9 Months!

So as usual, I am about 2.5 weeks late writing my 9 month update and detailing the month of March.  Charlotte turned 9 months old on April 3rd and last month she began moving all over the place!  About one week after she turned 8 months old she began to crawl.  This has changed our lives dramatically (I can only imagine what life will be like when she is walking!).  We have to keep our eyes on her constantly as she is a VERY busy girl ... the only time she is still is when she is sleeping.  Her favorite things to migrate to are Brutus's rawhide bones (which routinely end up in her mouth ... disgusting) and his food/water bowls. 

Chilling out in the swing ... I am thinking she is looking a little too big for it!!  If only I could get Brandon, who is very attached to it and uses it for all of Charlotte's naps, to put it in the attic ...

We also visited the pediatrician this month for a 9 month check-up.  Here are her stats!  Hard to believe how much she has grown from the tiny 5 lb baby we met last July.  For all three measurements she falls into the 10th-25th percentile when plotted as a 9 month old and in the 25th-50th percentile when plotted as an 8 month old. 

*Weight: 17 lb 4 ounces
*Height: 27 inches
*Head circumference 17 inches

*Diaper size: Size 3

Well, the diapers USUALLY manage to do their job

*Clothing size: She is ALL over the place with clothing size depending on the brand, anywhere from 6-9 months to 12-18 months.  For the most part she is in either 9 month or 12 month outfits. 

*Eats: Charlotte is a wonderful eater and is not picky.  She is mostly eating stage 2 baby foods and on average eats two solid meals per day.  She continues to LOVE her puffs and has gotten very efficient at feeding them to herself.  We also introduced barley teething biscuits, which she likes and take longer for her to eat, but I have found that these are messy and stain her clothes more than the baby mum-mums do. 

*Sleep: This continues to be hit or miss.  She has her good nights and her bad nights (up multiple times with multiple bottles), but she has settled into a fairly predictable schedule at night.  She goes down somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 (6:30 the days she has been at daycare which completely wears her out), then is up in the morning between 5:30 and 6:30.  She will usually go back to sleep until between 7:30 and 8 after drinking a bottle.  She has NO schedule whatsoever in terms of her napping.  Some days she only takes one good 1-1.5 hour nap during the day, other times she cat-naps 20-40 minutes at a time without a long nap.  I guess it's good to have a flexible baby who isn't a mess if we throw her off her schedule because she doesn't really have one during the day.

*Likes: walks (we have really been taking full advantage of the nice weather), Brutus's rawhide bones (as mentioned above, I take my eyes off of her for two seconds and she has a bone in her mouth), food/water bowls (she can't resist tipping them over then cries when she is covered in water), car keys, jumparoo, the grocery cart, baths, showers (we have started showering with her some which is so easy!)

*Dislikes: lying flat on her changing table (I have to very quickly change her diaper while she squirms around and screams, then let her sit up while I get her dressed and she furiously rips baby wipes out of the container she has learned to open), having her nose/face wiped, the carseat

Carseats are overrated

*Milestones
I have already mentioned Charlotte's crawling, which is the major milestone she reached last month.  Despite episodes of "normal" crawling, which we have seen her do, she spends most of her time crawling in an unusual method of keeping one leg forward and the other leg backwards, scooting around the house.  Whatever works.
Video from March 17th:

She has also started pulling up to a kneeling position on tables, chairs, etc.  This makes our coffee table a dangerous place to leave much of anything unless we want things thrown all over the floor.  How fun it is to be completely destructive!
Charlotte continues to babble, using mostly D's, B's, and Y's.  While she says "dada" with frequency, I have yet to hear her say "mama". 

*First Pair of Shoes!
We got these adorable shoes for her at the very beginning of the month.  She still goes barefoot most of the time, but she has worn them a few times and they make her look so grown up!

*First Trip to the Zoo!
At the very beginning of April we took our first family outing to the zoo.  It is such a luxury to have it so close!  The Birmingham Zoo has done a lot of renovations over the years and was so much nicer than I remembered.  Charlotte was more interested in the wooden posts and ropes lining the various exhibits than the actual animals, but certainly seemed to enjoy herself.  She did have some interest in the flamingos and enjoyed the fish tank inside the monkey house ... maybe a trip to the aquarium is in our future.
*Pictures to come in a separate post!!

*Trip down the street for Grandpa's Birthday Dinner 

*Playing with Mommy's favorite baby doll from childhood 

*Exploring in the backyard with Daddy 

Happy 9 months Charlotte!  You have been such a blessing to us!

8 Months!

Charlotte is a busy, busy girl!  She is wiggly and always wants to be on the floor exploring.  Every day she is getting more mobile, which means we don't have much time to get the house baby-proofed!  Unfortunately she spent much of the first half of February sick.  She had a cold she just couldn't get rid of and ended up with a fever of 104 degrees and a night in Children's E.R.  Thankfully after a course of antibiotics everything cleared up and she was back to her happy self!

*Height and weight - not sure, didn't go to the doctor this month (for a regular check-up that is!)

*Diaper size - size 3!  I don't know what we will do when she moves up from a size 3 ... that's the highest size they make Pampers Swaddlers in and those are my absolute favorite!  I had thought when we moved her up to the bigger size we would solve our blow-out problem, but no such luck.  Reproducibly every morning, Charlotte has an outfit-destroying poop.  I don't think we have picked her up from daycare a single day in the past 2 months without a dirty outfit in a plastic bag!

*Clothing size - She still fits a few 6 month outfits, but she is mostly wearing 6-9 months and 9 months. 

*Eats - Charlotte is doing great in the eating department.  She eats at least two solid meals a day (usually lunch and dinner).  She loves green vegetables ... spinach, peas, and green beans mixed with a starch (rice or potatoes).  I plan to start making some homemade baby food (maybe in May when I am on a light month - geriatrics!), but for now we are using Earth's Best organic canned food.  She doesn't seem to like the turkey or chicken dinners or tomatoes.  Her new discovery this month is HAPPYBABY organic puffs ... these are a lifesaver at restaurants!  She will sit in her highchair and let us feed her puffs one at a time while we eat our meal.  

*Sleep

This picture says it all ... Charlotte is sleeping in her crib!  About one week before she turned 8 months old (which was on March 3rd), she slept in her crib and we haven't looked back.  Bedtime is between 7 and 7:30 and she gets up for the day around 8 AM on non-daycare days.  She spends most of the night on her stomach.  Usually she wakes up at least once at night to eat (sometimes around midnight, other times at 4 AM - which is the worst because it means we are basically up for the day), but we have had a few nights of uninterrupted sleep.  Naps are starting to improve - usually one good nap per day with a few shorter ones.  

*Likes - taking walks, baths, wires and cords (she scoots right for these and loves to shake them), playing on the floor with toys, Brutus's bones

*Dislikes - she has developed a hatred for being put in her carseat - she arches her back, screams, and makes it very difficult for us to strap her in; having her nose or face wiped

*What else Charlotte has been up to:

Charlotte's big motor milestone of the month was learning to push herself from lying on her stomach to a sitting position and vice versa.  This allows her to be fairly mobile and scoot all over the place.  As of March 3rd she wasn't crawling, but could definitely get where she wanted to go.  Her pincer grasp is also getting more refined - allowing her to eat puffs with ease!  She continues to babble frequently using mainly B's and D's (so we have heard "dada" but no "mama" yet!)  

These videos are just iphone quality - but they capture the moment

Hanging out on the front porch

First time in a baby swing ... at Homewood Park

Giants Super Bowl Win 
Charlotte has been a sporting good luck charm since her birth, cheering the Cardinals, Giants, and Crimson Tide on to championships!

Happy 8 Months Charlotte!!