Last 8 month update

Just a couple little updates before Ashley officially turns 9 months.

First, yesterday 10/2/11, Ashley finally said "dada", and Matt got to be there to hear it for the first time. Ashley has been "talking" (babbling) a lot lately, a variety of "ma" and "ba" and lots of jumbled words. But yesterday it was clearly da da. We were driving back from visiting our friends Jen and Jim (and Lily and Emma) in Florida. I was in the backseat with Ashley for part of the drive since it's so long, and I'm always saying "say mama" and "say dada" and she finally did it. It was cute!

Other latest...Ashley is really moving fast with her army crawl and getting into EVERYTHING.

At 9 months you can incorporate more solid kind of foods, so I just bought her these freeze dried yogurt melts that she chews on, then it dissolves in her mouth. She's getting the hang of it. Started some chunkier baby food today.

Last week we lowered Ashley's crib to the very bottom. She can stand up/hold herself up, but she hasn't actually learned to pull herself up on her own yet, but I have a feeling that will be here before we know it and we didn't want her to surprise us one morning while the mattress was still higher up.

On a negative note, Ashley has started biting me more frequently during breastfeeding. My mom always tells me how I did that to her once, and so she used a stern voice and said no, and I started crying and never did it again. I did that with Ashley. I thought since I rarely talk sternly or yell that it may be effective, but she just laughed and continues to do it. Grr...So now I stop feeding her and sternly say "no, all done" when she does it, hoping she'd see that if she wants to keep eating she can't do that...but instead, I think she has used that to tell me when she is finished eating. Sigh. We'll figure it out, and if not she'll be drinking bottles very soon. Lol.

She has just started having a (mild) reaction when strangers are holding her. I know it's a normal stage, but I'm surprised because Ashley is NOT a shy girl. It's only happened once or twice, and I have a feeling it will be short-lived.

Other than that, we've just been busy with the usual--playing, learning, spending time with friends, visiting friends and family.

Last weekend Matt had continuing Ed in Charlotte, and Aunt Kristyn came to Charlotte to see about potentially moving there, so we all got a hotel together and visited. Kristyn, Ashley and I looked around and checked out apartments.

This past weekend we went to Jacksonville to visit the Lastingers. We went to Lily's soccer game, Jen and I went out for lunch and had one of our 4 hour talks which I love, we went to the playground, and then Matt and Jim went to a football game together. We had a nice time. Unfortunately Ashley got a cold. She was fine at home, started getting a runny nose during last couple hours of car ride, and was totally congested and sick by the next day. The girl never gets sick, then the two times we've got fun plans away she gets a cold.

Today my Aunt Lil and cousin Wendy came to visit. Aunt Lil was vacationing and visiting friends, and was stopping through on her way back. Wendy lives about an hour and a half from us, yet sadly we don't get to see each other much with our busy schedules, so I was happy they could both come.

Well, I think that's about it. Tomorrow Ashley will be 9 months already. Crazy....You go 9 months pregnant, which feels like forever when you are anticipating the big day when you meet your sweet little baby, and now we have doubled that in a flash. I was listening to a sermon for women. It was talking about how our roles as women are continually changing throughout our lives, and how life is fleeting. So true...I came home and told Matt how I don't want it to be fleeting, I have loved this past year, both with Matt and Ashley, and I wish I could savor it.

I think I feel it more because a lot of parents go through empty nest when their kids move out. It's like you have these children who are such a huge part of your life for so long, and then they move out and you have to discover a new role and life change. It's hard for lots of people...Non church goers view their children as "theirs". But going to church, they kind of "train you" from the beginning to know that your children are not yours, they are God's, and God has honored you by entrusting you with the gift of children, and raising them up. The church also prepares you that your children will leave you one day, as they should, to go out and live their own lives, and tells you that our job is to give them wings for life. I think going into it knowing that just gives you a different perspective on things. It's like I know this parent role, where my child lives with me and I can care for her is not permanent. And I WANT her to grow up and make a life for herself. That is healthy. And I pray she has a happy and healthy life, filled with all the good things. But knowing someday this precious time will end, or at least be different, is bittersweet. Just have to make the most of all the blessings I have while I have them.