9 Months Old!

Weight: 19 lbs. 12 oz. (65 percentile)
Height: about 27 inches (30 percentile) Questionable area...they measured her at 27 inches but have been inaccurate in this area...
Head: 18 3/8 inches (99 percentile!!)
Moods: happy unless she is tired of sitting and wants to walk :)
Favorite foods: Marshmallows...it could be worse, right?
Favorite new toy: Her walker...that girl would walk all day with that thing if you let her!
Sounds: A lot of new sounds...Grace likes to immitate sounds we make now, which proves for great entertainment.
Favorite hobbies: Walking, please! Grace is pulling up on any and everything...even if it doesn't support her :) She grabs onto her walker and off she goes...she can even take 5 steps on her OWN!
Playtime: Grace loves reading books (Goodnight Moon and Brown Bear are the big hits right now) and playing with anything that she isn't supposed to play i.e. remote controls, phones, dog tails...
Sleep habits: Nap #1: 9-10; Nap #2: 1-3 (wahoo!); Nighttime: 7-7 (sometimes until 7:30). Sometimes she wakes up during the night because she can't reach her pockey or binky...cannot complain one bit!
Sign Language: She will do the sign for "more" pretty consistently; we are working on "sleep" "bath" and "book" right now. I am not teaching it a lot because I haven't completely decided how much sign language I want to do with her...
Teeth: Bottom: 2; Top: 4! The top 4 came in all together (hence the rough nights in December) and it has been smooth sailing since!

January has been a bittersweet month, but mostly sweet. Bitter (sad may be the better word in this case) due to the fact that our good friend, and neighbor, David Cloer was deployed on the 2nd for 1 year. He is in the Navy reserve and it has hit home having him get deployed. Jimmy and David are good friends, playing the x-box many times a week, and we have dinner with the Cloer family often during the week. It's nice to be able to walk next door and have good friends with Christian fellowship. Lindsay, David's wife, has been strong as a rock and understands that God has placed them in this situation and is teaching them how to love each other better in David's absence. We have enjoyed having Lindsay over for dinner weekly and look forward to the day David returns!

January has been sweet because our baby girl turned 9 months! Our family has been on the go since December even after the holidays due to Jimmy's interview season. Grace has been able to experience many new places, people, and is changing everyday! Jimmy would go away for a day or so to interview somewhere only to come home and find Grade doing something new like clapping, taking a few steps on her own, etc. Grace and I are SUPER proud of Jimmy for all of the interviews he got and especially happy that the process is now OVER!!! We got to go with him to a few interviews and I even got to go alone with Jimmy to two programs while family watched Grace, which was a nice treat. For those of you that do not know, Jimmy has been interviewing for anesthesiology residency. He interviewed at 13 programs and now we have until the middle of February to make our rank list. Once we turn in the rank list, we wait until Match Day (March 16) to find out where God has placed us for the next 4 years of our life. I won't be making specific comments on Facebook or the blog regarding the programs Jimmy has visited.

Jimmy and I are very appreciative of the community we have here in Winston-Salem. We love living here and especially adore the friendships we have made. I am happily working one day a week at the office this first half of the year and the rest of the hours from home. Grace has started a new daycare one day a week while I work, and that has been great for her! During the week Grace and I have restful days, errand-running days, playdates, and just plain fun :) Have I already started planning her 1 year birthday party? Maybe... :) Nothing fancy, but we look forward (as slow as possible) to Grace's birthday to celebrate her first year of life and inviting the people we love to our home. It may or may not be Saturday, April 14th hehe.

Until next month...