9 months

Lydia is 9 months old... which just sounds so old to me! It is crazy that at this point she has been in this world with us for about as long as she was in my belly. As usual I don't know how the month flew by so quickly, but is has been a fun one.

Stats: At 9 months old Lydia is 18 pounds, 6 ounces and 27.5 inches long which puts her right at the 50th percentile for height and weight. Her head is still big... around the 60th percentile. Her legs have gotten so much longer, but she is still chubby too. These days her 6-9 month clothes are very snug which is so crazy since she just transitioned over into them. She is in size 3 diapers (!), but still has no teeth and very little hair.

Eating: Every day she loves to eat more than the day before. We bought some baby food again (the kind in the pouch) because sometimes what we are eating isn't easily adapted for a toothless baby, but she doesn't really enjoy the baby food at all anymore. We have started feeding her bigger breakfasts, such as yogurt and cheerios or a banana and some oatmeal. At lunch she usually has cheese, just like her mama, along with some fruit and possibly some bread. During dinner she eats whatever we are eating - tonight it was asparagus, some baked potato and pumpkin pie for dessert :) I let her snack on some raising and puffs throughout the day but in general we try to have her eat healthy things while we eat. She is also loving drinking water out of her sippy cup.

She still nurses 6-7 times a day and once at night on top of all of her solid food! Her appetite has drastically increased over this past month.

Sleeping: Blahhhh.... that is how I feel about her sleeping habits. We said we would do something about it, but then we didn't. At this point David is the only one who can put Lydia to sleep, him and our Hyundai. So when Lydia is with me or with Nana or Gigi she simply doesn't nap which is really bad. She may fall asleep in her stroller for a few minutes, but I know she isn't getting the rest she needs.

At night she has continued to wake up 3-4 times a night. Except now she won't go back to sleep for me after nursing... so David and I both get up. It is pretty ridiculous so starting tonight we are going to push night weaning. The plan is for David to soothe Lydia back to sleep anytime before 5 a.m. Hopefully this will remove the incentive for her to wake up, be fed, then be held by Daddy for 15 more minutes. We will see!

Obviously things need to change in this area. I think Lydia is really starting to communicate that she wants space as she falls asleep, so once the nights get figured out (if that ever happens...) we may start to encourage self soothing. We are pretty tired over here, but we know that all in all a year or so of little sleep isn't too long - it just feels long in the moment.

What she loves: Food, moving around, Rooney, Josh, music (we finally got a children's CD and she loves it!), Daddy and going for walks. She loves when we dance with her and she likes to feel like she's big.

What she hates: Diaper changes and getting dressed! When she is in a room alone, left with strangers, or sleepy.

Personality/Milestones: She is crawling! And pulling herself up, and almost walking. All of the sudden our girl is moving like crazy. It was so strange how it happened because as of a week and a half ago she was showing no signs of crawling. She still wasn't rolling over consistently and hated being on her tummy. But how she hates sitting still and being held and instead wants to get around on her own. We bought the outlet covers and anchored the bookshelves, and now she just moves around on her own from room to room. It is so much fun!

She is still learning new sounds and some days she will babble away, while other days she is too focused on moving to talk. Lydia has started to wave intermittently and if you have been following along at all you know she loves to frown.

In case you missed them, you can go here to see videos of the crawling and talking.

Our baby girl is developing her own opinions and is not scared to voice them. Sometimes while eating she yells when she wants more, and during diaper changes she protests laying still by screaming. We try hard to not react to this behavior and instead to stay calm while still making her comply with what is happening. Ignoring her stink face has seemed to cause her to smile more often, and I just hope that she will continue to learn good behavior as we focus on praising her for it.

Heaven-sent baby items: We have a couple toys that she can hold on to while standing up or walk behind while pushing and they are definitely sent from heaven. They allow her to practice her walking, crawling and pulling up to standing and they give me a big time break. When Lydia wasn't moving yet everyone would say, "Well enjoy it, because once she starts your job will be so much harder!" I think that this applies in certain situations, but being home with Lydia has actually become a lot easier lately. Since she can move now she can be so much more independent and can entertain herself for quite some time. With her separation anxiety kicking in I actually have to remind myself each day to pick her up and hold her close because she is so often happy to be playing alone.

Also, this may seem like a strange time to mention it, but high chairs are pretty awesome. Before having a baby I questioned having one thinking we could get by with her on our lap on in a Bumbo. But, you should definitely have a high chair. In fact your enlaws and parents should have high chairs, and maybe get them for your close friends' houses too :) There is just nothing that can really replace a high chair and I wish I had gotten one sooner. We have a Graco that we bought at Walmart for 70 bucks... and it was totally worth it!

Words from Daddy: A dream come true! This past weekend I got to take a nap with Lydia asleep on my chest. She is getting so big in so many ways but she is still so little.

Time to cheer the Broncos on to a comeback (you have to love Peyton Manning, right?). Have a great night!