Sweet Pea is 9 months old!!

Oh, this baby. A baby that came way sooner than I had planned (that word is a silly word), but now a baby that is so much a part of our life I can hardly remember what life was like before her. It is so hard to believe she has almost been a part of our family for a whole year. Only 3 more months before her first birthday.

Eating: Eating stayed the same this month. Four-hour schedule. She eats 6 oz. during the day and then she has gotten to where she wants 9-10 oz. before bed! This baby has some rolls!!

Solids: Sweet Pea has really picked up on the amount of solids she eats. She is eating about 2-3 oz. per meal. She has solids with breakfast and lunch. Because of her diarrhea marathon this month, I’ve still not been able to introduce to her all the basic baby foods! We were working on introducing fruits.

Sleeping: She pushed her naptimes back by 15 minutes because she was ready to extend wake time from 1.5 hours to 1.75 hours. Days after turning 8 months, she officially dropped the 3rd nap! I knew she was ready because she basically just stopped sleeping for it and would play the entire time she was in bed. She also extended the length of her first two naps. So, I just stopped laying her down for that 3rd catnap one day. It did take her body about a week or so to fully adjust. I started laying her down for bedtime 15-30 minutes early and that helped her during that transition time of dropping the nap.

Sweet Pea is still in the Rock N Play sleeper. My motto is to not fix something that isn’t broken. She is still sleeping well in there, so I haven’t seen a reason to move her to her crib. However, my thinking is that making that transition will be easier to do when she isn’t mobile, so I am thinking I will move her to the crib in the next month or two. One day when I got her up from a nap, she had turned herself in the bed and was laying sideways.

Sickness: Need I say more? We assume what Sweet Pea had was some awful virus that gave her diarrhea for 15 days straight! I never knew that was possible, but apparently, it is. She had a horrible rash that turned into a yeast infection. Two prescription creams later and it finally started to heal. Baking soda in the bathtub took the sting out so she could enjoy being in the bath, diaper free hours while playing on a blanket, COUNTLESS diaper changes and LOTS of sanitizing daily (multiple times a day!) with Clorox and Lysol got us through those weeks.

And…a couple days ago Sweet Pea came down with a cold. This just continues our trend since February of get sick, stay well for about a week and then get sick again. She is pretty miserable today with lots of congestion.

Weaning (formula and zantac): We were in the process of getting her switched to the powder formula when the diarrhea began so it was unclear if the cause was a food allergy or a virus. Allergy testing came back negative but it could be a false negative, so for now (and probably until she is 12 months and weaned to whole milk), Sweet Pea is on 100% ready made formula and we are no longer trying to wean her to powder formula.

April 25th we stopped the 8pm zantac dose. She had no issues stopping another dose of Zantac so next month (or maybe even sooner) we will stop the morning dose and then Sweet Pea will be completely off Zantac!

Independent Playtime: Sweet Pea still does this in the morning after breakfast for 20 minutes in the pack n play. Soon we will increase to 30 minutes (when she is mobile).

Favorite toys/activities: This baby is so funny. She is still content to just sit and play with some toys on a blanket on the living room floor! She enjoys all the typical baby toys: stacking cups, stacking rings, blocks, stuffed animals. Sweet Pea find much entertainment in things that aren’t necessarily toys but are interesting to her just the same. She has started grabbing whatever is in front of her wherever you are so I do have to watch those little pudgy hands! Sweet Pea still enjoys her floor mat, jumperroo and jumper. That baby LOVES to bounce. She will be sitting on my lap and just start bouncing herself.

After bathtime, when she is laying on her changing table, she will play Peak-A-Boo with me using her towel to cover her face!

Diapers/Clothes: Still size 3 diapers. Sweet Pea is wearing mostly 9 month and 12 month clothing. There are some 6 month outfits that still fit but probably not for long.

Milestones: I caught Sweet Pea rolling over on her floor mat. She was trying to reach something that was above her head (while laying on her back) and she rolled her whole body over. I praised her and praised her. She hasn’t rolled again since then. She is just so laid back and content. At least I know she can roll if she wants to!

I have caught Sweet Pea rolling to her side when I put her on her back. Maybe she is getting ready to start rolling around. She just hasn’t been interested but since she has started grabbing everything she can get her little hands on, maybe she is becoming interested in learning to move around.

She said something that sounded like “bye” this month. Then the next day she said “bye” again, but she hasn’t said it since, so I am not sure I am counting that or not!

She will sometimes get her whole arm/hand swinging when we are saying “goodbye”.

Personality: Sweet Pea is possibly the most laid back baby I’ve ever seen. She seriously goes days (weeks?) without crying. The only time she fusses (and it is hardly even a ‘fuss’) is around bath time and, of course, when she is not feeling well. It’s almost like she just wants to get on in the bathtub because I pick her up and take her to the bathroom and start the bath and she smiles so big because she knows what is coming: a warm bath, a warm bottle and her cozy little bed! Sweet Pea just goes with whatever is happening and takes it all in. Most of the time she is very quiet and you wouldn’t even know she is present. Sometimes she gets in a talkative mood and babbles away. Sweet Pea is a sweet, happy little baby.

Just like her sister, Sweet Pea LOVES her family. She gets SO excited when she sees her family first thing in the morning after waking up or when she wakes up from a nap. She saves her biggest smiles for us.

She has a thing for her Daddy which is just the cutest thing ever! Little Bug was always a HUGE mama’s girl (still is) but I think we may have a “Daddy’s Girl” in Sweet Pea. She starts jumping and bouncing when her Daddy walks in the door from work. Extreme excitement!

Sweet Pea gets so excited when I am holding her and we head out the garage door. She starts to swing her little arms, kick her legs and she gets so excited because I guess she knows she is going somewhere!

Sisters: Sweet Pea adores her big sister. Her big sister adores her! They have started this thing where they look at each other and just start laughing hysterically. They do it most mornings at breakfast and then throughout the day.

After breakfast we have some time before Sweet Pea lays down for nap now that she has extended her waketime more. Little Bug likes for me to put Sweet Pea on the floor so they can “play”. I love it! I pray they are the best of friends someday.

Schedule (8 months old):

8:00am eat (bottle + solids)

9:45am – 12:00pm nap

12:00pm eat (bottle + solids)

1:45pm – 4:00/4:15pm nap

4:00/4:15pm eat

7:15pm bath

7:30pm eat

7:45/8:00pm bedtime

Happy 9 Months, Sweet Pea!!

- Elaine