I’m writing this a little late but I wanted to wait until Nora had her nine month well visit at the doctors to see where she lands in the percentiles. I feel like this month was a big one in terms of her milestones, and we’re getting to see more and more of her sweet personality each day! Of course there have been some tough moments this month too (thank you, teething) but for the most part Nora is just the cutest ball of joy around!
Here’s what’s new this month…
Weight & Length: At her appointment yesterday Nora weighed in at 17 lbs, 5 oz which is only a few ounces more than last month. She seems to be slowing down a bit in her weight gain but still moving along! She’s in the 42nd percentile for height, 34th for weight, and 30th for head circumference. A little on the smaller side but still very healthy. 🙂 I can’t believe her next appointment will be her one year checkup!!! What!
Clothing: Still in size 4 diapers and 9 month clothing, unless it’s from Gymboree or Old Navy which both have the 6-12 month size. I just got her some cute new stuff from Gymboree’s big summer sale (since, you know, it’ll still be 500 degrees here until October) and I love her in everything. She’s wearing one of the outfits for these pictures actually.
Eyes & Hair: Eyes are still a gorgeous blue and her hair has exploded into ringlets this month! I mean we knew it was curly but it was mostly just on the top of her head before. Now there are curls eeeeverywhere! I’ve been researching curly hair care because I’m a nerd and also because I have no idea where to even begin with curls. I’ve never dealt with this before. Apparently it’s an entirely different ballgame. Special shampoos, special conditioners, detanglers, combs, leave in products, curling creams, ah!!! It’s like a new species of hair to me. SO many rules, too, like don’t towel-dry it and only wash it once or twice a week at the most and NEVER go near it with a brush unless you want your child to look like a frizzball. We’re still getting away with our regular head-to-toe baby wash stuff but we’re almost to the point now where I know I’m going to have to find something curl-specific. I can tell it dries her hair out to use. I bought some of the Shea Moisture kids curling cream stuff to use when I need her hair to calm down before we go out into the world (because otherwise she looks like little orphan Nora) and it works really well but I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of trial and error in this department before we figure out what works best for her hair. The main thing is, though, I really want her to love her curls. Not just tolerate them. I want her to be so thankful God gave her curls. I know too many people who hate their curly hair because they’ve grown up thinking it was a hassle or too frizzy or too BIG. I want to find what works well for Nora and teach her to love this beautiful hair because it really is so beautiful already. I can’t wait to see how it grows in. 🙂
Sleep: We’ve had good days and bad days this month. Mostly, I think, due to teething. (I swear she’s getting her bottom teeth in finally, it’s just a matter of time haha!) She takes two naps a day in general, one around 9am and another around 1-2pm depending on how long the morning nap was. Then she’s down for the night around 7:30 or 8. Occasionally she’ll still add in a short evening nap around 5pm if she’s had a crappy napping day but I try not to let her do that if she can make it to bedtime because otherwise she has trouble settling down for the night. She wakes up around 4am still to nurse, at which point Alex brings her to me in bed and she finishes off the night with us until around 6-6:30am. Or, you know, she’ll just wake up at 5 and be ready to party. Good times. When do kids start sleeping in? Never?
Eating: Good news, people!!! Nora likes food! I would even say (in hushed tones, so she doesn’t hear me) that she actually enjoys when it’s time to eat. There are very few things that she actually spits out now. Her current favorites are blueberries (really all fruit except bananas), plain Cheerios, chicken, applesauce, oatmeal, any type of bread, Puffs, yogurt melts (but oddly, not really regular yogurt), and last week I let her try some of Jameson’s French toast and she was really digging that. Basically she likes anything that isn’t pureed and preferably that she can pick up and eat by herself. She’s not a fan of spoon-feeding, which is quite fine by me. She doesn’t eat enough of anything to actually fill her up, it’s really more for exploration at this point and we breastfeed for the rest of her meals.
Milestones: She started “normal crawling” (as opposed to her army crawling) just after 8 months and she’s gotten pretty fast now! She can get from crawling to sitting and back to crawling with ease. She pulls herself up on ev.ery.thing. She cruises left to right on furniture and can stand up on her own if she’s holding onto something with one hand. I thought she was going to take her time with all of this but it’s like as soon as she figured out she could crawl, she got super brave and everything else followed quickly along! She has so much more freedom now with being able to move around the way she wants to and loves roaming around exploring, or following me and Jameson all over the house. Still, though, no teeth! I keep thinking one is going to bust through any day because her bottom gums are super swollen, but nothing so far! I like her gummy bear smile though. 🙂
Communication: She can clap and wave, “sings” along whenever music comes on, gives kisses when you ask for them (sometimes), and has certain sounds she makes at certain times…kind of like “pre-words” I guess. For example, she always says “mama” when she’s sad. Based on what I know from my schooling as a speech-language pathologist, I know that true words don’t emerge until closer to a year old. But it’s still cute that she’s starting to get there. 🙂 She can understand quite a bit now too and I’ve started working on teaching her some sign language, since babies tend to be able to communicate with that several months before spoken words. 
Loves: Finding wires, trying to play in Charlie’s dog food and water, books, the little toy piano, music, snacks, playing in our DVDs, sleeping on her side or belly, playing in the diaper bag, BLUEBERRIES, her sippy cup, anything having to do with water, and her family. 
Hates: Loud, sudden noises. Being away from me for too long. When Jameson has something she wants (which is always).
Things I want to remember: The Chubby Mermaid (when you lay on your side and sort of prop yourself up with one hand like a chubby little mermaid), your new tongue face (lips pursed, tongue just barely peeking out), the “bababa” thing you do when we start taping your lips with our palms, how Jameson brings you toys when you’re sad and says “I tryin’ to make Nora happy,” the kickstand (when you sit up but hold yourself there with one hand), all the funny (and not-so-funny) ways you wake me up in the morning (pulling my hair, sitting above me and shouting, smiling wide and breathing heavily just inches from my face), and the way you and Jameson are becoming real buddies.
Nora, you are just so much fun! You make us laugh and fill us with joy and add so many wonderful things to our family. We love you forever, sweet girl.
Milk with a Meal 