Growing up too fast

Next Tuesday, Olivia will be 9 months old. I know I say this all the time, but I cannot believe how quickly time has passed. It seems like just yesterday, we were trying everything science could offer to have a child, and now she's on the precipice of toddler-hood. She's my beautiful, good-natured, increasingly independent, infuriatingly stubborn, incredibly funny little drama queen and I wouldn't change one thing about her.

Two weeks ago, we bought the next stage car seat and I have been dragging my feet on installing it. We worked so hard to have our baby, and I'm not ready to admit she's not so much a baby anymore. Yesterday morning, we put her in her infant seat to go to church, and Olivia had to scrunch her shoulders forward so her back would rest against the back of the seat. That was the final straw; it was time to install that new seat. Turns out, size is relative. She looked huge in her infant seat; she now looks tiny in this massive Cadillac of a car seat.

I continue to worry about her crawling progress. She IS progressing; last week she screamed bloody murder when it was tummy time and refused to make any crawling motions or notions. This week, she's up on all fours and propelling herself backwards. She covers a lot of ground this way, as well as scooting around on her hiney. In fact, scooting is her preferred mode of transportation and her Grandpa calls her Scooter. I'm hoping at this rate that next week will find her if not crawling, then nearly doing so. Looking back at her progress in print, I'm not really sure why I am worried; I know I'm not supposed to compare her to other babies or to what the books say. I have to keep reminding myself that the books put out a disclaimer that babies can be 6 to 10 weeks on either side of the week they list as "normal" for a certain milestone and still be considered normal. I also have to keep reminding myself that my stubborn little drama queen will crawl when she's good and ready to crawl. Until then, I am going to enjoy my (relatively) clean and orderly house for a little while longer.