Mia- from her first solids to crawling and teething in between

Looking through these pictures it amazes me how much Mia has changed since November when this first picture was taken. She still loves to stick out her tongue, but so much has changed since the time when she smiled up at me from her blanket and I knew that if I rushed off to get a diaper she'd still be there, exactly as I left her, when I got back. She still smiles at me (though much more readily at her sisters) but she is definitely not one to sit still.

Right at six months we started feeding her solids. And did she like them? Oh no she did not! Not one little bit. It took some serious coaxing and a whole lot of patience to get her to swallow even the tiniest bit of rice cereal. And don't get me started on vegetables. Oh how she hates the greens. Peas and beans are the worst! Absolutely the worst. It was weeks before I felt like feeding her didn't take a solid half hour. But we've moved past all of that. She absolutely adores rice cereal. In fact she gets giddy excited when I pull her rice cereal box out of the pantry. I've learned that I need to feed her her fruits or vegetable before giving her her rice. Because if I don't she likely won't eat them at all. She did get pretty good at tolerating vegetables, but once I introduced fruits (aside from the unfortunate banana) she didn't really want to waste her time with them. I now feed her both fruits and vegetables before rice and she's almost got my number. She's definitely on to me. I start with a bite of fruit which she hesitantly accepts. When she realizes I'm giving her the good stuff she readily opens her mouth for a bite of mixed vegetables. And instantly regrets it. She keeps it in her mouth far too long before swallowing and then holds off opening her mouth again when I offer her another bite, sure that it's more dreaded beans and carrots. But it's not! It's blueberries and apples! And she's happily surprised. Until the next bite which she eagerly anticipates, only to find that it's not more yummy fruit. And on and on we go. But eventually we get to the rice cereal and once there, she's pretty good not to hold anything against me. She's really sweet that way.

Right around this same time she started sitting up like a champ. Not right away of course. She scraped up her delicate chin quite a bit because it took the brunt of many a fall to the carpet until she truly mastered the art of sitting up. And it was really exciting when she figured out how to get herself from her tummy to sitting position because we knew it wouldn't be long before she'd be crawling. These huge milestones have all been coming together so quickly, one after another!

I should probably mention that she no longer has more food on her face than in her mouth, but that was exactly how it was for several meals in the beginning.

We've been told that she looks like The American Baby doll. I'm not familiar with them but they're part of the American Girl doll family, I believe. Anyway, Jon and I looked them up and were surprised to see that she really does look exactly like one of the dolls. Like the doll was made to look just like Mia. Just. Like. Her. This doll she's holding is not one of those dolls but she was playing with it one night during scriptures and Jon couldn't resist taking a picture. They're almost the same size and she's handling that baby doll like it's her job. Like she's going to care for her. Like she's such a big girl. So grown up! Because she really thinks she is. She loves to hold big girl things. Like chap stick. Or spoons. Or those medicine syringes. Or tiny bowls. Or books! She loves to hold books. Whatever she can get her hands on. Also, she recently discovered balloons and they are now a favorite. I cringe just a little every time she goes near one, sure that it's going to pop all over her. It's funny to see what she does when any of us hands her a "baby" toy. It's like she'd like to tell us, "what do you want me to do with this? This is meant for a BABY." Obviously she's not a baby anymore. And somewhere in the middle of all this growing up, after she started solids, she grew two teeth. They came in right at seven months. Lydia's first two teeth came in at eight months and Sophie's first two came in at six months, so she's just averaging out big sisters experiences. Since then nothing else has broken through, but we're sure they're on their way. For about a month we weren't sure if she was suffering from an ear infection (turns out she wasn't) or if she was just in misery because of sore gums. We assume it's her gums. All that swatting at her ear must have been her way of telling us her mouth hurt. The doctor confirmed that her ears were fine. Fortunately the past few nights haven't been as miserable for her and we've all gotten to sleep a little bit better. What a beautiful thing!

Towards the middle/end of February Mia got really good at crawling backwards. Lydia and Sophie were the same way. It was like her arms were ready to take off and go on adventures, but her legs hadn't yet made up their mind to join in or not. Apparently not. She'd get herself stuck under everything! She backed up into the green couch and got her leg stuck underneath while I was making dinner. She found herself stuck under the frog chair that Uncle Jim made Jon when he was a little boy while she watched her sisters play. She got stuck underneath the crib while we read stories in her room, but getting stuck under things because of crawling backwards is now a thing of the past. As of March 13th her legs figured things out and she is officially crawling like a professional. I just hope that she doesn't want to conquer the stairs anytime soon.

And now this sweet little lady is nine months. As of today. I've determined that if she didn't depend on me for sustenance she'd be happy to check in with me as little as possible. I know that she's not talking in any words that I understand, but it's pretty clear that she wants to spend all her time with her sisters. She lights up when she hears their voices. She jumps up and down in my arms after waking up from naps when we join Lydia and Sophie. If she's sad they're always able to cheer her up just by being near her. She seriously loves those two and they're so good to her in return.

We've taken some really fun pictures of the three of them lately, but I just love their expressions in this one. Not sure if Soph is telling both Lyds and Mia a secret, but she and Mia definitely look like they're up to the same something. Lydia just looks ready to be entertained by whatever is happening. So much personality. It's fun and exciting to see and anticipate what Mia will add to the adventures of the Frazier ladies.