We are on the brink of being nine months old! I am so blessed to have gotten the opportunity to stay home this year and watch our precious daughter grow! It really does happen so fast! Ilya has been crawling around since Christmas break and we are so close to walking. She likes to pull herself up on everything and now instead of wanting us to hold on to both of her hands to walk her around she only wants us to hold on to one hand. She is finding her balance more and more every day. She started holding on to only one hand just this last Saturday (2/6/10). We were at a bridal shower and Colt and Meggan were there. Ilya saw Colt walking everywhere and wanted to join in. Ever since the shower she has wanted to walk more and more. I am so blessed to have two amazing nephews that live close by. Kyler just celebrated his third birthday and Colt will be two in April. The cousins are like stepping stones in years and they are so close already. Ilya watches everything they do and tries to imitate it later on. A couple of weeks ago we were around Colt and he was flipping his pacifier in his mouth. That night when I was trying to put Ilya to sleep she kept flipping her own pacifier in her mouth. It took forever to get her to sleep!

Speaking of sleep, Ilya has become an amazing sleeper. Ilya had been sleeping through the night at only a month and a half. In October she got sick and I was going in there at all hours of the night. Needless to say she became accustomed to me entering her room at night and decided to stop sleeping through the night. It was beginning to wear on me so we tried the whole "letting them cry it out". It worked for a while but she was still wanting to wake up at five in the morning. I read in a book that we were not putting her to bed early enough. We had been putting her down around 9:00p.m. The book said that I should be putting her down around 5:30p.m. and no later than 7:00p.m. So once again we changed our routine bedtime was going to be about 6:30. It worked! Now we begin the bed time routine (eat, bath, milk, book, bed) around 5:00p.m. and she is in bed no later than 6:00p.m. Tonight she was fast asleep at 5:45p.m. Ilya wakes up at 7:00a.m. every morning. I am impressed!

We found out that Ilya had reflux in January. The Dr. gave her an antibiotic that she takes twice a day. It has made all the difference in the world. She has been so much more happier!

I am still breast feeding and am trying to hold out for a year. I do give Ilya one bottle a day for lunch. She is so funny about taking it. I used to cuddle her close as she took it but now she wants to sit up and take her bottle and just the other day she decided that she wants to stand and take her bottle! But she still wants me to hold it rather than her hold it herself. It is her way of showing me that she is a big girl now and not my precious tiny baby. She is growing up!

She has also started to throw things out of her crib if I don't enter the room fast enough. Usually it is just her pacifier but the other day I came in the room and she had thrown her pacifier, stuffed animal and taken off her pants and thrown them over the crib! I wish I had a hidden video camera in her room. Can you say temper tantrum?!

I love everything about being a mom. Ilya brings so much joy in my life and I thank God every day for her. I am truly blessed!