Nine...and just fine!

Okay, I'll stop with the silly rhyming titles next month (maybe). Katelyn celebrated her 9 month old birthday by going to bed last night at 8, waking up at 11, hanging out with Mommy (read: screaming, crying, fighting sleep, eating teething tablets, chewing on a cold washcloth, attempting to nurse, more screaming) until 2 am when she finally passed out in Mommy and Daddy's bed (a real privilege for her special day...she never sleeps with us). She (not Mommy) slept restlessly until 6 am. Thankfully she went back to sleep in her own bed from 6-730. Unfortunately, Mommy's alarm went off at 630 due to dentist appointments. Whew, I will be going to bed with the kiddos tonight for sure (if I make it that long!).

Collin got to go to the dentist with me this time around and we made him an appointment for February. Then we had a nice breakfast together at Chick-fil-a (aside from my spilling my coffee all over the floor of the play area).

Kate fell asleep on the way home and took a good nap (almost 3 hours!). Thankfully, because after lunch, we headed to her 9 month old checkup. Here's how she's measuring up:

She weighs 17 lbs 12 oz (25-50th %ile). She is 27" long (25th %ile) (We get to use the infant car seat a little bit longer!). Her head circumference is 47 cm (>97th %ile). Her pediatrician is still just keeping an eye on her head size. It's been gradually going up (in %ile) each visit. She said she won't be worried unless it takes a sudden jump up. (She does throw around the word "head CT" each time she talks about the size, but calms down when we remind her of Daddy's and big brothers). She'll recheck at 12 months.

Everything else physically checked out fine. There were some developmental concerns however. Her pediatrician and I agree that she is probably fine, but it's better to have things checked out early. So she recommended an audiology evaluation and referred us to Babies Can't Wait as well. The audiology evaluation resulted from her lack of speech sounds. Her pediatrician said she was one of the quietest babies she has seen. I guess when she's not crying, screaming, squealing, grunting, or laughing, she is pretty quiet. She hasn't really ever been a babbler. So I'm going to go along with that recommendation just to make sure her hearing is okay. The Babies Can't Wait referral was in response to her "delayed" gross motor skills (i.e. she's not crawling or showing any signs of being ready to crawl). This one I'm a little more hesitant about. Yes, she is technically delayed in these skills, but she seems to be on her own little timeline, and I think she will eventually get there with a little help at home. (She was also a little bit later with sitting and rolling). I got some good ideas for helping her today from one of my best friends (who is a PT...Hi Mag!), so we're going to try that first and see how it goes.

The past month has brought lots of new fun for Katelyn. Here are the things she's accomplished this month:
1. Waving hi and bye bye.
2. Clapping.
3. Signing "more" and "all done".

4. Eating Stage 3 foods.
5. Eating finger foods.
6. Finger feeding herself (and grabbing Mommy's food when she's not looking. Including my CFA chicken biscuit this morning.)

7. Making silly faces.
8. Giving love.

Absolutely loving her and so thankful to have a sweet healthy baby girl. Even sleepless nights are blessings.