*9 Months Old*

Sometimes when I am doing these blog posts, I have to count the months in my head... because it just never seems right.  My sweet darlin' is 9 months old.  I know I say this every time but I swear it feels like I just brought her home from the hospital!  I feel ridiculous because I have been taking monthly pictures with those onesie stickers... well I completely missed a month because it went by too quick!

 

Four days or so after she was born

 

 

Nine months old!

She is constantly surprising me... everyday.  She is crawling, standing, pulling, and cruising along furniture.  She will step while holding on, but she hasn't taken a step yet independently.  She is saying da, pa, sss, va, ba, hey, ha, and many other consonant sounds.  She will wave and say "bye-bye."  She will say "Ssss" for "Hoss." She loves the sound of her voice, and when I pick her up from the babysitters she talks the whole drive home.  I love every minute, she is truly the best part of my day!

She rolls and tumbles all over the floor,the bed, the furniture, us, Hoss...  She can be pretty rough sometimes.  She hardly cries when she falls down.

Norah Kate is still a chunky baby.  She loves to eat.  She eats breakfast (rice cereal, oatmeal, Cheerios or yogurt), lunch (fruit and veggie), and supper (fruit and veggie, or if I have something cooked she will eat tablefood).    I am feeding her more and more finger foods and she does great with them.  I will give her pieces of meat, small pieces of cheese, a chopped banana, peas, spaghetti, lasagna, rice etc.  She is drinking out of her juice cup pretty good, but still takes breastmilk from a bottle while I am working.  She nurses 3-4 times a day: morning, mid-day and bedtime.  This week she wouldn't take a bottle during the day while at the sitters... so I am wondering if she is starting to wean herself some.

She is wearing 9 month and some 12 month size clothes.  She can hardly fit into anything 6 month or 6-9 month anymore.  I haven't had to buy any clothes (not for necessity anyways) up until now.  I was so blessed to have received so many outfits as shower gifts that she was set for outfits through 6 months!  Let me just say that is has been challenging finding appropriate Fall and Winter outfits for her.  In South GA we don't have much a Fall and barely have a Winter, so the typical Winter clothes in stores are way too "cold weather."  Plus, I try to steer away from dresses because she gets all tripped up on them while she is crawling around.

Norah Kate's Quirks:

-She hums when she is sleepy in the car.
-She has started patting my back when I am holding her and patting her back while laying her down at night.
-She gets the giggles.  Mostly due to Hoss.
-She is the perfect grocery shopping partner.  She is on her best behavior 99% of the time.  She also likes to try to help me pull stuff off the shelves into the buggy and reach back to inspect what I have already put in the buggy.
-Two teeth on bottom, two breaking through up top, and two more on top about to break through!
-She is biting.. related to teething (above statement) I think (I hope!).
- She does not like shoes... She looks at her feet like "What in the heck are these?"  I am starting to put them on her just around the house that way she will be used to them by the time winter comes.
-She hates when I change her diaper... still... this is just getting worse every time.  I don't really know how to discipline this behavior?
-She has learned how to grunt/growl when she is angry or impatient.  Oh, boy...
-She LOVES my K-cups for my Keurig, my lotion bottle, and my hair brush.  She will open up whatever cabinet/drawer I keep them in and it's the first thing she drags out.
-She don't use her walker/jumper like she should.  She plays from her jumper from the outside and pushes her walker across the floor.  She don't like being put "in" them.
-We still use her swing...occasionally.  I don't know what we will do when she outgrows it.  It can be a lifesaver when she is fighting sleep or grumpy.  I was thinking today about packing it up, but she got fussy so I had to put her in it for a nap.
-She has found her temper and can be tenderhearted at times... then other times she just laughs and scrunches up that cute little nose when I tell her "No."  She hasn't quite figured out when I mean business.

Those are some big 'ole britches...

I got her ears pieced at the jewelry store on September 29th

I think it's time to start childproofing our drawers and cabinets!

 

She is such a good baby, and I love her so much!  I can't believe I will be celebrating her first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Birthday allwithin a few months!  It is most definitely bittersweet.