The Zorio Family: Nora Kate is 9 Months

It's so weird to me to think that we now have a 9 month old, a 2 year old, and a 5 year old!!! Where has the time gone?!
Nora Kate reached the 9 month mark on Wednesday! The big deal for our baby girl from this past month has been her smile! :) She now has two pearly whites in there to smile at us with! Granted one is just barely through the gums, we still count both of them! :) We absolutely could not believe that one of our children got teeth this "early" since Dawson and Carter were both late teethers, but sure enough-there they are! We love to watch her chew on things when she's eating-she's very dramatic about it! :) Speaking of her eating, she is quiet the little eater! She LOVES almost all of her baby food I have been making for her. The only negative reactions we have had is that the first two times she had blueberries, she LOVED them...but ever since then she shudders and makes HORRIBLE faces when we offer them! That's fine because that will just leave more blueberries for me and Carter-the only blueberry eaters in our house! The other food that has not gone over so well: broccoli! It's not that she doesn't like it, she does! But every time she's eaten it she's thrown up! I'm not talking about just spit up either! So, obviously, we are not giving her more broccoli for a while! I will try to list everything she's eaten: Cheerios, puffs (various flavors), yogurt melts (not a huge fan, like the boys were-in fact, she gags!-I agree though! They're not too good!), crackers, graham crackers, pancake, biscuit, bagel, oatmeal (unlike her brothers, she was none too happy to graduate to adult oatmeal-and much prefers the baby oatmeal), baby oatmeal, rice cereal, apples, blueberries, beef, chicken, turkey, cantaloupe, spaghetti squash, yellow squash, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, pears, zucchini, acorn squash, sweet potato, white potatoes, bananas, green beans, peas, meat loaf, blueberry muffin, avocado, biter biscuits, rolls, and I'm sure there are several more I am forgetting! She now eats "food" for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then has a little oatmeal in her highchair about 30 minutes before bedtime. In between all of that I also still nurse her 6/7 times.
Nora Kate has really been struggling to sleep well at night over this past month-it's been worse than usual, but I think in this last week we seemed to be improving with only getting up 2 or 3 times a night. The interesting thing is that I used to always blame the reason that the boys woke up at night so much around this age was because they learned they could move and roll around their cribs so much they'd wake themselves up doing it, but Nora Kate really doesn't move much at all in her crib at night! She literally NEVER has rolled over in her crib at night (although she does roll over during the day time), really the only moving she does is just to push herself up to one end of the crib! I can't even blame all the moving for why she wakes up! :)
So I mentioned that Nora Kate got teeth WAAAY before her big brothers, but now that she's reached the 9 month mark and isn't quiet crawling-her brothers definitely beat her to that milestone! You win some, you loose some, Nora Kate! In all honesty, I would be perfectly happy if she would wait until AFTER our upcoming beach vacation to start crawling! Nora Kate has mastered the art of "booty scooting" though! She can sit upright on her bottom and scoot around especially in attempt to get to her big brothers toys! And just over the past week and a half she has started doing the "rock" which seems to come right before crawling! Nora Kate LOVES to rock and booty scoot to try to get to things!
Speaking of what Nora Kate loves....it seems that nothing can make her face light up like Dawson, Carter, and John! She LOVES to talk about her "dada" on and on and on! And when one of the guys in her life (brothers or Daddy) look at her-she's all smiles! In general, Nora Kate is all smiles...She's a very happy and chatty girl at this wonderfully sweet stage! I love this age she's at now, and I wish we could just freeze her right here forever! I feel like I'm living in the best of all worlds right now because I'm really enjoying the ages/stages that all three kids are in!
Nora Kate has gotten really into books this month! She loves to sit beside you or on your lap cuddled up and look at books and be read to! Another love of Nora Kate at 9 months is being outside! Being the younger sister to two brothers, Nora Kate spends A LOT of time outside....probably more than most 9 month olds! We are outside HOURS everyday! When Dawson was little some friends gave us a huge black quilt and we have used it many times for picnics, etc. It's perfect because, being black, you don't necessarily have to worry about stains. When we go outside we spread this huge quilt under one of our shade trees and Nora Kate and I sit, play, and read board books while watching birds, leaves blowing on the trees, and most importantly her big brothers running, riding, and playing! She's so funny when she sees them coming she gets excited and starts smiling and doing her "busy" hands and feet!
What are "busy" hands and feet? Neither boy ever did this, but Nora Kate is constantly rotating/flexing her ankles and wrists! It's like she's revving her motorcycle haha! The funniest part of this is the intensity and frequency with which she does it! Also, my parents say that is exactly what I did as a baby! So funny!
Nora Kate, your Daddy, big brothers, and I love you dearly!! Just please stop growing so fast, we want to keep you little forever! :)
Nora Kate's 9 month check up went great! At 9 months, Nora Kate weighs 22 pounds 10 ounces and is 27.5 inches tall. (At this age Dawson was 20pounds 13 ounces and 30 inches long, and Carter was 20pounds 1oz and 28 inches long.) At the end of the the "report" that Dr. Booher always types up to send home from the checkups he wrote, "She is a very healthy, smart, sweet little girl."
Now for a few pictures!

Nora Kate is one lucky little girl to have two wonderful big brothers! This was not posed! I was trying to get them to all look at the camera when Carter just gave her this little snuggle and Dawson decided to hold her hand! I just love these three!!!