life according to the diaz's: 9 Months Old!

Elena Elizabeth turned 9 months old on August 30th. Honestly, I cannot believe we are pushing one year old already. Now that we have begun a new school year, I find myself reminiscing about last year and how excited I was that I only had to make it until Thanksgiving and then I was "done" for awhile. Not this year...we will be planning a birthday party for our little girl instead of sitting around here at home trying to figure out how to take care of a newborn! We are SO excited, though, to begin celebrating new milestones with Elena. We are already looking forward to Halloween and getting a first costume for Elena to go do some trick or treating at a few houses...we are hoping she is doing some walking by then. She has already started standing for short periods of time without holding onto anything, so it is just a matter of time before she starts taking those first steps.
Elena has been doing well getting back into our school routines. It was nice to have an extra day off yesterday for her first Labor Day weekend. We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Keeven in St. Louis for the night on Saturday. Elena slept pretty well in her crib at grandma's. Abuelo and Abuela came over for a late lunch of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs on Sunday afternoon. It was great visiting with everyone this weekend. Is it bad that I am already counting the days until the next weekend?! ;)
This past weekend was the first time it had rained in what seems like months. It rained almost everyday over the weekend, but there is no complaining here. Our plants and grass definitely needed a soaking of rain. We have officially lost two bushes in our landscaping that will have to be dug out and replaced next spring. We just kind of gave up on all yard work this summer...hoping to just have a fresh start with all of it in the spring again...Elena will be able to help us do some planting :)
It seems like these days continue to pass by us in the blink of an eye. Juan and I are usually up for awhile before Elena in the mornings and before we know it, we are back home for an evening of family time together until Elena takes a bath and heads to bed by 7:30. The hours just pass by like seconds. I find myself taking more time to cherish each second we have in the evenings with Elena because it's just so little time. We'd love to keep her up a while longer to play in the evenings, but she is just SO tired by 7-7:30pm that we just lay her in bed and she falls asleep within minutes. We try to keep the same schedule on the weekends too...it really helps keep everything in sync for E.
Tomorrow we take Elena to the doctor for her 9 month check-up. I will blog again very soon to give the pediatrician's report. Hoping all is well and her weight gain has been doing well. Elena has been eating a lot lately and drinking her 8oz bottles with each meal+small bottles during the "in between" time. Her little belly is getting plump...we love to blow on it to make her laugh.
Lots of pictures from the last week or so of Elena just being Elena. No major happenings, just hanging out doing what we do best...play, play, and play.