I've been wanting to do a mommy and me update for a while now but, every time I would get started with my writing, there would always be a new baby milestone to record. Ever since she turned 6 months, all the developmental milestones just started creeping up one after the other so quickly. Now here we are today, going to visit the doctor for her 9 months check-up!
Today, I watch in disbelief at everything my daughter has learned and continues to learn on a daily basis. Everyday I watch her do something she's never done before. I can't help but to be filled with pride and joy as I watch her. Yet, I also feel a bit of sadness to see how fast time is going by and how much she has grown thus far.
Below I will share with you where we both are in this 9 month stage in hopes to give some positive insight to all you soon-to-be new moms.
*Weight/Height: 17 lbs. 29 inches long
*Breastfeeding/Solids:
Call me crazy, but I feel as though I spend so little time breastfeeding my daughter now than I did in the previous months. Now that she is older and more comfortable with breastfeeding, it is easier for her to get what she needs at a much quicker speed. Also, being that I am incorporating solids into her daily meals, she is breastfeeding less.
As soon as she wakes up in the morning, I breastfeed her. Then, I give her some fruits that I have pureed for her in the baby bullet. So far she's had strawberries, bananas, mangoes, blueberries, pears, apples, blackberries, pineapples, watermelon, and grapes. I try to switch it up for her every week and sometimes blend different fruits for her to try together. She's loved everything and hardly ever says no to any foods. I've noticed her favorite fruit though, is bananas. Even when she sees someone eating a banana her eyes open up wide and she starts making noises while reaching out her tiny hand so that they can feed her some. It's the most hilarious thing ever. Around mid-day, for lunch, I give her some kind of vegetable puree. Her favorite vegetables right now are sweet potatoes and carrots. I've also let her try green peas, avocados, broccoli, and butternut squash. My husband and I both agree she's not a fan of the green peas. She makes a squirmy face and spits it right back out whenever we feed it to her. One thing I did try doing was mixing it with carrots or sweet potatoes since she loves those and sometimes she's ok with eating it that way. Lastly, before bed-time at around 8pm I feed her oatmeal mixed with some of my pumped breastmilk. Boy does she love oatmeal! I'm guessing it's because it's mixed with my breastmilk that she loves it so much.
Recently, we tried feeding her Cheerios and some dried fruits & veggies yogurt melts which, she loves so much. She also has become a huge fan of Gerber's "Lil' Crunchies" snacks. She goes crazy as soon as she sees the can. One time I even had to feed it to her while at the store before I could even finish paying for it. In between all the solid feedings I breastfeed her. She usually wants to be breastfed after every meal and before going to sleep.
*Diapers:
At 8 months, my daughter now uses size 3 diapers. During the day she probably has about 6 wet diapers and at least 1-2 soiled diapers. Now that I am incorporating more solids into her diet, her soiled diapers have changed so much from when she was exclusively breastfed. Her poopy has now gone from runny and mustardy yellowish color to now firm, dry, and darker in color. It almost looks like a grown-up poop, if that makes any sense. The good thing about this change is that there are no more messy accidents as we used to have when she was younger. Before, there were so many times her poopy would come out from all sides of her diaper even up to her back! I remember one time I even had to rip her shirt open in order to get it off her without poop getting on her face! My husband and I are so glad those days are over!
(My daughter at 3 months pictured above.)
*Motor/Sensory Development:
Where do I start in this area? So much has happened since the last update I posted! In the last update, my daughter was still not able to fully grab her feet and bring it up to her mouth. She is now able to do that without any struggle at all. She actually does this all the time now. She even plays with her toes and swings her leg back and forth. It's so funny to watch her do it.
Her rolling over movement has become so fast now I have to be sure to watch her when I lay her anywhere to make sure she won't roll off any edges. One thing she hasn't gotten yet is crawling. However, don't let that fool you. She is still able to get around the entire apartment! She does something between a swimming leg movement and a drag that gets her moving allover the floor especially, when she's trying to get to something she's really interested in. (Usually, something she's not supposed to be touching.) She's already started trying to stand and boy, was I a nerve wreck the first time I witnessed her doing this. She is also able to sit up without any support and can sit herself up when she is laying down. (You know what this means; changing diapers have become a real headache with her trying to sit up and move around all the time!)
After she turned 7 months, we realized it was time to get her a walker so she can practice walking. Before we decided to buy it, we would try holding her down with her feet on the ground and she would start bouncing because she was so used to being on her jumper. At first, she didn't know what to do when we put her in the walker. She would try to bounce and would get upset when she realized it wouldn't do anything. After a few days, she eventually learned how to use it. Now she's always so excited when I put her in the walker because it's just another way for her to be free to explore and touch everything around her. (Once we realized she got a hang of the walker, we had to move around a lot of our furniture and things that she could get hurt with or try to touch...one day I found her chewing on the wheel from her stroller!)
The walker has definitely helped her develop her standing skills tremendously. Just the other night we found her standing up in her crib calling for our attention! (See hilarious video below.) After that incident, my husband was forced to lower the mattress down in order to avoid any future accidents. Often, she stands herself up using the things around her for support to hold on to but, she's still not taking any walking steps.
In terms of talking, she is extremely talkative now, in some language she seems to think we grown-ups understand. Her first word however, was about 2 months ago when she said "mama" for the first time. I will never forget that day. She had been making the lip movements for a couple of days but, the sound just never seemed to come out of her mouth. Of course, I was super happy and excited she said mama instead of dada first. Unfortunately, for me though, that only lasted about a week. She later began to say "dada" and "papa". Now that's all that comes out of her mouth unless she's really trying hard to get my attention and she'll angrily scream "MA-MAMA-MAMA!" at me. She also screams and yells a lot more now especially when she gets excited about something (food most of the time).
Another thing she started to do at around 6 months was nodding her head no. She doesn't really do it in response to anything. She just randomly starts nodding her head no when she feels like it. It's hilarious though, when she coincidentally does it when someone is asking her a question or telling her something.
She is able to do a lot of things with her hands and fingers now. As you have noticed from the video above, she can now grab things with her hands and bring them into her mouth. (She still doesn't have this fully down, there are lots of times she misses her mouth and we find leftovers all in her chair and diaper.) She also can clap her hands together. The first time I saw her do this, was for her baby cousin's 1st birthday. I guess seeing everyone clapping all night made her want to do it as well. She recently starting clasping her fingers to her palm to make a hi/bye motion. She also knows how to give high fives. Oh, and just maybe a day a go she started doing "peek-a-boo" by bringing her hands to her eyes (sometimes her forehead, lol).
*Sleeping:
In the last update, I mentioned that my daughter had been sleeping 7-8 hours straight through the night. However, that is not the case these days. Her 8 hour night time sleeping routine seemed to have lasted up until she was about 6 months. Since then, she's been and continues to wake up at least two times during the night to feed. Sometimes, (on her bad nights) she will wake up more than usual and just want to be held or want to be on my breasts for a long period of time through the night. I am still not sure why she goes through these bad night periods. Whether it's because of her teething or she just wants to be comforted throughout the night, it is extremely draining for me since I can barely get any sleep when she's like that.
I'm hoping that as she continues to get older, her sleeping patterns will get better during the night.
(*FYI: She still has not cut any teeth through yet. Her doctor informed us, that this was perfectly normal. Getting teeth to come out later in age is actually a good thing!)
*My Postpartum Body:
Currently, I am still only 127lbs. As much as I have been working on gaining weight, it just isn't happening for me. Especially not while I am continuing to breastfeed. My goal is to try to gain at least another 5-8lbs. in muscle weight. Being a mom, every week and every day is different and so unpredictable. Trying to maintain a consistent meal and workout plan is nearly impossible as a stay-at-home mother. However, I do everything I can to try to get a workout in, whether at the gym or at home, at least 3-4x per week. I've mainly been focusing my workouts on my lower body and abdominal area. (Check out some of my at-home workout routines under the "FITNESS" tab or by clicking here).
In regards to dieting, I try to get in as many meals as I can during the day. (I can usually get up to 3 meals in with a few snacks in between.) I don't really follow any strict diet. I am trying to eat a larger amount of calories per day than normal because I loose so much with breastfeeding. My typical meals consist of rice, a meat, and some kind of vegetable. For breakfast, I either have oatmeal (with protein powder mixed in), scrambled eggs (3-4), or protein pancakes. Some in between snacks include fruits, non-fat greek yogurt, and protein shakes. In my last update, I mentioned I was still taking my prenatal vitamins. Now, I have switched to my regular multivitamins and have discontinued to use the prenatals.
*My Postpartum Hair:
My hair has actually stopped falling out as much as it was about 3 months ago. It has also been growing out a lot in the front edges. I can tell because I have so much baby hairs in my front edges now that were not there before. I have so much short hairs there now that won't stay down for nothing in the world! It's definitely regrowths!!
For more information on how I've kept my hair healthy during pregnancy and postpartum, click here.
I hope this 9 month update can give you some positive insights into motherhood. It never gets easier, you just adjust and grow into the new lifestyle. Although it doesn't get easier, it definitely gets more entertaining and you learn to appreciate even the stressful moments. 9 months in, there are still days I just want to pull my hairs out and I'm sure there will be plenty more moments like these to come. In all honestly, I am kind of looking forward to them because I now know it's all part of the experience of motherhood...
...Sew This is Life!
*Any questions or other information you would like me to share, please feel free to leave a comment below.