A Marietta Mama: 9 months

Annabelle is 9 months old. This really doesn't seem possible to me. It is amazing how the 9 months that I carry a baby seems close to an eternity, whereas, for me the first 9 months of Annabelle's life seemed to have happened in a blink. Just doesn't seem fair.... I have enjoyed every moment though. I looove babies!

Annabelle's weight at her 9 month check up: 15lbs 6oz, which is 5th percentile.
Height: 27 inches, 25th percentile.
Her growth curve slightly declined from her 6 month appointment, so they have told me to let her eat as often as she wants to. fun times! ;)

Sleeping Habits:
Ever since Annabelle starting teething, about 2 weeks ago, she has decided she doesn't want to sleep through the night. It was a nice 2 month stretch where I was getting solid nights of sleep, but it is not so anymore. She is waking up atleast once, sometimes 2 or 3 times. ugh. Let's get this back to how it was sweet Annabelle. Although, I will always admit, I love the sweet sleepy moments in the middle of the night when she is cuddly and will sleep on my shoulder... she won't do this otherwise.
She is taking 2 naps during the day, each one is up to 2 hours long. She takes nap around 10am and 2:30pm. Shealways lets me know when she is ready for her naps and she goes right to sleep most of the time.

Eating Habits:
Annabelle basically wants nothing to do with baby food. She wants to eat whatever we are eating. She will eat pretty much anything I give her that is 'real' food. She seems to be eating a lot, so I am not sure why she is not gaining weight better. She isn't as interested in nursing as she once was. She nurses really well in the morning and at night, but during the day she is too busy and/or too interested in what everyone else is eating to be into nursing. Her favorite foods right now are 'mum mums', peas, and spinach pancakes. She also likes cheerios, pickles, french fries, and chicken.

New discoveries/development:
Annabelle is not crawling yet, but she is scooting some and seems to get to where she wants to go (within a short distance) somehow. She is a very busy girl, she is going to be into everything once she gets moving. I am enjoying these immobile days while they last. Her two front, bottom teeth have broken through. Soon she will have a toothy smile I am sure. She has started saying 'dada'. Whether or not it is in relation to Mark, we are not sure. She will say it when we ask her to. Its pretty cute. We are also working on the signs for 'more' and 'all done'. She is doing them some and it is really cute. She will also make a kissy face and sound when told to 'blow kisses'. Also very cute. She is developing such a personality and it is so fun to watch. Such a sweet girl and definitely a Mama's girl at this point.

Places I went:
We went on a family vacation to TN & NC (as mentioned in previous blog post). We had a great time and Annabelle did great on the trip. She also made it to SC while we were on our travels. Annabelle has started a music class, which is held at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church. It is a music class for babies where they are able to play with little musical instruments - like shakers, etc.- and do little baby activities, 'sing' baby songs. It is really cute and Annabelle seems to love it. She bops up and down and grins really big pretty much the whole time. I am enjoying watching her enjoy it!

Between months 8 & 9, we had several out of town visitors. First was Mommy's friend, Jenny, from graduate school at Ohio State. She came and stayed with us for several days and we did lots of fun things! The kids loved her and we were all sad to see her go back to CA. Next was Mommy's friend, Courtney from undergraduate nursing school at University of Kentucky. She is also loved by the kiddos and again we were sad to see her go. Next was Daddy's sister, Susie, and her friend Sarah. They came to run the Atlanta - Brookhaven 1/2 Marathon with Mommy. We had a great time with them here and again, the kids loved having them around. Its so fun to have visitors!