Doctor Report

Sabine had her nine month check-up on Friday, and we're happy to report it went well. The doctor asked if she was crawling yet, just as Sabine stood up and walked past her (and went straight to the uncovered socket in the wall and licked it.) Yes, she's crawling. Also walking. Also testing boundaries.

Sabine had a growth spurt recently, she's now finally fitting comfortably into her 6-9 month clothing, and she measured in at 27.5 inches long, which is the 47th percentile. She only weighed in at 15 lbs 11 oz., which put her in the 5th percentile. Our doctor is not worried, but we got the o.k. to go ahead and start feeding her meat, cheese, and yogurt in addition to the fruits, veggies, and grains that we've already tried. Sabine's head circumference was 17.5 inches, which is the 64th percentile, so she's still quite top-heavy.

In other accomplishment-related news, Sabine started standing up on her own on Friday. By "on her own" I mean from a seated position, without holding on to anything to help her up. That was pretty impressive. There are advantages to being on the pip-squeak-y side.

She's also drinking water from a sippy cup now, both from a straw and through the little spout, as you can see in the photos above. She likes pasta and bread (mommy's little girl) and had a few bites of peach-flavored shaved ice, and hoo-boy! She acted like I've been holding out on her the last nine months of her life.

She's getting better at walking, including when she's wearing shoes; she's swaying to music more and more, including when daddy sings and whistles; and she's grown a few more hairs on the top of her head. Someday they may even show up in pictures!

In some other big news, I have decided to take some time off of work to stay at home with Sabine. It was a big decision, but we feel pretty confident it's the right one for our family right now. I am so very excited to get more time with her during the day, and more time with Dustin in the evenings. As a cherry on top, work has even offered me some freelancing opportunities, so I may be able to keep a finger in the pot, so to speak. I couldn't have asked for a better turnout.

Our Tiny Dancer

You'll have to take my word for it that music was playing. Apparently my phone isn't so good at picking up the sound.

Sabine's had a good week, she's walking a lot now; it's amazing to walk away for a minute and turn around just to see her wandering out after you. She tried (baby food) turkey the other night for the first time, and seemed ho-hum about it. But she went nuts for quinoa last night. The only thing more fun than eating it was throwing all those little grains on the floor.

Sabine is sleeping much better, too. About two weeks ago we tried a modified version of the cry-it-out method, and while it was really awful to hear her cry, her sleep habits did improve (and quickly) so we are ALL getting better sleep, which is important.

Tomorrow we have her nine month check-up with the pediatrician. I *think* this might be the one trip where she doesn't get shots. We can hope!

9 Months

Sabine is nine months old today. It is incredible how quickly the last several months have gone. But every day is just getting more and more fun.

On Friday Grandmom and Grandpa brought down a new toy, courtesy of their friends who are moving.

Sabine had a good time playing in her new frog pool even before we put water in it.



And once the water went in, we didn't take her out until she was prune-y.



This gift came just in time, it's been in the upper 90s for the past several days. (We're also very grateful we had an air conditioner installed two weeks ago. Phew!)

Vacation Pics Part II

Here are a few more highlights from our trip back east. I promise we will get back to our daily life after this set!

In Virigina:



Handing out Father's Day cards with her second cousin C:



Dancing with her second cousin H



Outside with Daddy:



Learning to climb from Sweet P:



Chewing on things in coordinated ice cream outfits is a good break from climbing:



And my very favorite from the whole trip. All four generations:

Walking Girl

Video proof, as requested, lest there be any doubt.



Sabine took a few tentative steps in Great-Grandmom's apartment in Delaware. But she didn't really start stringing them together until the evening of Wednesday, June 30, which put her at about 36 weeks old, or 8 and a half months. She's slowly been walking more and more since then.

We're super proud, even if all of these developmental leaps have led to a lot of sleepless nights. You go, girl.

Our Trip

Here we are, at the end of the plane flight from Denver to Baltimore. We survived, despite our car breaking down on the highway on the way to the airport, despite not getting any special accomodations for traveling with a child, and despite having only one small airplane aisle to run our active baby up and down.



Little did we know that was nothing compared to what the drive to Delaware would be.

Sabine met a ton of new people on this trip, including Great-Grandmom:



Who was kind enough to let Sabine gnaw on her paperwork.



Sabine also spent a weekend in Virginia with my dad's side of the family. Here she is with all of her girl second cousins.



Hanging with her first cousin, once removed, Christina:



Great Aunt Betsy:



And her very dear, new friend, P, who has the COOLEST toys:



Luckily for Sabine (and even luckily-er for her mom) we got to stay with P and her mom for almost a whole week. Here she is with P and her cousin A:



Sabine was thrilled to see some familiar faces in Virginia:



Hanging with Daddy in the rolling hills. It was beautiful countryside.



Mommy occasionally relinquished the camera.



And Sabine even got to try swimming for the first time. I might be a little paranoid about the sun. Check out the hat, full-body swimsuit, and super sunscreened skin.



For what little water actually managed to touch her body, she seemed to enjoy it. She just kind of tranced out as we floated around. Swim lessons may be in our future.



The whole trip went way too fast, and we had a lot of fun. We miss you all very much. Please come visit Colorado soon!

Happy Belated 4th of July!

From our American Sweetie. (So sayeth her shirt, anyway. We feel like Miss Independence or Miss Firecracker would be equally accurate.)

Next up: vacation pictures! Finally.

At the Park in Delaware Last Week

Sorry this is sideways again. I forgot to turn the camera.

Quick Hello

We had a great vacation, but we are also very happy to be home with our family and friends here, and getting back to our regular routine. Sabine and I are both a little sick now, too, so I'm glad we made it home when we did. We're busy catching up and trying to get better, so that's why posting has been light, but here's one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip:



This is Sabine with her new BFF (or, at least, the daughter of my BFF), whom she got to spend an entire week with. They held hands like this the whole way home from the restaurant that night. There was much giddy squealing and unintentional poking all week, and I think Sabine is very sad that Miss P isn't there to greet her every morning. I took this on my camera phone, which is why I can post it. I haven't been able to download the hundreds (literally, hundreds) of pictures off of my camera yet.

But Sabine has made some huge steps (quite literally, actually), she's babbling a lot more with a lot more consonants, she's starting to wave bye-bye (usually after the person has left), she bounces and flaps her arms to songs, she has learned to pivot while seated, she's drinking through a straw and gumming on large pieces of banana and avacado, she went swimming for the first time, and is taking a few hesitant steps/lunges towards mom and dad from a standing position. She's also forgotten how to sleep, which is kind of a pain, but at some point she has to remember, right?

...

right????