9 Month Check-Up

Alia had her 9 month check-up with Dr. Nash today. Except for the little cold that has invaded the Douglas household, Alia is a happy and healthy little girl. She is (finally) almost crawling. She moves forward with her hands and one leg and then decides to sit down. She is VERY close though. She has also become very interested in trying to pull up on things. She can get up to her knees and get one leg under her. Jason and I are thinking that perhaps we should finish up all of the many baby proofing tasks that we still have left.

Alia has started using her first sign "more" although not with tons of consistency. She uses it when she wants Daddy to keep playing guitar or read more books or when she wants Mommy to do more blanket rides. We have even seen it a few times during meals. She is growing up so fast. It's hard to believe that she will be one year old at her next check-up.

30 inches tall (99 percentile)

20 pounds, 8 ounces (76 percentile)

Here are a few recent pictures just for fun. The first two are Alia loving her sock monkey. She is very in to stuffed animals right now. The last 3 pictures are with her good friend Carson. Alia absolutely adores him. She even started eating vegetables again because she saw Carson do it. We think Carson might be the motivation behind her sudden interest in crawling and pulling up too!

Alia's 5 Seconds of Fame

Alia "modeled" for the Fred Meyer ad about 6 weeks ago and it appeared in today's paper. We are so proud. She was such a good girl during the photo shoot and I think the picture is pretty darn cute. It will be fun to save this little clipping to show her when she is older.

Silly Little Bean

One day last week I was taking pictures of Alia playing. My camera has a little orange light that comes on before the flash goes off. Alia has totally figured this out. Every time I took a picture Alia put the same goofy "smile" on her face. Maybe you had to be there, but I was really cracking up. Here are some pictures from our photo shoot that day.

Zoo Fun

Jason, Alia and I had a wonderful afternoon at the zoo. It was a beautiful day and most of the greater Portland area decided to head to the zoo. We ended up parking at Washington Park and taking the zoo train. It was fun to watch Alia on her first train ride. She seemed to really enjoy it. We saw a few animals and then watched the bird show while Alia had lunch. By the time we took the train back and got in our car, Alia was exhausted. She fell asleep instantly. It was so cute. She hasn't fallen asleep in the car like that in months.

Alia and Daddy waiting for the train

On our way to the zoo

Mommy and Alia being silly on our train ride back

This just might be my new favorite picture!

Success with the Snack Trap

Sitting Up

Alia just recently figured out how to get herself from her belly to a sitting up position all by herself. She has an interesting way of doing it, but it works for her!

This video was taken on her second or third successful attempt. She is already MUCH better at it ... and much faster!

Music Lover

Alia & Her Boyfriends

One of Alia's very good friends is Carson. He is 5.5 months older than her. She has been going over to play at his house almost every week since she was born. Now Carson's mommy is going to watch Alia on days that I sub. We did a trial run for a few hours last Wednesday while I was at a dentist appointment. Alia did such a great job. She ate her breakfast, napped and didn't cry at all when I left. She had a ton of fun playing with Carson. Check out the ridiculously cute picture of Carson giving her a kiss!

On Labor Day, Alia's friend Nick came over. Alia was so excited to see him! She was giggling and clapping like crazy! Nick is 10 weeks younger than Alia. They mostly stared at each other and Alia tried to touch his face a lot. It was pretty darn cute!

Clapping and Other Cuteness

I started up the video camera to catch Alia's new little motor boat sound on film and I got a two for one deal. She started showing off her clapping skills too. She just started clapping on Monday. She is very proud!