Hallie's bath pictures: 9 months

I'd say that Hallie has grown up a lot in the last month, and that's true, but really she's made remarkable advances just in the past week. A week ago Hallie first discovered how to froggy crawl, then just a few days later, she began crawling on hands and knees. Now she cannot be contained. This morning I put her down on the floor in the middle of her room, surrounded by toys, and went downstairs to make her bottle. No kidding, when I went back upstairs a minute later, she had crawled out of her room, down the hall and into our bedroom to join Will in watching Spongebob. Yikes.

I'm afraid this might be the last set of bath pictures with this beautiful gummy smile. We're pretty sure Hallie is teething - she has turned on the snot and slobber faucets and has been having a bit of trouble sleeping, which are pretty good indicators of the incoming chompers. Will got his first tooth at 10 months, so the timing is about right.

Also she chews on everything she can get her hands on - another good indicator of imminent teeth, although she's been a taster/chewer her entire life. This characteristic, combined with her newly developed mobility, is requiring Erin and I to be much more attentive of her activities. I probably fish something gross out of her mouth at least once a day. In particular, she really likes to bite off pieces of paper and chew on them - which made opening presents during the holiday season very fun for her. Since we've had a round of sickness at our house, there are lots of nose tissues around that Hallie likes to track down and put in the yap. Coming soon: this.

Hallie's first Christmas season was really great - as a parent, I don't think it gets any better than having a three-year-old and a sweet 9-monther (my personal favorite age) at this time of year. It was especially memorable because we had more than a month of Christmases, starting with a trip to Madison, then a visit from Grandpa Mike and Grandma Susie, and a week at the Lodge. Also, for me the Holiday season isn't over until after college football bowls are done, and our Hawkeyes delivered a glorious victory in the Orange Bowl that we thoroughly enjoyed together. I haven't gotten around to posting the rest of the pictures and stories from Christmas week at the Lodge (sorry, coming soon!!!), but when I do, you'll see a couple more classics (spoiler: cupcake hats and singing at church). Oh, I guess I did post at least some of the pictures...

As she gets older and more of a person, Hallie also is having more and more fun with her big bro, and Will is having a great time with her as well. She smiles at him the same way she smiles at me - like she is in the picture above - as if she's saying, "oh boy, this guy is fun and I am really excited about what he might do next that will make me happy". You should see the two of them at mealtime - impossible to get either of them to stop smiling and laughing at each other and to focus on eating.

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