Well, even though we are almost half way into January, I am going to try to post more often this year so that I can keep everyone updated about Athena and our family. It's amazing how fast she is growing and changing, especially the last two months. She is only 4 1/2 months old, but has flown to North Carolina and LA. Some of her other big milestones are:
November 21st - her 3 month birthday and first plane ride. We went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving
November 25th - she laughed for the first time. I was giving her kisses and she started laughing, which was the cutest thing ever!
November 26th - her first Thanksgiving.
She got to meet the rest of her family while we were in NC for Thanksgiving. Here is Athena with her first cousins Sawyer, Cassie, and Jaden.
December 12th - Athena and I flew to LA. So, that was a milestone for me because I traveled with her by myself. Thankfully, Athena did great on both trips and slept both ways to/from LA. She has slept through all of the take off and landings, which is good because we didn't have to worry about her ears. This was also Athena's first Hannukah, and she got lots of presents from Grandma.
December 14th - Athena rolled over for the first time. That was great! She has been turning on her side for a while and then she just made it all the way over. It was really exciting.
Here is me and Athena opening some of her Hanukkah presents. While we were in LA, we got to see the rest of the family, so everyone got to meet Athena.
Since the trips, we have stayed close to home, but Athena is growing everyday. She is very active and physical. When she is awake, she wants to be moving. She likes to spend time on hr play mat with her toys, and she loves to roll over onto her stomach. She doesn't roll back onto her back and we think its because she doesn't want to. Once she rolls onto her stomach, she wants to move forward. She will flail her arms and legs and in the last few days has started pushing up. We think she's going to be an early crawler.
She grabs things and gets them into her mouth with precision. She seems to be teethings since she is showing the classic signs of excessive drooling and chewing on everything, but it doesn't look like a tooth is imminent. The books says that can show that behavior months before a tooth actually comes in.
Athena has also finally discovered Marley. As you can see, she will now try to pet him and reach out for him. When we take him for walks, she will watch him. It's really cute. Marley has been great since we brought Athena home. He doesn't bother any of her stuff and leaves her alone when she is on the floor playing. They are going to be so cute when they can play together. Below is a video of Athena and Marley.
We are having such a great time with Athena. She is a happy baby and is very alert, interested, inquisitive, and whenever we go out, she just takes it all in.
I have every intention of posting regularly, especially now that its easier for me to find a few minutes to get online.
Athena walked for the first time today. She had been doing a lot of assisted walking and just a couple of days ago, stood up by herself for the first time. This morning, she stood up and just walked down the hall. She was so excited and proud of herself. 
Its hard to believe that Athena is already over 9 months old. The time is going so fast. On her 9 month birthday (May 21), she got herself into a sitting position from being on her stomach, and she pulled herself up to standing in her crib. She is crawling much faster, but she still crawls "military style" where she uses her forearm to pull her body along the floor on her stomach. She practices getting up on her hands and knees and she'll rock back and forth, but then always goes back down on her stomach to crawl. I think she just needs a little more time to build up the strength. She likes to pull herself to standing. She is really wobbly, so she kind of looks drunk. :) We think she's going to move through the crawling stage quickly because she seems more interested in standing and walking than crawling.
November 26th - her first Thanksgiving.
Here is me and Athena opening some of her Hanukkah presents. While we were in LA, we got to see the rest of the family, so everyone got to meet Athena.
She grabs things and gets them into her mouth with precision. She seems to be teethings since she is showing the classic signs of excessive drooling and chewing on everything, but it doesn't look like a tooth is imminent. The books says that can show that behavior months before a tooth actually comes in.
Athena has also finally discovered Marley. As you can see, she will now try to pet him and reach out for him. When we take him for walks, she will watch him. It's really cute. Marley has been great since we brought Athena home. He doesn't bother any of her stuff and leaves her alone when she is on the floor playing. They are going to be so cute when they can play together. Below is a video of Athena and Marley.
