9 Months of Rose

When I was in Colombia I completely fell in love with this little boy who was nine months old named Jose Louis. I was so excited to see him every day and would hold him every second I could. I remember thinking, if I can love this little boy with no connection to me this much, what on earth will it be like to love my own kid? Now I have my own nine-month-old, and I never could have predicted what it would be like. It's impossible to understand the love of a mom until you are one.

Here is a little snapshot of what Rose is like at nine months!

She's army crawling and rolling all around, but doesn't go anywhere super fast yet (when she gets excited she tries to, it's all just very wobbly). She has 23 pounds to lug around with her!

Her favourite hobbies include going around the house pointing at all the pictures on the wall saying "dadada," looking at (and occasionally chewing on) books and spreading them around the living room while Mom writes blog posts (haha). She loves being loved on by her many aunts and uncles (and grandparents!) and being attacked with kisses by her dad. Actually, I don't know if the kiss attacks rank as a favourite hobby, but whenever Matt gets home and she sees him she loses complete control of her limbs in excitement. She flails her arms and kicks her legs and gets the hugest smile on her face.

Favourite foods include smoothies, bananas, and zucchini. She gobbles those three things up in amounts that surprise me. She still needs food to be pretty soft so those foods are super easy ones for me to give her as well. Avocado is another really convenient one, but I have to mix banana in with it or she rejects it, and I can't change her mind on that one.

One of my favourite things that Rose does is the way she lays her head on my shoulder and cuddles into me while I sing to her before bed (I'm not saying putting her to sleep is always that idyllic, but hey it makes the special moments that much sweeter). She also gives the best kisses, she just will randomly decide to slowly lean in and give an opened mouth kiss, it's heaven. Right now she is making me laugh at the concentration and intensity she is putting into scratching a speck off of the kitchen floor.

She's super talkative, and by "talking" I mean squealing with joy, clicking her tongue, making her lips go brrrr, saying dadada or mamama over and over again, or various other baby-talk.

I don't know if she's more of a social baby or a homebody. She is definitely happier at home than anywhere else, but loves people! We go to rhyme time at the library on Mondays and Rose is always so excited to see all the other little babies, she smiles and claps and forgets about me, just trying to crawl on top of all the defenseless babies who can't yet move.

The one area that this almost perfect human is lacking in is her inability to sleep through a pin drop. Seriously, she was napping today and I tiptoed upstairs and I was as close to silent as anyone could be (on my way to have a shower while she napped), and of course she used her supersonic hearing to sense that Mom was upstairs and to alert herself that it was wake up time. Oh well, nobodies perfect Rose, we all have our downfalls ;) (I hope you know I'm joking. She's actually perfect. Hahaha.)

I am so grateful for my roly poly bundle of joy. Rose has brought so much love, purpose, joy, and wonder to my life. Thank you God for giving her to me. I always used to daydream about having a little daughter, and I am so grateful that Rose is mine.

9 months of Rosie Posie