Nine Months Old

This month has been a busy one for growing and learning.  In addition to standing and crawling (see photos and videos below), the girls also learned to wave and clap.  They don't like to do either when the camera is out but they often wave and clap when daddy comes home!  They are tough to contain for monthly photos too, here's one of them together with the blanket mostly smoothed out.  They are both wearing outfits gifted to us by one of my clients.

 

 

And here's an outtake.  They don't stay still long!

 

Elsie

 

Leonie

 

Although mealtimes are not getting any neater (quite the opposite) they continue to be a favorite part of the day.  We still haven't found a food that they don't like!

 

 

Leonie

 

Elsie

 

Occasionally we have some extra help cleaning up the mess but for the most part the cats don't like their options.

 

While the weather was beautiful I took the girls out to play in the yard.  They love to feel the wind on their faces and watch the animals.  We've also done many naps in the stroller while mommy gets a little exercise later in the day.

 

Both girls were very proud of themselves when they figured out that they could stand up!  I brought out this little walker to help give them something to hold onto.  It didn't take long for them to learn how to pull up and how to sit back down.  They are getting better at it every day with very few tumbles so far.  Here's Leonie.

 

And Elsie.

 

We didn't have any visitors this month so mommy had to get creative in order to service all of her clients' tanks.  One day daddy met us at a client's and took the girls for a picnic while mommy worked.  They loved it and we loved the much easier clean up!

 

Another day Leonie worked and worked and finally learned to crawl.  She managed one forward step with her knee and that was all it took - off she went!  Here is a video of her second crawl, I was too slow to catch the first.

 

 

 

Within minutes Leonie was crawling all over the place.

 

 

 

Elsie took a little longer and learned step by step.  Both girls are pretty good at getting places now, provided there aren't too many toys in the way.

 

 

 

We had to put up the baby fence to keep them contained in our living room and out of trouble.  The cats sometimes taunt the girls by laying just outside.

 

 

Finally, a photo of me with my girls on my first Mother's Day.  Leonie is on the left, as well as Louie who was helping to entertain the girls.