Ooops, sorry about getting behind in my posting! Time has been flying!

Okay, since I posted last, the following things have taken place:

Joy and I went to visit family in Arkansas (and Joy handled both flights without a fuss!) It was an amazing trip. Dixie and Eldon got to spend a lot of Joy and I even got to have a little time by myself! Joy got to spend time with lots of cool family, and hang out. She had a great time, and I think we both got a little spoiled!

I wish I had some pictures of our trip, but I do know that Dixie has some, and I will post them on this blog once I get them from her. We had some great times!! Dixie got to see Joy crawling down her hallway for a long time (which she had been dreaming of seeing), and Joy pull herself up onto furniture. We all went swimming together at the pool, and once Dixie and I had a little adventure where we just drove around while we let Joy sleep instead of driving straight home and waking her up. Joy took a few naps in Grandma’s arms which was really sweet, and I feel like she really loved having all the attention of Grandma and Grandpa. Joy got a whole lot of really cute new clothes, and also Dixie got to feed Joy for the first (and second, and third…) time! Food was really a big part of the fun we had on the trip, but certainly not the whole of our great adventure!

Joy tried the following foods:
mashed potatoes
apple/blueberry Gerbers
spaghetti noodles
apple-vanilla Gerbers
lemon slices
teething biscuits
refried beans
guacamole
black bean soup
orange slices
cucumber

Joy has gotten better and better at crawling (and now is starting to do the super-fast cross-crawling)

Joy is frequently pulling herself up to standing, and cruising around furniture!

Joy has stood independently a few times!!! (to do so, she pulled herself up using furniture. Then, she let go with one hand, and another. At this point, she wobbles for a little bit, then goes Plunk!)

Woo-hoo! I’m going to get back on track again with posting! I’ll post pictures soon, too!

Joy has been a really fussy baby yesterday and today (although, at this moment, she is being very calm, so I’m hoping that’ll stay!) I think it’s a combination of the vaccine she got Friday (the site is very swollen, too), and some tummy troubles. For the tummy troubles, Joy’s aunt Dena recommended a mixture of half apple juice and half water. Normally, I’m avoiding juice because it’s so sugary, and I want Joy’s weight to even out, but I think it’ll be worth it to help her feel better.

Joy went to see Dr. Minkus today. It went well. He said Joy is, “awesome in every way.” He thinks Joy is doing great and is really healthy. He listened to her lungs, and said they sound good so whatever problem she had been having seems to really be gone. He is happy with her developments, and is amazed at how happy of a baby she is (although she did pull on his stethoscope when he was listening to her lungs, which I think hurt his ears a bit!) As far as the discussion of Joy being someday acknowledged as a reincarnated Buddhist Master, he said times are changing, and maybe they’d acknowledge a girl nowadays. Ha!

Joy is 32 lbs., 10 oz. He is still not worried about her weight, especially because she eats healthy stuff (her diet is mostly breastmilk, plus a few pureed fruits and veggies). I forgot to ask him how long he thought it would take for her to lose the weight, but I called back after the appointment, and his nurse told me that most chunky babies lose the extra weight by 18 months. She said walking burns a lot more calories than crawling, so it might be just a little while. She agreed that there’s no reason for concern because I am feeding her healthy food (no sweets or sugar or juice or anything), and she said she was certain Joy would slim down with more activity.

He didn’t have a lot of advice about the dry, red skin on her forearms, but he did say I might try olive oil or vaseline.

He said that Joy is a terrific baby, and also that I’m a really great mom and Joy is lucky to have such a great mom. Yay!

Joy got one vaccine today, which did not make her cry!!! She was very patient and calm about it. However, they did draw blood (which is standard procedure at 9 months, to check iron level), and she did cry pretty hard about that! : (

So, great appointment today, I’m really glad to hear Dr. Minkus thinks Joy is doing well! Woo-hoo!

It’s been a full day today!!!

First off, Joy started cruising today! First she did it off of the mattress, then later she did it off the couch. It was very exciting! She pulled herself up into a standing position off of the couch, then she cruised the whole length of it! Yay, Joy!

(I’m hoping in the next few days to get some video of Joy cruising, so you can see her do it. I’ll try to also get some video of her crawling and also her special way of getting off the bed).

We had our swimming class this evening. I’m not a fan of the evening time slot, nor the teachers of this class. I liked the teacher we had before, she was really fun and kept things going. Her class was game, game, game with no spaces in between. Tonight’s class had a ton of students, two teachers, and large portions of the class were spent with everyone hanging around looking confused. I’m glad I had the last teacher first, because she explained things really well. So, even though these teachers aren’t so good, I feel like Joy can still benefit from the time we spend in the water, because I kind of know what to do with her.

After swimming class, Joy had more of a meltdown than even her normal post-swimming meltdowns, I think because of the later time. That was rough. And, she did play naked escape baby again! I tried to deter her from getting out, but she was fast and determined. At least this time, I got myself dressed faster, so I could go rescue her both times she got out. She did give people a few chuckles, though!

This evening, after we got back home, I sat down at the couch to eat my supper. Joy sat near my feet and played. I had some music on, and I was tapping my foot to the beat (an old habit from playing Saxophone in High School). Joy kept on grabbing my foot and then letting go again. Then, after a bit, she grabbed my foot, lifted it up to about her shoulder level, and started shaking it to the beat herself! It was HI-larious! After about 30 seconds, she got bored and moved onto something else, but I was delighted at her little game! What a silly little squirrel!

Today Joy turns nine-months old! Woohoo! Happy Birthday Joy!

I realized today (not for the first time), how much of an angel she is. Now, granted, she is still a baby. She fusses and so on. She has bad days, just like everyone. But her temperament really is so sweet and happy and kind, overall.

One small example–when her teeth hurt, and she’s chewing on her teething toys, she frequently offers me a bite. It’s very cute. She actually tries to put the teething toys in my mouth! Today, I could have misread what happened here, but it seemed like she offered a toy to Frida when Frida was fussing. Joy looked at her, and sort of tossed the toy her way. Even if it wasn’t what it seemed, it was really cute.

Sometimes, I idly wonder if Joy might be the reincarnation of some great Buddhist master or Lama. I don’t know much about these things, or how they work. I do know that these Lamas need to be boys, so I guess she’s out in that regard. That’s probably okay. It seems like a severe lifestyle, and a lot to impose on a little kid. Maybe she is an enlightened being, and maybe she’s really just meant to live out that state without formal recognition. Sounds more fun, perhaps? Or maybe, I’m full of hogwash. Either way, I do think about it from time to time. I feel very fortunate to have such an amiable, friendly, happy baby!

Today, in music class, Joy played a couple of instruments correctly and on purpose! So exciting!

First, we were hitting these little resonator bells with mallets. Joy and I each had a couple of mallets. At first, she just ate them (like normal), but then she started hitting the bell with the correct end of her stick! Yay! It was very exciting.

Also, she shook little egg rattles to the correct beat in a song we were singing. Woohoo!

The music classes have definitely been having an effect! I’m so glad my little girl is starting off life immersed in music!

Isn’t it amazing how much of her face gets covered by food? I suppose, to make my life simpler, I could keep the actual food itself and the spoon away from her, but what fun would that be? She’s much too independent to allow that! Since the beginning, she has wanted to do it for herself! Of course, I actually do feed her myself, but in between bites she plays with the food and a spoon (I actually use the 2-spoon method, one for her, one for me). I wish I would have known, however, how tough it is to wash pureed prunes off of skin!! Uffda.

Joy had a full day of criminal activity! (just kidding!)

She saw me put my phone in my pocket, and she took it back out to play with it (an impressive display of object permanence).

Also, we went to open swim at the YMCA today. Afterwords, we were in the changing room and I got us both out of our wet suits. Right as I just finished getting mine off, she made a beeline for the changing room door. I didn’t worry, because I thought it was too low for her to get under. Until now, she hasn’t figured out she needs to duck to get under low clearance stuff. Well, today she did figure it out! In just a couple of seconds she had ducked under the door, and was out. Because I was stark naked, I couldn’t just open the door to get her. She sat down right on the other side of the door (also naked), so I could at least see her. I hurried up and got dressed, then pulled her back inside. Ooops! Won’t let that happen again(probably)!

Tooth #8 has finally broken through! Joy was fussy all day yesterday, and is already fussy this morning, because the gum is so tender. But, she did it! 8 teeth in just over 2 months!!! It’s been a crazy 2 months!

I am guessing the tenderness may last a few more days, but then I think she gets a break from teething for a while! Yay!