9 months.

Is she crawling? Nope. Is she walking? Nope. Is she a happy, healthy baby? Yep!

This month has really taught me what "each baby develops at his or her own pace" means. As a first-time mom, it's really tough not to look at other children Linna's age and think, "Why isn't she doing that yet?". Linna did a lot of things early... sitting, sleeping through the night, etc., but crawling and walking are not one of them. Although I am waiting very patiently for her to start moving around, I'm kind of loving that I can put her in one spot, and she stays there!

Linna has figured out how to go from a sitting position to her hands and knees, but once she's there, she goes right down to her belly:) Right now, her means of transportation is rolling! She rolls underneath furniture, to get to her toys, and to discover new things around the house. She does a little "launch" move, where she pushes off from her hands and knees to her belly. She hasn't quite figured out the coordination to move her arms and legs together to crawl. She does pull herself up onto things with help, and she'll take a few steps if she's holding onto someone's hands. My thought is that she'll walk, and just skip crawling all together!

Another reason I am learning not to listen to what other people say and think, is because someone once told me that your baby HAS to crawl before she walks. I've even heard that walking before crawling is a sign of Autism. AHHHHH! These kinds of things are enough to make any mom go crazy! I'm just going off of Linna's cues. If she wants to eat, she'll eat. If she wants to crawl she'll crawl. If she wants to say the alphabet at one year... so be it! The sky is the limit for our babies, right?!

Mother's Day 2012

This month, we also celebrated my first Mother's Day with Linna! Last year on Mother's Day, I was about six months pregnant, so it was really special to celebrate with my little love muffin:) AJ and Linna woke me up with Caribou Coffee, and I had lots of snuggle time with my baby. We spent the afternoon at my parents' house, and the boys made us brats, and other delicious treats! Thanks boys! I got to relax, not change diapers, and drink some beer on the deck:) It really was a perfect Mother's Day!

Linna has tried a couple new foods this month, including scrambled eggs and tilapia (fish). She LOVES both of them! She is becoming a really good eater. Last month, there were meals where she'd have a bite or two of food, and then she was done. Now, she's gobbling up food faster than I can make it! She is a really healthy eater. She loves fruits and veggies, whole grains, chicken (sometimes), fish, and loves water! We give her a TINY bit of juice a couple times per week, just to keep her poops soft. She really likes the V8 Fusion, but I'm also going to start making juices for her with our juicer. It's about time I get some use out of that thing! I also am planning on introducing her to smoothies, because mama needs to start her day off with something healthy too. One of my old favorites is a green smoothie recipe that Laurie Crowell, owner of The Golden Fig in St. Paul, introduced me to when I was pregnant. All you do is throw some plain yogurt, frozen mango, spinach, banana, and a little orange juice into a blender with some ice, and you have a delicious and healthy smoothie any time of the day! If you're not a fan of spinach, don't worry, because the mango cancels out the taste of the spinach.

Linna's first worm. Not interested.

We are so lucky to have such a good little sleeper, eater, and developer! Linna loves to clap and "roll" her hands when we play pat-a-cake, she says dada, nana, lala, etc. She babbles, sings, and hums to herself, and can keep herself entertained for hours! She has four teeth... two on the bottom and two on the top, with more coming in! She is always smiling, loves all of the family dogs (especially Parker and Zoey). If she doesn't want anymore to eat, she scrunches up her little nose and puts her head down. She's still eating three meals a day, and three bottles too (4 oz. after breakfast, 4 oz. after lunch, and 7-8 oz. before bed). Bedtime is between 7-8 p.m., and she sleeps until 7 or 8 a.m. I have gotten so used to getting great sleep at night. I don't know how we're going to get used to all the sleepless nights again when and if baby #2 is in the picture! No I'm not pregnant.

We've signed up for some ECFE classes this summer, we'll continue with our lessons at Foss Swim School. and we'll be spending a lot of time at the park and cabin this summer! Linna is at such a fun age right now, and I can't wait to soak up every minute with her during our beautiful Minnesota summer! I'm already starting to plan her first birthday party!

Cuddling with "cousin" Zoey.