Happy 9 Months P!

How can it be? Another month has come and gone. My precious P is 9 months old. She has now spent just as long on the outside as she did on the inside. That is crazy to me. Seems like just yesterday I was complaining about how badly it hurt when P moved around inside my belly. I find myself becoming more and more nostalgic as the days pass by.

Today P and I went to our Mommy and Me group of the first time in a few months. It became hard to go with my pumping schedule, work schedule, and P's nap schedule. It was a bit of a culture shock for me as P has gone from being one of the youngest babies in the group to being the oldest one there today. Looking at all of those tiny babies made by ovaries hurt. I miss those days so badly. I'd give anything to stop the time and keep my little girl little. Alas, she is getting older and growing and changing dramatically with each coming month.

In P's 9th month of life she has cut two teeth, learned to sit up by herself, and started crawling. It was quite a change for one month. We went from a mostly stationary baby to a fully mobile almost toddler. Life has once again gotten a little more complicated for me as I am constantly having to move her away from the various dangers around the house. Her favorite thing to do is play with my breast pump and it's cords.

P has definitely developed an attachment to her mother and father in the last month. She has proven time and time again that she does not like strangers getting too close and she definitely doesn't want them touching her!

In the last few weeks she has decided that she no longer likes baths. This has always been a go to for us when she gets cranky near bedtime. We are hoping that it is short lived and that she will once again love to splash around.

P still loves the animals. Things have gotten a little bit better between P and Callie. Callie no longer growls when P comes near, and she will even let P pet her (with my supervision, of course). P really loves our cat, and it is mutual. The cat loves to lay on the floor near P while she crawls around. P will squeak and squeal as the cat lets her pull her tail and pull out clumps of her fur. She even lets P bite her ear. P will point and laugh at both animals, but calls them both "goggy." I think Callie's new found love of the cat comes from the fact that P likes to share her food with her--often sneaking her puffs and whatever other finger foods I put on her tray.

P has really taken to drinking out of her straw sippy cups. She has one for milk and one for water. She will drink both interchangeably. Lately, she would rather drink her milk this way than out of a bottle. She is adorable crawling around while holding on to the straw and dragging the cup with her. She will take big gulps and then make an ahh sound. I wonder where she picked that up?

At P's 9 month appointment she weighed in at a whopping 22 pounds and 3 ounces, and she measured an impressive 30 inches tall. The new doctor (we were very unhappy with her previous doc, so we switched) stayed with me for 30 minutes addressing all of my concerns about P's eating habits. As you may remember, P stopped wanting bottles almost completely. I have been struggling with this mightily, and almost to the point of insanity. Lately, it has gotten even worse. She will only take 1 real bottle a day and it is in her sleep. All of her other milk comes mixed into her solid foods and in her sippy cup (she probably takes 1 1/2 ounces a day in her cup). Her doc assures me that she is not starving. I mean, homegirl is quite hefty! She told me to keep doing what I am doing, and that it will all be ok. It was nice to get some validation.

We have also been struggling with night sleep for a few months. It has gotten better than it was at 6 months, but P was still waking once a night most nights. The doctor assured me that P is not really hungry, and does not really need the food. She is crying and waking out of habit and to get us to help settle her back down. This confirmed what I already knew in my heart--that we had conditioned her to wake at night to eat when she doesn't need to. We were so concerned about her milk intake that we got lazy with our sleep training. I am happy to report that we are back on the wagon. We moved up P's bedtime at our doc's suggestion. She goes to bed at 7 pm, and we do not got back in until 7 am. Unless, or course, there is real reason to. First night she cried for 30 to 40 minutes. Last night--she went right out with no problems.

Overall, this past month has been a whirlwind. P has changed some much we can barely recognize her from her 8 month self.

Happy 9 month birthday sweet Piper Eloise. I hope that one day you will look back on these blog posts as if they are one big love letter to you. You have made me a better person, a more complete person, and I love you all the more for that. In my eyes, you will always be perfect in every way--even when you are screaming. You are definitely wild, but I wouldn't expect anything else. I love watching you explore life. How ever much time we have together--it will never be enough.

Love,
Mommy