Nine Months!

Wow! Aliyah has grown up a lot in the past couple weeks! She is now 18 and a 1/2 pounds and 27 and a 1/4 inches long! She is definitely on the move and getting into everything! She is a super fast crawler and can pull herself up on anything! She is starting to let go of the things she is holding on to and standing on her own for a few seconds. She walks along furniture, along the wall, holding on to mom's legs, holding our hands; let's just say she doesn't like to sit on the floor much anymore. She has learned to open the cabinets, but lucky for me has not started pulling stuff out yet. It's time to start baby-proofing for real this time. She is getting more adventurous and will crawl into other rooms to play (get into things) without having anyone with her. She has learned to climb, which helps her reach things she's not supposed to. Her mobility has been a little bit challenging for mom, but she is loving it!(Climbing on a box so she could pull stuff off the table and discovering that the cabinets open for the first time.)

(Pulling herself up.)

(Walking along the walls in the kitchen.)

Another new development, Aliyah is no longer toothless! She had two teeth pop through on March 19th. They didn't seem to bother her at all at first, but a couple days later she got kind of fussy and we were grateful for baby orajel. The pain seemed to subside after just two days, and now we are good to go! The funny part is, she didn't get her two front teeth, she got the ones next to them. They're like little bottom fangs!(It's hard to take pictures of teeth.)

Along with turning nine months old, came sleeping through the night! For the past two weeks, Aliyah has gone to bed around 7 o'clock and doesn't wake up until anywhere between 4:30 and 6:30, and then after being fed, normally goes back to sleep until 7:30. I love it! Yay Aliyah!
One new thing that is not so fun is tantrums. Little temper tantrums have become a fairly common occurrence at our house. Anytime she doesn't get what she wants, like to be picked up, or if we take something away that she's not supposed to have, she lets out a crazy scream and the tears start flowing. If she just wants to be picked up, I often give in. I really don't like the crying. I know that I need to be more consistent about not responding to the tantrums so that she doesn't think she can get whatever she wants by crying, but it's kind of hard for me. Don't get me wrong, she's still a happy baby, but the tantrums do exist.(I found her playing in a jar of vaseline that she figured out how to open. At least that's not snot all over her face. She was not very happy when I took it away and cleaned her up!)

(playing with daddy's basketball)

On another note, a small update on what's going on with me and Steve. This month I turned 26. I really can't believe it. It doesn't seem like college and even high school are that far in my past, but then I think about everything I've done in the past eight years and realize it's true. The week of my birthday was Steve's spring beak, so we were able to go down to my parents' for a few days to celebrate with them (and watch lots of basketball!) (Sharing Teddy's bone, trying to help those teeth pop through!)

The big news in all of our lives is that we our going to Guatemala this summer! Steve applied to a law program down there and was accepted. We will be spending a month in Antigua, where Steve will take classes learning about international law. Then, we may spend another month in Solola, where Steve has found an internship, we'll know for sure by the end of this week. We're excited, it should be a fun adventure! We've also enjoyed beautiful weather this past week! Aliyah and I got to go on nice long walks, play at the park, and even went jogging one day! We can't wait until the sun is here to stay! I have been loving spending time with my girlfriends, we have dessert nights, playgroup, do crafts, and just hang out. And Steve has found some guys to play basketball with again. Life is good for the Brown family!

Happy Valentines Day...

So I'm realizing that I'm always about a month behind, but oh well, someday I'll be more on top of things. (Likely story, huh?)
Valentines Day is not even that big of a deal in our house, but I couldn't resist posting these adorable pics of Aliyah. Other than Aliyah's cute outfit and the beautiful orchids Steve brought home for me, it was a pretty ordinary day.



Right after Valentine's Day, Aliyah turned 8 months old. Along with this came two new discoveries, scooting and sitting up on her own! She had been scooting for awhile already, but only backwards and with little control. At about this time, she discovered forward motion and started getting up on her hands and knees and rocking, as well as crawling backwards. On Valentine's Day, she went from laying down to sitting up on her own for the first time. The next day, she figured out how she did it! We are all very happy that mommy and daddy don't have to sit her up anymore. In the past three weeks she has mastered the art of crawling and likes to play with anything that is not a toy. She has also learned to pull herself up to stand using pretty much anything, including the flat wall. She loves to get up and down and up and down and is starting to walk along the furniture. She also likes to blow raspberries. She's not very good at it, but she purses her little lips and tries so hard. She thinks it's pretty funny, but I think we think it's even funnier. I love all the new things she is learning, but I've had too recognize that keeping my eye on her and playing with her is more important than the other things I'm trying to do around the house. Life may have been easier when she couldn't go anywhere without my help, but I think this is more fun :)