Tim, Laurel and I are tucked in here at the house on a very snowy night. There's already more than eight inches of snow on the ground and more is expected through tomorrow. Laurel has been saying "dada," "mom" and "nana" and now she says "tree." She loves our Christmas tree, along with all of the lights and decorations in our house. She has also started pointing at everything.

Now, without further adieu, her highness:

The house is now fully decorated for Christmas, including a completely kid-friendly tree (at least we hope!) Laurel loves the lights and the ornaments. I probably tell Tim at least ten times a day how much I love our house at Christmas. And it's true. The soft glow of the Christmas tree, the sparkle from the the ornaments and the stockings on the fireplace put me in the Christmas spirit. (And that's our cat Shelby watching from the back.)

Laurel is definitely in the babbling stage. Her highness prefers an audience, but if one is not to be found, she is quite content to chat up her toys, the cats, the walls...you get the point. For about a month now she has been saying "Dada" (or some variation of it). A couple weeks ago she started with "Nana." Through all of this I've cheered and grinned and encouraged, patiently waiting for my own time in the spotlight.

And finally last night she walked up to the couch I was sitting on, looked up at me, and very clearly said, "Mom."

It was worth the wait.

We've been absolutely amazed at how quickly Laurel has seemed to improve with walking. Now she's all but running!

We had a great Thanksgiving and hope you did, too!

Laurel hasn't felt very good since Saturday. She just cut a top tooth, so we thought that was it. Sleep has been elusive for all of us, and she started running a low grade fever and resisting nursing. When we took her to the pediatrician today we got our answer - a sore throat. She's taking antibiotics and will hopefully be able to join in the Thanksgiving festivities tomorrow.

This week Laurel took her first steps. Considering that she only started crawling ten days before that, we were a little surprised. However, she's loved standing since she was about three months old.

In addition to her first steps, she's also gotten her first bruises (and even a little bump on her forehead). I think our sweet baby girl is going to be quite the daredevil, we're already telling her "Slow down! Walk, don't run!"

Edited to add - No babies were hurt during the filming of this video. (And yes, it does look like she took quite a spill, but she just went down on her hands.)

For Laurel's first Halloween, she dressed up as a Garden Gnome. After a battle at first, she even kept her hat on for awhile. The weather was cold and drizzly, so we didn't get to do much Trick-or-Treating, but she did visit the grandparents and some friends.

This past week she turned nine months. She had her doctors appointment and was 27 1/2 inches long and 18 pounds, 14 ounces (in the 50th percentile for both).

Developmentally she's doing great. She's crawling a lot now and pulling up on everything. She is getting really good at mimicking sounds and actions (like clapping and waving bye-bye). Here are some shots of her demonstrating those new-found skills.