9 months

Happy 9 months to me!

We just can't believe we have a 9 month old. It's all going by just too, too quick. The main change from month 8 to month 9 is how much this little girl loves to stand up. For the past few days, I would wake up because I could hear her moving, check the monitor, and see her just standing there. Some mornings, I don't hear anything but look at the monitor just to be sure and there she is standing up in the corner bouncing away. We're wondering how long she's been awake.

Another change is she has 1.5 teeth. Her first tooth started to rear it's ugly head on November 18th. She had been sleeping until around 8. Well, she awoke around 6:15 with no intentions of returning to sleep anytime soon. (It's hard to believe I once woke up at 5:15 on a regular basis.) Sure enough, when I felt around there was something poking through her bottom gums. While we were in Abilene for Thanksgiving, we ended up having to give her Advil after she woke screaming in the night. (which is totally not like her at all....we were both looking at each other like what do we do she's never done this before) The other night we gave her the Advil before bed and she slept great. Her second tooth is coming in right next to the other. It has brought with it a snotty nose which lasted for about a week. I purchased a humidifier for her room which has seemed to help her quite a bit.

The third big change is success with a sippy cup....finally!! It had dawned on me at her 6 month check up that the child rarely has taken a bottle since I quit work. There is really no need and honestly it's easier not scrubbing bottles or cleaning the pump. First, I thought I would just give her the sippy cup since she wasn't attached to the bottle. Well, that was a bust. All she'd do was gum the spout and start to cry. So I back tracked and decided on baby steps....learn to drink from bottle without help then transition to sippy cup. She's gotten really good at drinking her juice and water from a bottle all by herself. I would randomly try the sippy cup with no success. Then I saw a sippy cup at Babies R Us that had the words Magic Sipppy cup, great for transitioning breast fed babies. Well, I thought to myself...it's not a 2 pack, it's yellow (gender neutral), and it's magic! I'll give it a try. The 1st time I gave it to her I made sure she knew it had her juice in it and she had no problem sucking from it. I was so proud of her. I clapped. I praised. I called in her daddy to witness. We snapped pictures. She drank an ounce then quit. She would have no more of it. So I put it in the fridge. I didn't want to give in and pour it in a bottle. She had shown me she could do it if she wanted to. We tried again later that day, same results. Madeline just did without the rest of her juice that day. Also at her 9 month check up we were able to say she CAN drink from sippy cup :)

Other things she loves to do at 9 months

• give great big soggy kisses
• crawl around on Mommy and Daddy's bed (she's been doing this for months)
• visit her daddy

Hey there Daddy!

• play on the recliner with her daddy

Come on dad...pleeease

• turn the pages of books super fast...we have become speed readers

Ready to read

• read her 10 Little Ladybugs book (If she's in her room she crawls right to it sitting in her chair and pulls it down.)
• hang out at the coffee table with the coasters (of all the things she has to play with and the girl plays with these the most)

I heart coasters....

a ton!!

Her routine at 9 months

This month she went from nursing 5 times a day to 4 times a day by her own choice.

(It almost seems like she's starting to ween herself which is bittersweet for Mommy.)

7:30 - 8:30 Wake Up/Morning feeding

9:30 Breakfast- usually yo baby yogurt and a banana with 1-2 oz. water in bottle or cup

11- 12 2nd feeding and nap- usually for 1 to 2 hours

1:30 Lunch- usually Super Porridge made from rolled oats and 2 food cubes (loves broccoli and sweet potatoes) followed by bottle or sippy cup of apple juice ( 1oz. juice to 3 oz. water)

3:30 - 4:30 3rd feeding and nap usually 1 to 2 hours

6:30 - 7:00 Supper- She has 1 food cube or half an avocado before we eat and then feeds herself cheerios and bananas while we eat with 1 -2 oz. water in bottle or cup

7:30 - 8 Last feeding and cereal

8:30 Bedtime

She tried kiwi fruit this month and here was her reaction.

Not a fan

Another highlight for her was helping her Great Grandmother celebrate her 98th birthday on December 8th.

Happy Birthday Great Grandmother!

Let's party!

One thing is for sure as soon as I think I have this little girl and her schedule all figured out she goes and changes on me, and that's ok. It keeps me on my toes. We sure do love this little lady and cannot believe how fast her first year is speeding by. It seems like not too long ago, I was sitting on the couch with a huge belly and swollen ankles wondering what baby bedding I was going to get for her room and now I'm starting to plan her 1st birthday party. Our lives have changed, and we can't believe how much joy she has brought into our lives.

Little Lady

We

love

You

The First Thanksgiving x2

Well, this was definitely the best Thanksgiving we've ever had.  We are so thankful for this beautiful baby girl.  It's hard to even remember what life was like before her.

Here are the events of Miss Madeline's first Thanksgiving.

She watched The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade....for a few seconds at least  ;)

Here comes Tom Turkey!

Napped all the way to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Enjoyed a feast of avocados, puffs, sweet potatoes, super porridge, and apple juice!
   

Everybody's ready for the feast to begin.

I cleaned my plate!

Visiting w/ Aunt Mikie & Uncle Dwayne

Played with and entertained Granny, Cousins Mason and Zoe, Uncle Dwayne, Aunt Mikie, Cousin Buddy and his new wife Jessica, Uncle Dave, Aunt Tonnie, Grandma, Grandpa, and of course Mommy and Daddy! (She completely wore herself out and was asleep by the time we got on the highway home.)

Gettin' some lovin' from Granny & Zoe

Showing Aunt Mikie all the toys

Showing off my pullin' up skills

Seeing eye to eye with Uncle Dave

So long Uncle Dave & Aunt Tonnie

Telling Grandma & Grandpa bye bye

Napped all the way home.

Played and read books with Daddy while Mommy packed her bag for Abilene!

Had a bedtime snack.

Went to bed!

It was a wonderful day!

Friday we headed to Abilene for some more Thanksgiving fun.

Playing w/ Aunt Laurie & Alyssa

Ready to eat

and eat some more!

Waking up from my after dinner nap 

Ready for church

Saying goodbye to O'Pa and Mamaw

Home Sweet Home

 Like I said earlier, we have so much to be thankful for this year. We love this healthy, happy, adorable baby girl!

The Day Before Thanksgiving

The day before Thanksgiving Madeline's mama was in a mad dash to get food cooked, pies baked, clothes cleaned, and bags packed. Madeline was such a helpful little lady.

Reading up on my baby food

Pushing the whites into the laundry room

Folding my washcloths

Practicing my music

Telling mommy what to pack

Mommy's apple cranberry pies

It's been a long day, huh, Glowee?

Our Growly Bear

I think I've written about Madeline's growling while eating puffs.  Well it's recently gotten a ton worse, and she's started doing it at times other than just eating.  Pretty much anytime she's frustrated or irritated or bored she does it.  It seems to have gotten a little more intense as well.  We're starting to get concerned she may be damaging/hurting her throat/vocal cords.  During supper time is the worst by far, and she's started to do it if I'm not fast enough at getting her food to her. I'm also fearing that it's going to become an issue during church time.  We love so many things about this precious girl, but it would be really nice if she would stop.  I keep telling her "No one's going to want to be your friend if you don't stop growling."...for some reason it hasn't worked.  This is just a warning... expect a loud Thanksgiving dinner everyone :)

Super Baby Porridge

Well, we finally found something the girl refuses to eat.  Saturday, I tried making Super Porridge from brown rice.  I was really afraid the food processor was going to explode while trying to grind up the rice so I kept stopping it.  I guess since that took so long a lot of the water I was boiling evaporated.  Needless to say the rice was a bit crunchy.  So I tossed that.

Madeline loves the store bought oat meal so I decided I would try making Super Porridge from the rolled oats.  They were much easier to grind.  I used a smaller pot and everything went great until it was time for her to actually eat it.  She made the worst face ever, put her hand up and batted the spoon away.  She had NEVER done that before. Of course, I was devastated I had spent all this time and effort into making it.  My kitchen was a disaster and I had two big bowls of porridge my baby would not eat.  I put the one she hadn't eaten in the fridge thinking we'd give it another try later and threw the other one out.

  


   

and you've already seen what happened next :(

Sunday we rested and ate jarred baby food.

Monday I tried again.  This time I got an idea.  I reheated it in the microwave, but I didn't like the consistency and it had some hot spots.  SO I got some applesauce and put in a spoonful.  It solved all my problems.  Good consistency, cooled the hot spot, and ta da got Madeline to eat it!!! YAY!!!

attempt 2

Not again!! 

Here goes nothin'

I love it!  I love it!

Yummy food is all gone!

Each day this week, her noon meal has been Super Porridge made from rolled oats along with two of the veggie cubes I made and froze last week.  I make a fresh batch of porridge every other day.  I grind up the oats while she's having her breakfast and cook it up during her morning nap.  I still have some brown rice and millet to try later, but I think we'll stick with the oats for now.

She also got to enjoy yogurt for the first time this week.  She loves it.  It's yobaby peach.

I heart yogurt!

 Hopefully, all this work will pay off.  Now that I have lots of food cubes stored and know she'll eat the oatmeal.  I think I will slowly but surely get the Super Baby Food diet going with my little lady.

All this healthy food gives me strong muscles!