This is the story of a girl: October 2016

Today Aspen is 9 months old! I feel like today is so special! She's been living outside just as long as she lived inside and that is a wonderful, miraculous thing!

I wanted to tell the world a little bit about our stubborn, smart, strong, and silly little Aspen.

This past month she has been working on taking steps by herself. We have seen her take about 6 of them at a time on her own. There are a few things she really wants like our phones, or her favorite cardboard box and we use these to try to trick her into walking more. She is getting much better at it! It's fun to cheer her on and encourage her to try more often. In another week or maybe two I bet we will have a walking baby!

Her hair is getting much longer on top and the sides too! She has lost all the bald spots where she rubbed it all away. The hair that is growing in is much blonder than her original color but it still might have a red tinge to it. We'll see!

She is a pro at saying DADADADADA and an amateur at saying MAMAMA. I think she thinks that Caleb and I are both DADA because when he's at work she says it to me all the time.

I have been watching another baby twice a week and Aspen loves her, although sometimes her love is conveyed by squashing, patting viciously, and stealing her friends pacifier. They are moving in a few weeks and I am so sad to see her lose her first friend. I hope she makes friends as easily when she is older. They both like to take rides in the laundry basket and read books together. Aspen didn't seem to have any interest in books before her friend started coming over and now she often tries to look at them. My baby girl is only 9 months old and I am already thankful for the influence of good friends.

Aspens favorite toys are her dumb-bell rattle, her walker, her stacking cups, and a large box of Kirkland Signature Diapers. She sleeps with her penguin Wub-A-Nub pacifier and I often see her on the baby monitor patting it or grabbing it and it makes me happy that she has something to cuddle with while she sleeps. She desperately wants to eat all the paper in the house and play with all of the cords.

She seems to love shaking her hips while Mommy sings crazy songs to her, being held upside down, rocking on her horsey Nana Chelle bought her, bathtime, walking while holding her parents hands, giving high fives and lastly, singing and screaming ALL the time! She loves when I jump around and make funny faces at her.

Sleeping is getting better, but is still a sore spot. We've been doing cry-it-out at bedtime for about a month now. Sometimes she falls asleep within 5 minutes and other times we are not so lucky. It is hard hearing her so sad, but it has been nice to have time in the evening to decompress sans child and to have Caleb all to myself for a minute or two. We transitioned her into her crib about the same time we started cry-it-out and I am so proud of how grown up she is to be sleeping in her own room. Caleb and I both miss her all night cuddles in our bed, but it's also a HUGE relief to have our bedroom back to ourselves. She still ends up in our bed from time to time. I am able to appreciate her cuddles so much more now that they are sporadic instead of all night long, every night.

Around month 7 or so I had to stop breastfeeding so she is taking formula bottles and eating three solids a day. She still loves sweet potatoes but has now added pumpkin, and zucchini to her list of favorites. She hated apples at first, but now will eat them from time to time. Some fruits are okay, but she ultimately prefers vegetables or whatever mommy and daddy are eating. I am trying to teach her not to spit while she eats, but spitting is also one of her favorite things to do.

She wins over the hearts of everyone at Church and the grocery store. She smiles at people, waves, and sticks out her tongue. Her family members all love her and wish she was closer.

She is constantly on the move. It is pretty hard to get her to sit still anywhere which makes Church, eating out, and picture taking challenging. Her cuddles are great when you can get them, which is only when she's asleep. She gives kisses and they are the most slobbery kisses. I love them, slobber and all.

She tires me out, frustrates me, spits on me, scratches me, and makes me question every choice I've ever made but I love her and that cancels out everything else. I know she is a great gift sent to me from Heaven. I believe that she and I were great friends in the before life and I think we both agreed to come to this world and teach each other everything we ever needed to know.

This morning, as I do on each of her monthly birthdays, I tried my best to get great photos of her to commemorate how much she's grown and how cute she is. She wiggled, crawled, and tried to attack me but I did get a few good pics. Here is your reward for reading :)