9 Months

9 Months

Didn't I JUST post the 8 month post?  This month flew past!  Summer slow down!  I'm not ready to go back to school!

The normal monthly photo plan is not working all that well these days with a little one who rarely sits still and certainly does not like to be on her back and will roll the instant she is set down.  So we're adapting :)  BIG month this month!  Actually... most of it happened in one week!

Crawling:  We started to army crawl at the beginning of the month, but in that one big week, she suddenly was up on her knees and learning to alternate hands/knees to move where she wanted to

Pulling Up: In that same week, she typically only crawled to the nearest couch/ottoman in order to pull herself up.  This girl has always loved to stand and she is quite proud of herself!

Cruising: She also walks along the couch/ottomans just for kicks and giggles, talking all the way

Teeth: We also welcomed 2 bottom teeth and are now working on some top ones as well. 

Clapping: One morning, I woke up pretty late and checked the silent monitor, assuming this means Katelyn is fast asleep.  Nope- she was sitting up, teaching herself to clap.  Now if anyone smiles at her and claps, she'll mimic them immediately.

All of the above happened in that one week!  Big week!

Sleeping: Because of all these big moments, Katelyn struggled to fall asleep (would rather sit up/crawl/stand up in her crib despite exhaustion) but she eventually learned and is back to falling asleep on her own again.  She is usually sleeping 8pm - 7am to eat, then back down until 9ish.  She is consistently taking a 1.5-2 hr nap around noonish, another 1.5 hr. nap at 4ish, then sometimes a short evening nap (sometimes it's just a good snuggle).  She's a great helper to help her pregnant mama to get a nap in or sometimes sleep in.  (I usually stay awake at the 7am mark to eat breakfast and get a few things done, but once in a while, I'll go back to bed.  Have I mentioned I LOVE summer?!)

Food: She's getting a little picky on textures but we're slowly but surely making the transition to self-feeding.  She will pick up cheerio pieces and put those in her mouth and happily eat them, but nothing else.  I can feed her pureed sweet potato (which she loves) off a spoon, I can feed her sweet potato chunks off a spoon, and I can even put the chunks of sweet potato that are on her tray (as she watches) onto a spoon and she'll eat it but she refuses to pick them up herself to put into her mouth.  I'm starting to wonder if she's picky with what she touches because tonight when I was showing her leaves outside, she wouldn't touch them, just wanted to look?  I guess we'll find out more in the coming months!

Bottles: Little miss loves her bottles.  I've heard two schools of thought- that a 9 month old should have no more than 24 oz. of formula/milk, but then have heard that before a year that most nutrients come from milk/formula and solids are just learning how to eat?  I hate when research contradicts itself and new mommies don't know what to think... I guess I'm just going with my gut and giving her plenty of solids and as much formula as she needs.  I cut her off when it's just for comfort as she does know how to self soothe but other than that, I follow her lead for now?

Swimming: Somebody LOVES the water!  She's gone swimming several times and just loves every instant!  In fact, at the Vanderpan family reunion, she was in a little blow-up pool with her second cousin Clara and she would not stop belly laughing!  Clara wasn't doing anything to make her laugh, she was just going nuts and was very happy!  She crawled around the pool and tried to stand up and took a couple of "face plants" into the water and would give a little surprised look/cry right after, but then would go on giggling and smiling as normal.  Then, she was shivering so badly that her hand was shaking when she was playing with a toy (the water was a little chilly and the sun kept coming/going) but when I took her out, she cried and cried- wanting to be back in the water and I'm sure was cold still until she was changed/dry/snuggled up in a thick blanket.

Father's Day!: We celebrated Father's Day!  And boy does she love her daddy!  One evening, she was fussing and daddy called.  I put him on speaker so I'd have both hands and Katelyn immediately not only stopped fussing, but started smiling and whispered "dada!"  We're still not fully sure if she knows the meaning of "mama" "dada" but she's starting to convince us little by little when she uses it in these types of instances- especially as her babbling has started to involve lots of different sounds.  Mommy and daddy took a date night that evening to go to a movie once baby girl went to bed.  Katelyn also went behind mommy's back and got on the internet and ordered daddy a special comic book that is about Darth Vador raising princess Leia.  Silly girl :)

Giggles: Katelyn is a very joyful little girl and if she hears others laughing, she'll mimic them with her fake laugh (more of a cough than a laugh).  See video at very end of post

As for #2 (baby boy), he is kicking lots a

nd making his presence known quite often.  Sometimes turning full somersaults.  It's crazy how more "real" pregnancy is the 2nd time around.  With Katelyn, pregnancy felt like just a health condition I went through before a baby entered our life.  It felt like 2 separated events?  But this time, because I've seen those little baby feet on Katelyn outside my body, when I feel baby boy kicking and moving around, it becomes so much more real to me to realize that this is our son inside of me- his personality already beginning to show.  I can't wait to see those little feet in real life and to see his facial expressions as he is tired or hungry or content.  (I take it back, I CAN wait... I actually wouldn't mind him coming a bit late- but still on his own- so Katelyn has a little time to grow).  We've been hitting up garage sales to get baby gear that we realized we will use/want (we borrowed quite a few contraptions from friends with Katelyn).  Preparing here and there when we can.  It's crazy how fast his is all going!

All "4" of us :)