Avery turned nine months yesterday. And, so as not to be left out, I pointed out that Ansley turned exactly eight years, two months and Christian turned exactly four years, ten months. It's rather fun to have a houseful of 15th kids.
But then Ansley said that Christian had more months than she did, and had to point out that she was EIGHT and Christian was only FOUR. So then Christian said he was almost FIVE and he would soon be older than Ansley. To which Ansley laughed. And Christian said RIGHT MOM?? And I so wanted him to be right, because I know personally the struggles of the poor younger sibling who is never right, but of course not, no, Christian will never be older than Ansley. Tears. Angst. Punching of pillows.
Christian is a sensitive boy, have I mentioned?
But where am I? This post is about Avery and how she upped and turned nine months on me. WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

Wow, thirty nine weeks. She's almost as old as how long I carried her. Whoa. I don't even know if that makes sense. But it's kinda hard to believe, if you followed it.
Isn't she the cutest? I think she looks downright adorable in her new leopard print pajamas. They are so soft and snuggly, perfect for a baby Greiner asleep in her little cooler, er, crib, every night. (Fact: We run our AC even in the winter. Now you know how strange we are; don't say you didn't know.) So my point is a baby needs these snuggly little pajamas.
On to the facts:
At nine months, you still have two teeth. You have had two colds, and two double ear infections. Double ear infections do not go well with you. You become an alien baby who wakes up too early and cries too much of the day. But once the antibiotics take hold, you are back to my normal human baby.
You sleep well at night, and we started putting a blanket in your bed (the quilt I made you). You seem to really love it, and most mornings we find you exactly as we put you down the night before. You don't move around much.We also removed your bumper pads and talked about lowering your crib, but we didn't.
MIRACULOUSLY, around the same time I started putting the quilt I made you (yes, the Magic Quilt) YOU STARTED NAPPING! I hesitate to even say that, because I don't want to jinx it, but it is the most glorious thing. You are taking a one and a half to two hour nap almost every afternoon, while I dance and sing the Hallelujah Chorus.
You have no interest in moving around. You aren't crawling or pulling up on anything. (This is fine with me.) You love to sit up and play with toys, and you can turn yourself around while sitting, and you even kick back your legs a few times like you are going to crawl, but you don't.
At your nine month check up yesterday, you weigh: 18 pounds, 15 ounces (75%) and are 28 inches long (90%).
You are starting to move away from baby food and onto more finger foods and soft foods. You love eating veggies this way, and fruits, of course. You eat meat, and you love grits. You are also enjoying Mama's homemade bread.
You clap your hands often, and are very proud of this fact. You have recently started saying "Uh oh!" which everyone finds off-the-charts adorable, and so we keep saying it over and over just to hear you imitate it. I'm not sure you associate it with actually dropping something because we just like to say it randomly to hear you say it.
You love to babble, most often Dadadadadada. You still haven't said Mamamamama, but my feelings aren't hurt, because as soon as I disappear from your sight, you start to wailing. You love your Mama! If I am holding you, all is right in your world, but if I set you down, watch out! Tears are coming.
You are very curious and busy, and love to find anything around you that you can play with. This is why I'm on a strict mission to keep the playroom free of little things. And you can stretch pretty far if you see a Lego you like or a teeny tiny Polly Pocket. You love to watch Ansley and Christian play as well, and find them quite fascinating.
When I get you up in the morning, you are all smiles and babbles at me, and then you immediately start looking past me for Ansley and Christian. It's cute.
Ansley still takes great pride in being your mini-Mama, and wants to hold you and feed you, rock you to sleep and comfort you. She often feeds you lunch while I am fixing everyone else's lunch.

It appears your eyes will stay blue, and your hair, for now, is white blonde. I am starting to see a few curls on the back, which makes me happy, but I don't know if they will stay.
You SEEM to be pretty laid back, happy and easy going. Time will tell if you stay that way. (I've heard rumors about third children.)
But for now, we sure are enjoying our sweet baby girl and enjoying these passing-all-too-quickly moments of your babyhood!