9 Months Old

Where is the time going??  Mari is 9 months old.  So hard to believe it's almost been a year.  This has been such a fun month for us.

• We've really noticed Mari starting to learn things this month.  Suddenly within the last couple of weeks, Mari is waving (sometimes...when she feels like doing it for us, haha!), imitating us when we shake our head "no", playing "inai-inai-bah" (Japanese peek-a-boo) by holding her blanket up to her face, holding things up to my face so that I can bite it (and doing it over and over again :)), and holding our hands to clap them (but she won't clap her own hands!).  She is so much more interactive now!  It's so fun!
• No real crawling yet, but she's getting super close!  She'll do a little moving and inch herself from one place to another, but doesn't do a real "crawl" yet.  I bet it'll be soon though!
• Still no teeth! 
• Still no hair! Haha!
• Mari wears 18 month clothes now.  I just packed up the 12 month clothing yesterday.
• Mari can roll from back to belly, then get into a seated position. 
• We've seen her pull herself up to standing, but only with a little help.
• Mari loves to look at herself in the mirror and ride in the cart at the grocery store.

This month we think Mari had roseola.  She had a fever for three days straight.  At first we thought it was an ear infection or something but then she got a rash afterwards.  After talking to some friends and looking online, we are pretty sure it was roseola.  That wasn't fun.  Tomorrow is Mari's 9 month checkup so we'll get more about Mari's developments then!

On another note, in the last month we put our house up for sale with a realtor.  We've had about 6 showings thus far and so far nothing promising.  The only feedback we've really gotten are things we can't do anything about (we don't want a bilevel, the house was too small, etc.)  We are hoping we sell soon!

Here are some pictures from the 9 month photo shoot.  I wanted to take her outside for the 9 month pictures but it was too cold today!  It'll have to wait for the 10 month pictures.  I will be on summer vacation by then so maybe we will go to a park or something!  Speaking of summer break... I can't wait!  Mari is so fun and I look forward to doing things with her every day!

Okay, the pictures!  I thought they turned out pretty good... they showcase the MANY sides of her personality! ;-)

P.S.  I almost forgot to mention!  Bobby bought this dress for Mari!