9 Months

Chelsea recently turned nine months old and I wanted to make sure I documented all of her mile stones. She has grown up so much in the last 3 months. I feel like she's a whole new baby. She's acquired so many new skills and she's just so much fun. When we took her to the doc for her 9 month check up we got all good news. He said she looks great and is developing well. She weighs just over 21 lbs (85th percentile) and she is 29.25 inches long (94th percentile). One of the questions the doctor asked was if she got nervous or upset around strangers and I confidently answered "No, not at all. She's actually very happy with anyone." He responded with a very surprised look on his face and said "Really?" Apparently at this age most children start having separation anxiety issues and don't do so well with strangers. Well, immediately following his question and my response he came towards Chelsea to examine her and she let out the most terrified little cry and proceeded to cry (scream really) through the entire examination. The doctor took a step back and asked me "Would you like to re answer that last question?" I thought it was really funny. She tried to make a liar out of me. Anyway, I don't know what she was upset about when her doctor came near her but normally she IS very good with strangers. She's an all around happy baby. The only time we really have issues with her is at night. We are still struggling with getting her to STAY asleep. She sleeps through the night most nights it's just getting her to sleep that's a problem. She has her nightly routine of a bath, some relaxation time, reading books and a bottle and with that routine we can get her to fall asleep...for about 30 min to 45 min and then she's up again. We've tried letting her cry it out (she cried through an entire 2 hour movie the other night), we've tried putting her to bed later, we've tried sound machines, we've done what all the "experts" say yet, we still struggle with getting her to stay asleep. If you've got a suggestion I'm open to hearing it! Other than her PM issues she's is such a pleasant baby to be around. Apparently she's "pretty" too. I mean, I of course think she's beautiful, but I am pretty biased. But other people think she's pretty as well. No matter where we go, we could be at a restaurant, at church, at the mall, it never fails, someone always comes up to me and tells me how "pretty" our baby is. I'll take the compliment!

Her newest "tricks":

-She has two bottom teeth (they came in at 7 months)

-Eating table food (puffs, yogurt bites, banana slices, pasta, carrots, peas, corn cobs)

-crawling (8 1/2 months)

-sitting up /standing up in her bed (we had to lower her bed so she doesn't fall out)

-pulling herself up to a standing position

-growling

-clicking her tongue

-peek-a-boo

-playing with her cousin, Braxton

-she loves to be read to

-she loves to "talk" on the phone (she can tell when someone is on the other end and when you are pretending)

-she loves being outdoors

-Her hair on the side is longer than the rest of her hair. I call her my little Jewish baby. Every one comments on her side locks

-clapping

-She gets really excited and kicks her feet when the theme song for Dora the Explorer or The Backyardigans comes on. She doesn't watch the shows, she just pays attention long enough for the theme songs at the beginning.

We did have one scare. She fell down a flight of stairs on Mother's day. Scared me to death. After that we got a "baby prison" to keep her contained. She hates it but boy do I LOVE it.

This past nine months have gone by so quick and I'm so excited to see how she's going to grow and develop in the next nine months. At the same time I want time to slow down just a little. Soon I'm going to have a walking, talking toddler and my baby will be gone forever. I don't know if I'm ready for her to grow up quite yet.