This month baby is photographed on Cottagely Posy Boho available at Crosscut Sewing Co. 

Her summer has been sweet:  swinging under the oak tree, watching the kitties play, discovering toys and movements of all kinds, attaching to her different people and settling into her little personality.  Elora is a happy, easy-going baby.  I think she shares her father's phlegmatic personality.  She is most always content, loves to eat and sleeps rather well.  She's so comfortable in her own skin that she prefers to creep into the grass rather than stay on the picnic blanket.  She has yet to reject a food outright, though she almost always makes a surprised face when we switch flavors. 

She is my little Irish baby, I sometimes say.  Pale Irish skin, from Brandon's side of the family, and coppery brown-blond-red hair that looks nothing like mine.  She will be so different than my other children, I can feel it. 

Memory Box {Nine Months}

Milestones:  This weekend she pulled up to stand for the very first time!  Brandon caught the special moment, which makes me happy.  Working away from home, he misses out on so many firsts. 

Rora also has 6 teeth now, double her count last month.  The first crop really hadn't grown in all the way before more arrived!

Proper crawling?  Still a no go.  In fact, she gets around so fast now on her belly with a scooting, lunging tactic that I don't think she's going to bother learning to crawl.  She still doesn't get herself to sitting yet either.  In fact she avoids sitting, because she hasn't learned to use her arms to break a fall.  She prefers to scoot, scoot, scoot! 

Biggest Challenge:  Can I say that my "biggest challenge" with her this month has been her hair?  Haha!  It's a different texture than my babies have had before.  In fact, it's Brandon's hair and I don't know what to do with it!  It's always, always sticking up.  It's very fly-away.  Brushing does nothing for it!  It won't hold any of the clips I've tried (including velcro) for more than a few minutes and there's not enough of it to put in an elastic.  Sure, most of the time its "electric socket" style is amusing, but sometimes...

Seriously, this doesn't count as a challenge.  We've had a very good month.

Biggest Surprise:  One evening I sat with Rora on the kitchen floor while Brandon made dinner.  I was snacking on a peach when she scooted up to me with big eyes.  I offered her the fruit and she bit right into it!  I think it was the first time she used her teeth, and it surprised both of us.  Naturally, she was hooked.  She kept getting up on all fours to make lunging bites at the peach until it was all gone.  Such a blessing to share the enjoyment of that summer flavor with her!

With Aria and Liam I made half-hearted efforts at homemade baby food.  I think the first thing I pureed for Aria was papaya (why?), which wasn't a hit.  I never felt guilty about buying baby food, but I also liked the idea of trying to make my own again.  Well, we have had such success this time!  In fact, I haven't bought a single jar or pouch of baby food, and she's nine months old!  Now that we've gotten this far, I don't think I will buy any.  My secrets:  this inspiring recipe book, these glass storage jars (2 oz and 4 oz) and two older kids who can chop, steam and blend on demand.  But I think the biggest key for me is those jars.  It's so silly, but having nice little jars to portion the food in makes it a pleasure.  They stack securely in the fridge or freezer and seem to always, always be in use, even for storing tiny leftover portions from blending the night's casserole. 

Special Memory:  Would you like to see Rora's latest habit?  It's her happy head shake.  It means life is good and she's ready to go!  Notice how she kicks her legs and slaps the floor too.  It's a full body experience...

Ok, I think we've indulged in enough baby-ogling.  Thanks for sharing the fun of enjoying her with me!  It's like she has so many auntees and uncles round the world.  What a lucky little baby!