9 months old

Well, actually she's almost 10 months old, but oh well! I can't believe Hope has only 2 months until she is 1!!!! It's going SOOO fast!!!! I guess I need to start planning a birthday party sometime soon. On one hand I am so sad that she's not really a baby anymore, but on the other hand I am happy that she is able to do more and more things for herself.

She is finally mobile, crawling around everywhere, wreaking havoc of course everywhere she goes. We have broken flower pots, handprints on the TV stand (and lots of mouth prints too), cat fur everywhere (she loves to pull out the poor cat's fur), and the list goes on. She's got lots of bumps and bruises to show for it too. She has been learning so much lately. She started playing pat-a-cake a few weeks back and has since been totally obsessed with it. She will wake up in the middle of the night just to clap. She has also been pulling up to her knees just in the past week-not standing yet, but I know that will come soon.

Hope has also learned SO many words just in the past month. It's crazy how much she understands! I have taught her where my nose, mouth and belly button are (she actually "found" my belly button on accident while she was nursing and has since been completely obsessed with it, so it was an easy word to teach her). She also knows kitty, mama, dada, ball, book (she LOVES books and even tries to steal ours when we're reading to "read" them herself), sippy, bear, duck, and light. She also knows "no", but pretends like she doesn't. ;) She plays pat-a-cake on command, but only in front of her mommy and daddy. If we try to get her to do it for anyone else, she looks at us like we are crazy.

Hope is going through a bit of stranger anxiety right now, which is weird because she has been in the nursery every Sunday and Wednesday since 8 weeks old. She especially does not like people with big hats and low, scratchy voices. She cries like she's being tortured. We also found out (by pure fluke) that she is absolutely terrified of toilet paper rolls!!! I sat her down in the bathroom one day while I was getting ready and gave her an empty toilet paper roll to play with (we actually do have real toys, I promise, but she shows no interest in them at the moment-she wants things that she's not allowed to play with, like electrical cords). Anyway, when I gave her the toilet paper roll, she jumped back like she'd been stung and started FREAKING OUT, crying uncontrollably!!! It is the craziest thing I have ever seen! It doesn't matter if it has toilet paper on it or not, if it's a toilet paper roll, she is NOT going near it!! Looks like our little Hope-Hope has acquired a bit of Mommy's anxiety. ;) Haha!!

Hope popped her second tooth last week, so we officially have two teeth now. Poor baby is in such pain, so we are giving her tylenol at least once day. She really needs something to quell the drooling too, but I don't think they make anything for that problem. ;) She also has an upper respiratory infection right now and is on antibiotics. Her nose is dripping and her cough sounds like a barking dog. Poor sweety. Hopefully she will be better soon. I guess that's all I have to report. I will post pictures soon. Hope everyone is doing well!!