03 Jan The Delaney Diaries: 9 month check in
And it’s official. You’ve been outside of my belly, on this earth, making our world – for the same amount of time you were in my belly growing. How cool is that, my girl?
This past month has been a blast and a whirlwind, as the holidays usually are. We celebrated Thanksgiving, your Baptism, and Christmas-y things all within your ninth month and you hit some pretty cool milestones.
You are fully mobile, taking on stairs, pulling yourself up, and even taking steps with your walker! You are sporting 4 new top teeth and I can’t even handle that buck tooth smile. I think I’m going to need you to SLOW DOWN, because you are growing up way to fast, Miss. I know I say this every month, but wow, you have changed so much! More baby proofing, more hands on playtime and so much fun interaction. You’re really developing a personality and I LOVE IT. You’re {usually} very pleasant, super smiley and so expressive! Everyone always comments on your facial expression and how animated you are! Makes you seems so old!
This age is so fun, because you’ve really started to come into your own. There’s nothing better than the huge GRIN that comes upon your face when we walk into the room. You love to chat {especially to the TV} and talk with your hands. You love music, clapping your hands and bouncing on your bum. Your Dada bought you jingle bells and you have hardly put the thing down. I keep telling myself I NEED to get you to a music class, but yeah, that hasn’t happened yet. So we make our own at home! You love being outside. Even though we haven’t been out for as many walks, the moment I open the door, your face lights up and your feet start kicking.
You do pretty well playing on your own, especially at my feet while I cook and you even enjoy sitting in your highchair while we listen to music and “chat”. We have to be very sneaky when we leave the room, because you don’t like being alone. And if you’re hungry and you see me – game over. You are serious about your eats, girlfriend.
As for sleep for your current sleep situation, since we as a family have been a little all over the place traveling this month, so has your sleep. At the beginning of the month, you were definitely going through some sort of growth spurt/teething. We had some middle of the night wake ups, where I just fed you and put you back down. Then we had some nights where I questioned myself and thought, “should we be sleep training?” When you woke up around 3am, we would let you ”Cry It Out” and you did eventually fall asleep. After 2-3 nights of that, it seemed you got the hang of things and started sleeping through the night typically until 7:30am!
I’m not sure we officially ever sleep trained you (except for those couple of nights where we let you CIO). Really I have just went along with your schedule and what your needs were. If you seemed tired, we put you down. If you were awake, you were awake.
There were some nights when traveling when you’d wake up in the middle of the night and letting you try to get back to sleep just wasn’t in the cards. Right now it seems that we have landed at a good place, where you are sleeping 7:30pm-7:30am.
Still taking 2 naps a day. One in the morning around 9:30am-12pm, then another around 2:00pm-4:00pm.
As for eating, we have seen some changes there too! You are still loving pretty much everything we throw at you. I am pretty sure that there isn’t a food that we have given you that you haven’t eaten yet. We are still choosing to avoid all grains and dairy right now, although you did a have one of MomMom’s meatballs that had some breadcrumbs and cheese in it – and LOVED IT. It is obvious that you prefer to do everything on your own. You seem pretty thrown off when we try to put something in your mouth – almost as if you need to inspect the food first before putting it in your mouth. (Sidenote: I actually read a lot about this and the BLW approach – that babies actually have an instinct of what foods are good for them. So it is a good thing when they are able to feed themselves. They’ll eat what they want to eat at that given time. There’s even evidence that they will avoid foods that they may be intolerant or allergic to! Pretty crazy, huh?)
Since you are now sleeping straight through until 7:30am, you have dropped your early morning feed (HOLLAAAA) , so our new “schedule” looks a little something like this:
7:30 am – awake and milk feed
8:30 am – breakfast (usually eggs with veggies, pancakes made with banana/egg/coconut flour, leftovers from dinner)
playtime while I get cleaned up
9:30 am – nap
12:00 pm –awake and milk feed
12:30 pm – lunch (chicken, salmon, veggies, beans, hummus, fruit)
1:00 pm – playtime or errands
2:30ish – nap
4:30ish – awake and milk feed
6:00 pm – dinner (similar to lunch)
6:30 pm –play, bath, book
7:30 – bed
How am I doing?
Pretty darn great! I have accepted the fact that my new belly is just the way it is right now. I continue to notice changes (healing!) and I think it’s helpful to realize that the human body needs some time! As women, I think we feel this extreme pressure to bounce right back and even though I remind myself and other women of this all the time, it’s hard. Not that I thought was going to go back to the way it was before completely, nor did I set unrealistic expectations, but it’s easy to get caught up in it all and I think being an athlete made it hard to be “sidelined”. Remind me of that if you ever get a brother or sister, okay? Strength is definitely returning and hormones seem to be leaveling out. Again, this process takes timeeeee. Especially, since I am still breastfeeding. (And again, I’m writing this to remind myself or the next time).
Mentally and emotionally, being a mom and becoming a parent is tough stuff. Your daddy and I have come into new roles as individuals and as a couple and it’s really neat and also really crazy. There is so much growth that has already happened and I know we have a long way to go. There are times we disagree about bedtimes or what is in your best interest. And I know these disagreements and decisions will become much harder as you grow older. It has been so important for us to keep communication open and often. Support each other, no matter what and work as a team. Maintain and set time for US. We have designated Wednesdays as our “date nights”. Since I am home from work earlier – we set the phones aside, make dinner together and watch our shows. It has been a perfect midweek “reset” and has been super imperative for us to have that time together!
Some highlights from the month included :
Lots of family time!
Had our biggest Friendsgiving yet!
Had a sleepover at MomMom and PopPop’s while Mom & Dad went to New York!
Got Baptized!
And kicked off the holiday season!
We love you to the moon and back sweetheart. I am not sure that I remember life before you and nd that’s okay. Never lose that contagious smile, your wild curiosity and that all encompasing spunky energy. You give me life!
Likes:
Clicking your tongue
Dog’s. Against Dad’s wishes, she enamored by them.
Being outside, in places, out to eat – any stimulation outside of the home
Music, singing, instruments, etc.
Poppop’s “Here comes the little man” game. Never fails to put a smile on your face for a picture!
Eating. Everything. Mostly protein.
Your cousins!!
Older men. Now I know that sounds weird, but you loooove your Papa, Poppop, all of your Uncles and of course, Dad.
Anything you shouldn’t have. Touching electrical outlets, phone cords, iPhones, the cable box and the remote
When we take something away. Yep. You are starting to understand “no” and you don’t like it.
Dislikes:
Getting your face wiped
When I change your diaper right after you wake up. You definitely prefer a snuggle sesh and to nurse, so I just suffer the stank for awhile.
Dada’s scruffy face
When we leave the room without you (if you notice)
Being hungry
Getting dressed
9 month favorites:
Noggin’ Stik. This thing made a comeback. She loves the rattle & that it lights up.
VTech Sit and Stand Walker
Books!
Leapfrog Learn and Groove Table
Goobie Baby Madison Teething Necklace
Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes
Sleep, Feeding and On -The – Go
Halo Sleep Sack. We’ve gone a few naps without and it and she sleeps fine. I just know I like a blanket on me when I sleep, so I figure she’d like one too!
Sleep Sheep.
Bumpkins Waterproof mat.
Black and Decker Handheld Vacuum. A Godsend. Bri surprised me one day and brought this home. So necessary for quick clean ups!
Ergo 360. We originally had the other Ergo, that didn’t allow for her to face out. Now that she is bigger and older, we definitely needed the 360.
S-Zone Leather Backpack : I gave up the traditional diaper long ago. It was just too much to hold on one shoulder and then Delaney on the other. I bought this backpack when we went to Seattle and I wanted something to hold my breast pump in that didn’t scream BABY, and now I use it everyday! This one is good looking, great quality and under $100.
ThinkBaby Sippy Steel Bottle. Still a little heave for her, but I like what it is made out of. Probably going to try some more options here soon.
Ikea High Chair. Easiest thing to clean. Low profile. Cheap. Get it.