for the holidays was building in Eden's 9th month. Christmas is coming at a good stage for her as she's much more interactive and getting into the toys we already have, so it was fun to think of good toys for her gift list!
Her 9th month began with celebrating Mommy & Daddy's 5 year anniversary. We had two celebrations - the first, we went out to "Doggy Restaurant" (Bulldog Tavern) for dinner and as a family. Eden was a hit with the waitresses of course - and all she had to do was lay in her car seat and smile! What a life :)

iPad
So, is an iPad a grown-up tool that attracts kids or is it basically just a kids toy that we slap a big price tag on and call it an adult technology. With how much Eden enjoys playing with our iPad and how good she randomly is at using it, I'm thinking the latter.
We have learned many functions of the iPad from her, that it makes us feel old that we don't understand technology as well as a baby.
The best trick she taught us - and the most frustrating - is that apparently if you use all of your fingers to swipe the screen, it takes you back to the last app used. She did this several times without us having any idea how she was doing it. Best part? She does this while she's nursing/having a bottle and the iPad is behind her. So, without even looking, she reaches back and in one quick swipe - boom! we got from Facebook to iTunes. Pl us, she does NOT care htat we were using the iPad. She seriously believes it (and our phones and remotes) are hers and she will just yank it right out of our hands. We try to push her away from it or get the device away from her, but she is relentless grabbing at it and pulling.
Afraid of what is to come in the next few years with our little tech girl.

Thanksgiving
For Eden's first Thanksgiving, we took a trip up to Grandma Simon's house. Eden slept most of the car ride, so she's pretty easy! We brought the pack n play along so we could set her up for a nap and that worked out perfectly. The drive home was a little annoying - Addie kept waking up and then causing Eden to cry too, but much better than earlier trips.

Sit 'n Play!
This is my favorite stage and I think the easiest - of babyhood. Eden is very easily entertained by sitting on the floor surrounded by toys. All we do is lay out a big blanket on the floor and place a variety of toys around her. A couple larger motor toys - like leap pad table, a bin of little toys for her to go through and some stuffed animals. She happily sorts through all the toys - hits buttons on all the noisy toys and just sits there quietly entertained for a long time. It's the perfect time before crawling where the mess is contained and she's able to entertain herself. 
It's also easier in this stage for Addison to sit and play with her, vs before when she would be strapped in to a bouncer or jumperoo. She does from time to time roll over and get frustrated, so we do have to help with that - but this is good training to prepare her to start crawling eventually too! Which, is a MUCH harder stage - my least favorite!

Mommy Milk
Yup, this girl loves her Mommy Milk! She's not shy about it either. She pulls at my shirt and when I sit down on the couch with her to prepare to feed her, she bounces up and down on my lap, giggling. When it's "out" she face plants herself onto my chest and eats away. It's pretty entertaining - but really makes me feel like the piece of meat I am to her!
She's still waking up a few times a night too. I'm thinking she likes the feel of nursing more than the actual need for the milk. It is quite cozy, but it is wearing to still not be able to sleep through the night.

St. Nick 
Eden's first St. Nick! Of course, at her age it doesn't mean all that much. In her stocking we gave her a "That's Not My Dinosaur" book, a Scentsy elephant and instead of candy, she got her first Puffs and yogurt melts!
We put the tree up over Thanksgiving weekend and Eden loves staring at it. We hold her up to look at the ornaments and she likes to reach for them. We left all the soft, non-breakable ornaments on the bottom but she was pretty good with not pulling on them too much.

Eden, the 8 Month Old!

Halloween
As Eden grows and passes through milestones and different times of year/holidays approach, I try to be sensitve to special events or mementos that we did for Addison, and make sure we do the same for Eden. So, for Halloween, Eden was a monkey - just like Addison. We visited all the pumpkin patches and got the baby/pumpkin pictures of her like we did with Addie, even down to the naked baby/pumpkin photo shoot at home!
Eden even got to go out trick-or-treating with Addison and her cousins. Going along with Eden's monkey costume, Mommy dressed up as a banana!

Eden laugh
We are very used to Eden's constant smiles and finding new ways to make her smile - which is pretty easy. Eden is a very smiley baby. There's been some giggles over the months, but this month Eden started a true belly laugh.
The easiest way to get her to laugh is to tickle her - Daddy especially is good at tickling her by "eating" her neck. She curls up in a big belly laugh every time! 

Mommy's on a Trip
For the second time in as many months, I went on a business trip. This time I flew down to Orlando. Felt very odd to be travelling near Disney World without my family - especially since I was surrounded by families and kids Eden and Addison's age in my travels. This was a 2 1/2 day trip again. I missed my girls terribly, but since my last trip hadn't been that long before - the girls adjusted pretty well.
Tim took wonderful care of them as always and amazingly the second night, Eden slept through the night for him! I can't even say the same thing about myself hundreds of miles away in a hotel!
Well, much to my surprise, my first night back - Eden actually slept through the night for the first time. She slept from bedtime until after 7am. The most we had gotten from her before then was 11pm - 7am or 8pm - 4am. So this was great! Guess I should spend the night away more often! (J/K of course I wouldn't!). By the next night she was back to her usual 2x wake-up schedule, but it was nice to know she is capable of it!