9 month well-check

Evin had her 9 month well-check today with her pediatrician.

Weight: 16 lbs 8 oz

Length: 27 1/4 in

Evin has moved up into the 25th percentile for both weight and length!  It is so hard to believe that after her first surgery she was in the 2nd percentile and she has worked her way up to the 5th, 10th and now 25th.  She has been eating solids and taking her bottles great lately, and I guess it shows in her stats.  Way to go, big girl!

The doctor was pleased with her strength (she got a little feisty with him when he checked her ears) and said he could definitely see a difference between 2 months ago and now.  He said even though she is not crawling yet, he has seen huge progress in her since her surgery and he is not at all worried about her development.  He said it isn't really fair to compare Evin to other babies her age since she hasn't had a fair shot to get to where they are developmentally.  I really try not to get caught up in comparisons, but I will admit, it is hard!

In the last week or so Evin has been getting more distracted during meal time and seems to want to pick up food and feed herself rather than us feeding her with a spoon.  The problem is, she doesn't have teeth yet and isn't big on texture, so she ends up gagging and sometimes throwing up if we give her food that has chunks in it.  He said it sounds like she is at an in-between awkward stage and that we might have to experiment with foods to figure out what she can tolerate and what she can't.  He even said to try putting her food on our plate and feeding her that way so she thinks she is eating our food rather than hers.  We will see what ends up working!

"How big is Evin?"

He also told us that he is seeing tons of flu, croup, colds & RSV.  He said the more we can keep her away from sickies and at home, the better.  We are praying for an illness-free winter!!!

After the appointment, Mitch and I were cracking up about how Evin behaved while the doctor was in the room.  After she got over her stranger anxiety while he was checking her out, she sat on the table next to me, twiddling her thumbs (which she does often lately), and stared him down while he talked.  She had a very serious look on her face, intently listened to what he had to say, and even raised her eyebrows at appropriate times.  Silly girl! 

9 months old

Little Evin Kate isn’t quite so little anymore…she turned 9 months old on December 20^th. 

Evin’s fun facts for this month:

Weight:  Probably close to 16 lbs

Length: About 26 ½ in

She has her 9 month appointment at 9 months 10 days, so we will have more exact numbers then.

Clothes:  Outgrowing 6 month and moving into 6-9 or 9 month

Shoe Size:  Just started wearing 2s

Diaper Size: 2

Still taking 4 bottles a day of fortified breastmilk.  She takes about 5-6 ounces each bottle and typically eats around 8, 12, 4, and 8:30. 

She now takes her bottle in about 10 minutes.  This is amazing to me considering just a couple of months ago she would take an hour to take a bottle.  We are so thankful that when it comes to her eating, the stress level has gone down considerably!

Eats 3 meals of solids a day.  She loves solids and eats pretty much everything I offer her except for green beans.  She got that from her daddy!

She was waaay too busy for pictures this month.

She loves Puffs (a dry baby cereal) and will continue to poke them in even if she isn’t hungry.  She likes the sweet potato flavor.  She will also eat strawberry flavored yogurt melts, but she prefers Puffs.

She has mastered the pincer grasp and is able to feed herself Puffs and small bites of bread.

She occasionally gets small bites of our food and she usually likes it, but isn’t entirely sure how to swallow food that isn’t pureed. 

Still no teeth!

She had her first Thanksgiving and she got to try turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, dressing and some bread.  She really only liked the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes!  I think the others still have too much texture for her.

Started sitting up in a high chair at restaurants.  She loves it!

We have been blessed with a great sleeper.  She goes down around 9pm and wakes up between 8-9am.  Every once in awhile she will have a rough night and wake up once or twice, but she will go right back to sleep with her pacifier.

Usually takes 1 long nap (1 ½-2 hours) and 1 short nap (45min-1 hour) each day.

Started sleeping on her belly.  I always lay her down on her back, but it doesn’t take her long to flip to her belly and stay that way.

She is a rolling machine.  She flips so quickly back and forth from her tummy and her back.  She now rolls all over the living room when I lay her down to play.

So much better at bearing weight on her legs and is actually starting to prefer to stand than sit. 

If you ask, “How big is Evin?” she will hold her hands up above her head while you say, “This big!”  She only does it about half the time and the other times she will grin and clap.

LOVES to give kisses!  She gives big open-mouth kisses if you pucker up. 

Loved the Christmas tree and decorations.

Did some Christmas shopping with Mommy and is always a pretty good shopping buddy.

Really wants to crawl but doesn’t have the upper body strength yet.

Babbles “dadada” all the time!  Doesn’t quite associate it with her daddy yet, but I’m sure she will soon.

Diaper changes have become challenging because of all the rolling around.

She loves to point at people and things.

Still a good car rider, but fusses when I put her in her seat.  Once she has her paci, she is usually ok.

Still loves her bath.  Started sitting in the tub like a big girl last month, and towards the end of this month we borrowed a blow up tub in the shape of a duck from Lane.  She has the best time playing with toys and patting the duck.

Still not great at playing by herself and prefers to have someone sitting with her.

She makes hilarious faces.  Evidence is below.

Favorite toys:

Anything with lights/music

Little People Nativity

Toy Cell Phone

Has had a lingering runny nose much of this month.  I don’t know if she has allergies or if it is part of her cold from last month that is still hanging on.

It is impossible to keep socks on her!  She pulls them off and chews on them if they don’t fall off on their own.

Our babe has such a sweet, funny personality.  She seems to be rather shy and reserved in public, but at home she is a wild girl!  I get so excited when she learns something new, but I also get sad because my baby is quickly turning into a big girl.  We love, love, love you Evin Kate!