Lois is Nine Months Old!

It's so hard for me to believe that our little butter bean is getting so old. I feel like her first birthday is just around the corner. Right now, my strongest hope is that we will be celebrating Lois's first birthday in her own home, rather than in the basement. Honestly people, 2161B meets all of our needs and we are perfectly content there. But more and more I'm just wistful for a place to call home that's all my own. We're constantly scouring web pages and real estate services, but so far - no houses that scream HOME! to us. I hope it isn't unrealistic to think we can make a move by mid October. Fingers crossed.

You'll see from these pictures that my girl figured out the whole sitting up thing. In fact, since we've moved to Richmond, her development has really seemed to take off. She's sitting up, she's pushing up with straight arms when on her belly, she is reaching and grabbing, she's banging toys together, she's full of smiles for the people she knows and loves, and she continues to cling to a routine which is a blessing to her parents. I'm having a hard time coming up with something to perseverate on?! I think I'll switch my focus to her lack of consonants.


Yes, my baby girl is a talker. But all we hear is lots and lots of vowel sounds. Typical for infants. But pretty soon, we should start hearing some consonants. A mamama or a babababa. Believe me, she hears these sounds ALL the time. Our friend and speech therapist in Christiansburg told me months ago that we should make consonant sounds at Lois. We take assignments like that seriously. So we do it. A lot. Incessantly. Because she freakin loves it. It makes her giggle and smile. Which just causes us to do it even more.


Lois particularly enjoys watching Maggie make these sounds. And Maggie particularly enjoys making a fafafafa sound. It drives us all CRAZY - but believe me, that doesn't deter Maggie. The Ya-Ya recently spent a weekend with Lois and Maggie together while Jay and I went on an overnight trip with Regina Marie. I wasn't surprised at all to come home and hear that if Maggie made the fafa sound again, Ya-Ya was threatening to choke her. I wouldn't be surprised if the first consonant we did hear from Lois was fafa.


Since baby M's surgery and her amazing and speedy recovering, I've been thinking a lot about Lois's days in the NICU and her G-tube surgery. Those were some sucky days, people. I vividly remember at the time reminding myself that someday, those long days and weeks would seem like just a blip on the radar. And it's true. We've put those days behind us and reveled in these past 7 months with the bean. In fact, when I see a picture of Lois from the NICU days, my first reaction is always - Ew. She was funny looking. Of course, at the time, I thought she was the most beautiful thing on the planet. It must have been the hormones. Just for fun, let's see the comparison of a primate looking week old Lois to a nine month old Lois.










You see what I mean? So to all of you who responded to those emails full of pictures of my monchichi looking preemie and said, "She's so beautiful!" - thank you. It was exactly what I needed to hear. But you're a bunch of liars.

Happy Birthday, Bean. We love you!