and an FO...

Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann
I used the pattern as written on the inside of the DVD by Meg Swanson and used the video for all of it's wonderful tips and tricks (she did some math for me!).
Knit in Knitpicks Comfy on size 7 needles (Denise Interchangeable)
I never checked gauge, I wanted it to fit her at about when she's 1 or 2 years old and it looks like it will. and could even be worn this fall.
For seaming I used The Yarn Harlots detailed photographs.

Knitpicks Comfy is indeed very comfy and reminds me of Rowan Calmer. It's squishy like marshmallows. I think Calmer is nicer, but for the price this is very nice.

It's a lot harder to photograph BG without the flash now, she moves so much that any non-flash photos come out pretty blurry.

Now about these 9 months. I can't believe it's been 9 months. Wow. I mean I can, and it's been so great but at the same time it's like WOW, and I remember all of it (or what my female brain allows me to remember, like for example the blank spots and hazy area's where any pain was involved have seem to gone *poof* which I think is nature's little trick to keep us procreating).

At around 8.3 months I thought, hrmm her 9 month appointment is soon I should try some Gerber Puffs to see how she does with finger foods. The second time I gave them to her she gobbled them right up and now insist on having a bit of anything I am eating. Good thing I mostly eat grill cheese and potato's. She never used to put things in her mouth, but now with her epiphany with puffs, now all the leaves and dirt will very likely wind up there. Why just earlier this week she ate a spider. Yes indeed, there was a call to poison control for that one. She had killed it either when she had it in her mouth or when she had it in her hand, and I fished it out with a tissue. I knew she had it in her mouth because of the leg hanging out. Thankfully aside from writing this, that memory has also gone hazy. So. Gross.

She is an expert at "breaking out of jail" and the area I have blocked off for her to play in. She can crawl like lightning and be from one end of the house to another in about 20 seconds (not that our house is that large). Now she is a traveling girl. She's been to DC, Virginia, Maryland, Florida and very soon we are heading back to Virginia again. I'll be flying alone with her for the first time. Scary.

She loves to stand, and pulls herself up on everything and can walk along the furniture. She still has 4 teeth all working through at the same time and I suspect the front two aren't far now either.

I also made the big decision and will be going back to work in September, and little BG will be going to daycare. I'm actually not too worried about it (talk to me then!) because this little girl wants to be in the mix, she is best behaved when there is lots going on and lots to look at. I'm not thrilled about her being there so long and wish I could work part time but that isn't an option at my company and I want to keep my benefits. To help me out we will have a cleaning lady come every week when I go back. With 2 dogs, 1 cat, my husband and BG, it's a lot to keep up with. Sometimes I read old books (like some of the stories from EZ's books) about how not that terribly long ago many people had a house keeper, it sounds so nice. I'm sure there has been a trade off in how things have changed but every-time I read that for instance in a Jane Austin novel I think "oh man how nice to have someone cook for you every night!!!" Okay I've gone a little off topic. So I will be going back to work, and we'll just play it by ear and if it goes okay then I'll stick with it and if BG is miserable and we can afford it then I'll come back home with her. Every single day I thank-goodness we thought ahead and bought a house that cost well below our means and kept the dingy old civic for as long as it will run.

I am looking forward to BG's first word. She says mama and dada all the time but it's not a true association, though sometimes she crawls towards me and will say mamamamama, so maybe it IS a word but it's hard to tell. I think I'll *know* when its really a first word so I am excited about that milestone and wondering what word it will be. We continue to experiment with finger foods, and I also still breast-feed (though people often give me a weird *are you still doing that?* question with an interesting tone in their voice). I don't see why it's so weird to breast-feed while a baby is still a baby. Oh and I forgot, I've been worried about her taking a bottle or sippy cup as she hasn't had a bottle in 3 months or longer, so I've tried a zillion sippy cups and finally the one that worked was the see-thru take'n'toss brand, as recommended to me on a forum. Someone also told me get the ones with a hard spout because the soft ones teach them to bite to drink and if you breast-feed you really don't want them to do that! So now BG can drink water from a sippy cup and seem to really like water. I haven't even bothered with apple juice because she will drink loads of the water. I've been giving her the same spring water I drink.

Her 9 month appointment is today and if I can remember I'll come back and update this with her weight and height.