Livvy Lara Barnes (widely known in her narrow circle as "Lou") is nine months old today. She is very frowny in the above photo because she was, at the time, up an hour past her bedtime. It is a highly kissable frown, though, no? I mean.
She weighs 19 lbs. and 8 oz. as of today. That puts her in the 73rd percentile for weight! I put the exclamation point even though I am generally against exclamation points because, well, here I have been thinking she was a petite baby. I think that there's just something so gentle about her spirit that it makes her seem more diminutive than she is. She's also in the 89th percentile for her height.

What's continuing to touch me in a big, big way is the way Livvy and Tessa relate to one another. Tessa sings her made-up songs with lyrics like, "I love you every day" and "You are the best girl in the wooooorld," and I couldn't be more happy about the way these two get on. They're both in Tessa's room right now, playing Barbies. Well, to be exact, Livvy is chewing on the Barbies while Tessa plays with them.

Livvy is still nursing most of the time, but she takes a couple of bottles of formula a day, too. She is crawling at lightening speed and cruising around like a boss. Her breath continues to smell like vanilla pudding, and her laugh is literally the best and purest thing I have ever heard in my life. My love for her grows a little bigger each day.

p.s. Here was Tessa at nine months. How is it possible that Tessa's hair was a bazillion times longer at this age?