Turner Blogcast Station: 9 Months

Stats: Callie gained percentiles this month for the first time since she was 2 months old! She now weighs in at 16 lbs (8th %), is 22.5" long (48th %) and her head circumference is 17.22" (43rd%)!

Health: Callie got a cold right towards the end of this month, but her reflux hasn't been an issue. I think she's grown out of it because I truly can't remember the last time she spit up more than just the tiniest little bit.

Sleep: I've heard that babies never sleep consistently until they're well over a year. Callie has given us some amazing sleep nights, and some really awful sleep nights. This month has, in general, been better than last month. She generally sleeps until 2 or 3, and then gets fed, and goes back to sleep until around 6 or 7. Bryann and I haven't been crazy sleep deprived this month, so I call it a win.

She did drop a nap this month. She used to nap 3 times a day at 9 am, 1 pm, and 4 pm, but she's been working on dropping the 4 pm nap. Sometimes she can do it if she naps for at least an hour at both the 9 am and 1 pm nap, but if not, she needs a 30 minute catnap at 4.

Clothes/Diaper Size: She's filling out 6-month onesies and jamies nicely now, but the pants are a little on the small side, so we're going to have to move up to 9-month pants. She graduated to size 2 diapers, and size 3 diapers at night.

Diet: I still breastfeed her in the middle of the night, and sometimes before a nap, but for the most part during the day, I'm pumping and she's eating either breastmilk or formula from the bottle. She gets a big bowl of cereal and baby food in the evenings, and a few extra bites of whatever I'm eating, cut into tiny pieces.

Baby Gear Love: I still use her swing when she's fussy but not quite ready for a nap. Or I have a meeting (since I'm still working from home 90% of the time) and I need to pacify her for awhile.

I also use the command center and her walker (one stays downstairs and one stays upstairs) when I need to keep her out of trouble for a few minutes - like when I take a shower, or cook dinner.

The Ergo still goes with us to all events and Callie still loves to hang out in it, strapped to our chests. Sometimes she's just chill and looks around, sometimes she falls asleep.

And we go on long walks nearly every day, so the Bob stroller is getting some serious use, and is still a super smooth ride.

Nicknames: Baby Girl, Callie Bug, Goo Goo, Boo Boo, Caleesi (GoT reference).

Favorite Songs/Lullabies:"Dancing Queen" sung every time I'm holding her up and she does her Lord of the Dance jig.

Milestones/Firsts:

We saw the entire progression of learning to crawl this month. First, she started rolling from her back to her tummy and sitting up. Then she was leaning forward and getting back on her stomach, bringing her knees up, but not quite getting on top of her knees. She would mostly inchworm and propel herself with her hands backward and forward. Then she got up on her hands and knees, but couldn't quite figure out how to coordinate her hands and her legs to move forward, so she would just kind of reach forward and fall on her face. Then, on Mother's Day, she figured it out and crawled across the floor - a good 6 foot distance - in pursuit of my hard cider.

She's also learned to pull herself up into a standing position. She can only do it with things at her level, like window sills, mommy's knees, coffee tables, and most recently using the bars of her crib, but she's sooooo proud of herself when she pulls herself up. There's nothing else in the world that makes me so happy as the look on her face when she's discovered a new skill.

Callie also started sleeping on her stomach during naps and at night. Once she figured out how to sit up and crawl around, she wasn't interested in going straight to sleep anymore. Sometimes she'll flip herself over, and crawl around her crib for awhile before passing out on her face. But mostly, she sleeps on her stomach, sometimes with her butt straight up in the air!

This month, Callie also spent her first weekend away from home with Grandma Lainey! Bryann and I drove down to Klamath and dropped Callie off at my parents house, and then spent the weekend (our 3-year anniversary weekend) in Ashland. More on this adventure here.

Likes: Bath time, moving, crawling, getting into things, chewing on new things. She also squeals with delight whenever I come to pick her up from Katee's, or when Bryann gets home from work. She doesn't mind being dropped off with others (yet) and she LOVES it when she sees either of us after a bit of an absence.

Dislikes: Having something she's not supposed to have taken away from her, or being picked up and redirected away from the super interesting computer cords/shoes/floor vents/trash cans. She'll cry for a few seconds, but she's usually redirected pretty quickly.

Things I Don't Want to Forget:

Nap times got WAY more interesting this month. With her new found mobility and independence, baby girl decided it would be much more fun if she spent the first 20 minutes of her nap flipping herself over, crawling around her crib getting her leg stuck in the slats and crying, making mommy come back in her room and place her back on her back several times before finally falling asleep. She figured it out eventually, and stopped getting stuck in the crib slats, but we spent a good 4 days doing this routine.

Not sleeping...

One time I had put her down for a nap and Bryann and I were watching the monitor, laughing at her moving around. She grabbed the crib slats and started to pull herself up. We looked at each other and said "Welp, guess that means we need to lower the crib now!" and ran upstairs, lowered the crib mattress all the way down, and moved the monitor off the crib edge.

When I feed her at night, and she's done eating, she cuddles up to me and falls back to sleep, completely content in my arms. It's soooo hard for me to put her back in her crib. Sometimes I sit there rocking and kissing her forehead for a few extra minutes.

This month has been so much fun watching her develop and become mobile and interested in the world around her. She's so expressive and seems to just LOVE life. She must have gotten her mommy and daddy's good humor. :-)