eleven months

This has been a huge milestone month for us!  In the past month, Gwen has gotten really good at pulling herself up, all she needs now is a wall or a person's leg.  She's crawling/cruising and following me all over the house.  We still haven't baby proofed nearly as much as we should, so I keep a close eye on her.  There's no more running down to grab the laundry while she's happily playing with her toys in one spot on the living room rug.
She took her first steps(!)
She can say 3 words - more details coming in a future post.
She plays peekaboo with us, covering her eyes with clothes or hiding behind furniture as I say, with concern in my voice: "where's Gwen, where'd Gwen go?!" and then peeks out with a huge grin ("there she is!!").  She could play this game for hours.
She gives kisses!  At first, she would only kiss her Winnie the Pooh bear.  I started bringing his nose to her mouth saying "kisses" and after a while she would just pucker her lips and keep still while I tapped his nose to her mouth and made a kissing sound.  Now, every once in a while, she'll give kisses to Justin and me.  It's the sweetest thing ever!  Here's a cute little story:
Justin had meetings that went past Gwen's bedtime 2 nights in a row, so he went 3 days without seeing her.  On the third day, I was getting dinner ready and Gwen was playing on the floor in the living room.  We weren't expecting him for another 20-30 minutes when he quietly walked in the door.  I looked over and saw Gwen look up to him, start shrieking, and flapping her arms before she crawled over to him.  As soon as he picked her up, she planted one right on his face.  It was seriously the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

ten months

Oh, how these months are flying by.

Looking back, I had a good 4 months where Gwen was sitting by herself but not mobile.  I know moms who would kill for that.  Not gonna lie, it was pretty nice.  Well she's crawling now (much to Jackson's dismay), and not even just the army crawl - if she's on a rug and has good traction, she'll actually crawl on her knees :)  Lucky for us, she's still very "cerebral" as my dad has put it, and seems to always think about her next move.  Therefore, she's not on a tornado path throughout the house...yet.  I'm really enjoying watching her develop a personality these days.  During her playdates, she's one of the more quiet babies...maybe quiet isn't the right word...I mean, she can be LOUD when you get her started.  But she watches the other babies and usually she'll find a toy that she likes and flip on her back to examine it over her head while grabbing onto it with her feet.  She'll find a baby she likes and reach out and poke the occasional eye.  Lately,  as all of the babies have been getting older, there are some fast movers and some "bulldozers" that we need to watch out for.  They'll find a toy that they like (read: any toy that any other baby is playing with) and create a path of bulldozed babies along their way to get it.  It's not just moms chatting and snacking while the babies sleep in their carriers anymore (hah, man that was good while it lasted).
I know, I know...no pic.  Our external hard drive crashed again and I'm waiting to get all of my pics back!

Crawling....sort of :)

Well she's finally mobile!!  It's less of a crawl, and more of a slither - or maybe an army crawl.  But she can get from point a to b and we're so proud of her :)

nine months

How is this possible? My daughter is 9 months old! I could've made a whole other baby by now!! :)

At her 9 month appointment, Gwen had to have her blood drawn for the first time - I was all stressed out because I've heard how bad it can be.  Justin was able to come to the appointment which I was happy about because I definitely needed some support.  So the pediatrician had Gwen sit on my lap while she looked for a vein and [of course] said that she has "hard to find" veins - she went back and forth looking on each arm a couple of times before she finally found a good one.  The Dr had me hold her arms down while she drew the blood and, to be honest, I think being restrained was worse for her than the actual needle.  The whole thing was over in a few seconds and my little trooper calmed down in no time.

Some 9 month stats:
Height - 29 inches, 94th % (seriously?)
Weight - 18lbs 3oz, 50th %

Monthly Updates:
I've already mentioned that she's pulling up and cruising (walking while holding on) around her activity table.
Although she's not crawling, she's starting to be able to get where she wants to go by bringing her knees under her hips and pushing herself forward with her feet - now she just needs to lift that belly off the ground :)
She DANCES! Whenever she hears music, she rocks her body back and forth. It's seriously the cutest thing ever.  I have a video that kind of shows it but the song was too short for her to really get into it. I'll try and get a better one.
She is now obsessed with finger foods (cheese is by far her favorite).  To the point where she's giving me a tough time with the purees that I normally give her - she purses her lips together and blows raspberries.  So I'm thinking about starting to mostly give her what I eat.  The pediatrician told me the only foods that are off limits are shellfish, nuts, and honey.  Bring on the messy meals - good thing Jackson does a good job with the cleanup ;)