9 Month Update

Well, it is hard to believe how time has flown.  I see little babies around and think how hard it is to believe that my little girl was once that small only a mere few months ago!!

9 Month Stats at her Dr. visit today:
Height: 29 in. (95%)
Weight: 20 lbs. 7 oz. (75%)
Head: 95%

Sydney is quite the tall girl the Dr. said.  She said it is normal for her to be tapering off on her weight now that she is older and will start growing like she is meant to, instead of rapidly like a baby.  Her ped. was very pleased to hear all the solids we have successfully added.  She said we could start meat now, but to hold off on the dairy until she is 2 years old.  Since that was the definite reaction for her, the longer her digestive system can mature the less we have to worry about if and how much she is reacting to it.  So I need to get her drinking her formula out of her sippy cup by her 1 year birthday instead of the bottle.  We still have time, but good to know since she won't be drinking milk for another year or so.  Right now she has no interest in holding anything to drink out of, but the ped. said it is good that she doesn't want to hold her bottle.  That way we won't have a hard time breaking her of it.  Now the trick is to get her to figure out how to hold her own cup and drink.  It will come in time I am sure.

In the last month, Sydney has become quite the little mover and groover!  She started officially crawling on 3/16/12 in the morning.  Once that happened, it just clicked and she was crawling all over the room by that evening.  The same day she also perfected the sit-to-crawl and crawl-to-sit method.  It didn't take but few days and now she cruises around the entire house.  It is still surreal to see my baby quite mobile.  It is neat to see though what her favorite things to do are now.  Daddy has gone to high gear to get the baby gates up over the stairs. ;o)

Sydney also still LOVES to walk around the house holding our fingers.  She has become quite good at it! It really makes her upset when we have to stop, though.  But she has to learn that she doesn't get her way all the time...  I really think she will be walking by her first birthday.  But she has proven my guesses wrong many times, so who knows.  She has started to pull up to her knees using furniture, too.  We had to lower her mattress all the way down now...

This girl also has a LOVE and unbridled excitement to go outside!  It has been quite nice weather lately and we have been able to do it.  But again, she has to learn we can't do it all the time!  It is cute when we are walking our laps around the house, she will pause at the outside doors and then let my fingers go leaning against me so that I can open the door.  Daddy recently put up her baby swing under the deck so that we will have something fun to do outside other than crawl and taste everything. ;o)  She loves the swing.  This girl has no fear!  On a side note, she has fallen and "bonked her head" (as I call it) numerous times already, and she isn't even toddling yet.  The crying drama the follows is quite heart wrenching, but does not deter her from letting it happen again.  Which is good and bad...

We had  a few days of quite the grumpy girl.  She would just melt into tears for no apparent reason.  I finally determined she must be biting her lower teeth into her sore gums above where some teeth were coming in.  We finally trialed some infant acetaminophen, and she did fine with it.  It really helped her feel better.  A week later I figured out why she was in so much pain.  She was getting her FOUR upper front teeth at the same time!  Her gummy grins are officially over. =)  She now has 6 teeth, thankfully, because she prefers to feed herself for the most part and will just swallow things whole before they have melted in her mouth! (her fruit crisps, banana, etc)  She really needs something to chew with.  She also will grind those front teeth together and it drives me crazy!  Hopefully just a phase of exploring her new teeth...

I was inducted into the real mother world when March 6th-11th my little girl had the longest stomach virus I have ever seen.  It all started with trialing apples for the first time that day at lunch.  Four hours later she was barfing.  I thought, "Wow, apples are a big NO!"  Especially since she had reacted to apples in my breast milk...  But her tummy never settled down until late that night.  We slept on her floor on a bunch of washable blankets and towels that night and changed her pajamas I don't know how many times.  Every time she woke up, I offered her some sips of Pe. dialyte.  Thankfully she only resorted to barfing every 12 hours after that.  But still a whole week of "Are you better yet?" was no fun!  Her way of dealing with feeling sick was, "Mommy, let's walk!"  That is all she wanted to do to keep her mind off feeling bad, I guess.  Her appetite was very minimal for obvious reasons and she definitely lost weight because her diapers and clothes were fitting looser.  But after a week of being sick and then a week of building her appetite back up, the following week she was ravenous!  It was the first time that she would just gobble down her vegetables without a fight!  She would eat everything put in front of her and suck down all her formula.  She was averaging 35 oz. everyday in addition to solids.  I guess she was making up time from being sick, probably having a growth spurt, and becoming mobile.  She is starting to slow down now, but still has stayed up in the 30's of ounces everyday... but vegetables have now lost their appeal again. ;o)

Sydney also traveled out of town for the first time for a weekend stay in a hotel.  Daddy was running a marathon he had been training so hard for.  I was impressed that she was content in the car on our 4 hour drive (with stops) as long as I kept pulling out different toys and different music CDs.  She finally napped a little on the way.  With minimal napping during the day she slept awesome in her pack and play each night. HA!  Daddy did awesome, and he ran it in his five finger barefoot shoes!  We were so proud!  She also slept a lot on the way back home being so worn out.  Proved to me that she definitely still needs her 2 naps a day.

She has taken a liking to books a lot lately!  Mostly because she has now figured out how to open them and flip the pages.  So cute!  Especially fun since she has now started to show us her favorites that we read to her.  Right now it is "Five Little Ladybugs" and "Doggies" by Sandra Boyt.on.

She started clapping the other day.  So cute!  And now she started waving yesterday.  It is funny because she waves at herself because she watches her hand wave. =)  She sometimes will give me a high five, but she is very stingy with those. =P  I am loving her "head bonks" with me as we tap our heads together as a sign of love.  Since she is not much a snuggler, I will take the love where I can get it. ;o)

I am not sure if I mentioned it, but her Daddy has dubbed Sydney's nickname as "Monkey". =)  It is so cute to hear him call her that and see her face light up. =)  When my hubby cares for someone a lot he gives them a nickname and calls them that and not their name.  ?? Just something he does that is so endearing.  Monkey definitely fits her, since she is quite the mover and is always making her singy, whiny noises similar to a monkey.  I have already decided that her first birthday theme will be a cutesy girl monkey theme.  Nothing big, just family but it so fits. =)

Time has flown so fast, and I just get so emotional thinking about how much I love my "baby girl" as I call her.  I guess soon, I will have to call her "big girl".  But she will always be my baby girl. <3  Love you, Sydney Grace!!  I thank my Gracious God for you everyday!