Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Natalie: Months 7, 8, and 9

January 9, 2015

You are 7 months old, Natalie girl! You are finally rolling over! You love to babble and talk to your mom mom on FaceTime. Everyone who sees you out, comments on how beautiful you are, and you always smile back at them.

You do NOT like eating food yet! Mommy and Daddy keep trying, but you still gag and try to chew it. You get maybe a few spoonfuls, before you completely turn away from it. We've tried sweet potatoes, squash, applesauce, pears, oatmeal, and bananas. So far, you've done the best with sweet potatoes, but you'd still just rather breastfeed.

You are still a great sleeper, thank goodness. Your nap schedule is always a little iffy, but as long as you sleep at night, mommy and daddy are happy!

You're starting to reach for things, especially our phones, and I think you're starting to get frustrated when you can't get to them.

You're almost up on all fours, trying to crawl, you rock back and forth, but usually end up pushing yourself backwards. That pushes you farther from your toys, and then you start getting angry.

You love watching your big brother run around. He loves to act silly which always makes you laugh. It's so great to watch you two interact.

February 9, 2015

In your eighth month, we discovered that you just didn't like pureed foods. But you'll finger feed yourself chunks of food no problem! So, your diet consists mostly of puffs :/, avocado, and bananas. I wasn't quite sure what to do with a baby eating real solids this early, so I'm more hesitant to give you foods that aren't really soft. We tried chunks of butternut squash and peas, but you always pick out the puffs or banana!

We took you to the eye specialist because your right eye still wants to wander inward when you're focusing on things. I'm really hypersensitive about that since I had to have surgery on my eyes when I was still so little, and have had glasses almost my entire life. So, while everyone kept telling me it was fine and that you'd grow out of it, I had a gut feeling you wouldn't. Sure enough, she said you have three times the normal far sightedness for your age, and that's causing you to strain to focus on things up close which is causing your eye to turn inwards. She gave you 8 more weeks to see if there would be any significant changes, although she wasn't hopeful, so we'll go back next month and maybe put you in glasses. I feel guilty about it because I certainly don't want people staring at you for the wrong reasons, but I know it will be good for you, and hopefully we can avoid surgery all together if we start this early enough.

March 9, 2015

Happy 9 months, my sweet girl!

You continue to be fairly mellow and laid back, as was your brother at this age. You are finally sitting up by yourself, but only if we put you in that position. I was worried that your development was a little behind, but then I realized I wasn't giving you much of a chance to practice your skills! So we play a lot more on the floor now, as opposed to in your bouncer. I liked having you in there to protect you from your wild brother, though! You have been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth like you want to crawl for some time now. You are just starting to move your legs underneath you but haven't quite figured out that you need to move your arms too! But you get around just fine by rolling and a little bit of army crawling.

There are two more teeth peeking through. Just like your brother, the first top teeth you'll get are not the middle ones, but the outer ones right next to those.

Feeding yourself has been a fun adventure! It's so messy every time, because you insist on doing it yourself! The only thing you'll let me spoon feed you is yogurt! We can't get you to eat vegetables like you'll inhale avocado and banana though. We've tried squash, sweet potato, carrots, and peas. You'll eat them, but if there's a choice, you'll definitely choose something else. Cheerios are a new favorite too.

You seem to have a very special connection with your brother, you'll only laugh really hard for him. It's so sweet to watch the two of you together. You're starting to become interested in his toys though, so it could get interesting soon! He's usually very good about giving you something to hold, and if you start crying he'll rush to you and pat your head and say "It's ok Natalie girl, shhhhh!"

The jury is still out on who you look like the most. It's split down the middle as far as people thinking you look more like me or your dad. I see a lot more of me in you than I do in your brother at least. But we almost always get comments on how cute you are, or how well behaved you are. Today, you went the entire day with no nap because I had to take you to work with me for an event, and even I was shocked that you didn't have any sort of meltdown! You cat napped in the car for about 10 minutes, and that was it! I was so impressed! I am so glad you are so flexible with us!

We love you sweet girl, I can't believe you're already 9 months old! The time has certainly flown, and before we know it your birthday will be here! Next month, you will finally have your own room!

love you, natty!
xoxo