9 Months!

I know I know, late as usual.  Really late.  Sorry!  We lost her month stickers, and we couldn’t take the pictures without them, obviously.

Weight:  16.5 pounds as of her doctor’s appointment on March 14.  She really hasn’t gained that much in the last few months, but the doctor didn’t seem too concerned. 

Height:  27 inches!  Longer than I thought.  Looking at pictures of her, she doesn’t LOOK like she’s going to be tall.  Her legs look short to me.  One of my friend’s kids is 13 months and he’s almost 33 inches tall, so…she may be a shorty.  We’ll see.

Medical Issues:  Heart appointment on March 6 went well!  He said he could still hear the murmur, but her EKG was good so they didn’t even do an echo.  They see her again in September, and the doctor said he thinks she may really be one of the lucky ones who’s pulmonic stenosis goes away.  He is hoping she’ll be all but grown out of it by the time she’s 2.  One can only hope!  Also, she took her last dose of Prevacid on March 7.  She has not had any major spit-ups, and hasn’t slowed down her eating due to obvious pain at all.  SO HAPPY.  She has had a pretty nasty sinus infection, but they put her on Amoxicillan and she seems to be doing a little better (still sounds congested though).  Hopefully it will warm up soon, because I’m sure the weather is what is making all of us so sick.  80 one day and 40 the next is not cool, Mother Nature.

Sleep:  She goes to be around 9 recently (though last night it was 8), and likes to get up around 6-7.  She’s been so sick that most of the time she falls asleep eating her bottle and we just put her in bed asleep, so I have no clue how the self-soothing thing is working out for her.  Daycare said they put her in her crib awake but sleepy and she just rolls over and goes to sleep for her naps, so it must be ok!

Clothing/Diaper Size:  We are trying to get as much use as possible out of her 6-month onesies so we don’t have to buy long-sleeved 9 month ones, but they are starting to get a little tight some of them.  She is well into 9 month pants, and some of those even look too tight (or maybe I just don’t get jeggings).  Still in Size 3 disposables, and eventually she will be back in her medium cloth diapers, once I find time to strip them and get them clean.  I hate ammonia.  😛

Diet:  She definitely shows a preference for feeding herself.  She will allow me to feed her in the morning from a spoon, most of the time.  But at night she wants to feed herself.  Daycare manages to feed her pretty well it seems.  She usually gets:
Breakfast: a fruit mixed with some rice cereal and sometimes either a waffle wheel or puffs to distract her while I finish getting ready to go
Lunch:  torn up bits of turkey or chicken, diced pears or peaches, some kind of vegetable either steamed and cut up into tiny bites (carrots, sweet potato) or pureed.  She also has puffs at daycare that they give her for snacks, and she has a straw sippy there to drink water with.  She also gets 3 bottles of formula (8 ounces) while at daycare
Dinner:  Similar to lunch most of the time, with the addition of a quarter of a graham cracker for “dessert.”  Nighttime bottle is usually 9 ounces, but she rarely finishes it.

She needs to eat more solids, and I’m tempted to let her try and eat the lunch daycare provides, but I’m terrified it’ll have dairy or soy in it and she’ll have a reaction at school.  I’m just a big ball of nerves still when it comes to her eating.  Everyone has to have a hangup, right?

Milestones/Firsts:  She pulls up on EVERYTHING.  If she thinks she can hold onto it to stand, she’s going to do it.  As a result, we no longer have a coffee table in our living room.  She says “mama” now, and it’s awesome.  I wish she’d say it when she was happy and wanted to play, and not just when she’s upset or needs something, but I guess I should get used to that.  Her first top tooth popped through last night!

Likes:  Standing, “walking,” “talking,” jumping (see below), being with me and B, playing with her toys at home and at school, eating solid foods and feeding herself like a big girl, chewing on anything she can get her mouth on

Dislikes:  Being sick, being wet or dirty (diaper – mom says she should be easy to potty train), having me feed her purees when she wants to feed herself

Baby Gear Love:  She still likes all of her old toys (apparently we’re never throwing anything away)

We got her this walker toy for Christmas, and she loves to press all the buttons on it.  She sits in front of it, kneels up on it, stands and leans on it, and recently started actually taking some shaky steps behind it.  🙂

Her sippy cups.  I think since I drink out of straw cups all the time, she thinks she’s big like me.  She hates normal sippy cups, and I’m ok with that.  I’d rather she drink out of straw cups anyway.

Her bath tub mat, that I can’t for the life of me find a link to.  We got it at Wal-mart in the baby section, and it’s just a Winnie the Pooh plastic suction mat for the tub.  The duck tub didn’t work for long because she tried to crawl out of it and would crash into the sides of the tub with her head.  It’s easier to just put her in the big tub on a non-slip mat and let her crawl around and play with her toys.  I usually get in with her and bathe her and then we have playtime.

She regularly plays with an assortment of small rattles and balls, and loves boxes.  She also loves board books of all kinds, but touch and feels are particularly good right now.  This is her favorite.

My update:  I have been fighting the same congestion/sickness that Kara has been for the last month.  I also managed to mess up my back, so that it hurt to exist.  I started going to my old chiropractor in Savannah, because the one in Statesboro just was NOT getting anywhere, and after 3 weeks of 3x/week visits, it’s starting to feel better.  Or it was until I coughed on Tuesday and knocked it out of joint again.  But we WILL get there – I have faith!

I am exhausted recently, and I’m not really sure why.  I have an appointment with my endocrinologist Mar. 31, and I’m going to talk about it with him.  Maybe my thyroid meds are off.  I have been colder than normal (and then blazing hot at other times), so I guess it’s possible.

Most importantly, my application to work at home has been approved.  I will get my laptop next week, go through some training the first week in April, and then start on April 7.  I am so excited.  I get two hours back in my day, for a total of at least 8 per week (I usually stay in Savannah one night with my parents, so I have one day off of commuting).  Not to mention, I usually don’t need a full 8 hours to do my work, so I’m pretty happy about at least having the possibility of some days being able to take some time for myself, sleep a little extra, take a longer shower, go running (once my back is better), straighten the house a bit, and cook a real meal so we can eat dinner as a family.  Right now I get home between 6 and 7, feed Kara her food, bathtime, playtime, bottle time, and by then it’s usually 8:30 or 9 and I haven’t even started cooking.  We usually have cereal, Eggos, or some microwave meal around 9-9:30 and I’m in bed by 10.  Most days I don’t get to shower at all, and do so at the gym during my lunch hour.  My schedule is just a mess, so I’m really happy that I get to change it up some.  I’m very hopeful this will make life easier and make me feel happier and a whole lot less stressed out.