Hellobee

Weight & Length: Sweet P now weighs at 9 months what her big brother did at 18 months! She came in at 19lbs14oz (70th percentile) and was 27.5 inches tall (right at the 50th percentile). And this pretty girl’s head size continues to stay in the 99th percentile.

Sleeping: Oh boy. After we got back from the beach at 7 months we transitioned to 2 naps. It went great for a couple of weeks and then she got into a vicious cycle of awful sleeping after she started learning how to scoot. It was as if she was saying, “Mom, why would I sleep when I can practice my mobility!?” Oye. We had weeks of horrible naps, awful bedtimes and lots of night wakings. We tried to stay consistent for awhile, then experimented with 3 naps again, and finally discovered if we shortened her wake time to 2 hours, she would fuss and move and “work it out” for about 10 minutes before falling asleep. Thankfully naps have been pretty good since we figured that out.

Then, the week we moved, she decided it was time to scream at bedtime, or within an hour of going to sleep and be inconsolable for an hour or two. We tried everything trying to figure out what the issue was. We thought she might be over-tired, under-tired, going through tummy upset, teething and tried just about everything. The only thing that worked? Keeping her up later than we ever would have thought was a healthy bedtime for an 8-month old! She is our little night owl, but now she often sleeps through the night if she gets that 9pm bedtime. The STTN and no longer screaming is awesome! Although it does make for a long day for her parents since her little brother wants to start the day before 7am.

Eating: As she turned 9 months we had just started the GAPS diet, introducing chicken broth as the only addition to Alimentum formula and donated breastmilk (from dairy free donors).

Clothing: Sweet P is definitely into 9-12 month clothes, and even wears some size 12-18 month, especially pajamas!

Personality: This girl is the sweetest ever. Who would have thought after those first 3 colicky months that we would have ended up with the “smileyest” baby around. Of course she has her moments of tummy discomfort or separation anxiety, followed by screaming, but overall she is so, so happy! She has learned to ‘go with the flow’ with a big brother who has a plan for play and knows just how she fits in. But, I’m sure she will find her own voice as she grows and mom and dad don’t have to be the only ones reminding Little Piñata that tackling a baby, even in love, is just not a good idea.

Milestones & Firsts (since 6 months):

– Started babbling ma, da, ba, etc.
– A few first foods and a few bad reactions (read more here)
– Finally rolled from back to belly
– First trip to the beach!
– First visit to the pool, which she LOVED!
– Transition from the swaddle to a Zipadee-Zip
– Finalized her adoption and officially shares our last name! Hooray!
– Started scooting everywhere FAST
– First dinner out at a restaurant (she just happily sat with us, no food for her)
– Started pulling herself up, especially in the bath tub
– Started the GAPS diet and trying homemade chicken broth