9 Months!

Clara-baby has been a busy girl lately!  It seems like the past month has been filled with new milestones and achievements.  She's always working on something new, and is always full of surprises as she showcases what she can do!

Clara is a full-blown tummy-off-the-floor crawler now!  No more stomach scoots for her!  I love how when I come to the floor to play with the kids, Clara immediately crawls over to me.  Then she'll explore on her own for a couple minutes, then always makes her way back to me.

Since she learned how to officially crawl, it seems to have paved the way to making it easier to pull herself up to a standing position (by holding onto something).  Although this is sometimes cute to watch, more than anything it makes me nervous of her falling, and also pulling things down that could fall on her.  Clara's still very shaky when standing, and often has her feet flipped to the side.  She's not cruising yet, thank goodness!  That little girl can definitely NOT be left to play on her own for more than a minute or two before she finds some mischief to get into.  Luckily (or annoyingly), I have a loud mini policeman in my house at all times, who never fails to alert me if Clara could possibly be in danger of any kind.  ; )

Cute video of Clara "driving" Eli's monster truck--

I forgot to add this picture in with the Easter post.  Had to get some bunny ears for our girl to wear with her bunny pjs!  :)

She had her 9-month dr. appointment a couple weeks ago.  Here are her stats:

Height: 28 1/4 in. (75th%)

Weight: 17 lbs. 10 oz. (48%)

Diaper Size: Just moved up to 3

Clothing Size: 9 Months

Teeth: Still just the two bottom

It's nice that she's mellowed out a bit in height and is no longer super long.  Makes it nicer that she can fit in clothes longer!  Clara also did some baby graduating this past month.  She graduated out of the bumbo and into the highchair, and she graduated from sitting in the carseat in the stroller, to sitting in the front of the stroller (which she's pretty happy about, but still gets antsy if she has to sit in the stroller for very long).  

Clara started eating 3 meals a day about two weeks before she was 9 months.  She seemed hungrier, even after nursing.  She's REALLY interested in our food, and grabs for any food she can get her hands on.  I'm determined to help her become a good eater of a variety of healthy foods from a young age.  I messed it up with Eli, but I've gotta get it right with the second one!  

So an estimated daily schedule for her is; Wakes around 7:30, I nurse her, she eats breakfast (switch off on yogurt and oatmeal, sometimes some cheerios) around 8:30, naps 9:30-10:30, nurses at 11:00, eats lunch (a medium-sized jar of fruit and maybe a little bread or puffs) at 12:30, naps 1:30-3:00 (or longer), nurses, dinner at 4:30 (a jar or more of vegetables), and then nurses before bed at 6:30.  

We've taken finger foods slowly with her because she gags and then spits up easily.  It seems like every time I just give her cheerios she still gags while eating them.  She's really getting the hang of raking her food into her mouth, and boy do I dread the day when she'll no longer let me spoon-feed her!

I tried a sippy cup with Clara.  She held it herself and drank some of the water.  I think she mostly just wanted to suck on it, though.  She has no problems with bottles, so I'm sure she'll be fine with a transition from nursing to sippys in a couple months.

Baby tried swings for the first time!  LOVED it!  Sadly I did not have my camera for the 1st swing experience.  But here's a video of her second time--

We enjoyed a family outing to the park.  Clara was excited to play in the grass for the first time!

Before this past week, for a while Clara's been struggling again at night.  She's gone through another period of falling asleep when being put down (around 6:30), then waking up again 45 minutes later and crying non-stop until we pick her up.  We soothe her and then she thinks it's playing time!  So we play with her to give her lots of attention and wear her out (for about 20 minutes), and then put her back to bed.  THEN she was still waking up 1-2 times to eat before her 7:30 wake-up!  Nuts!  I was worried she was creating a bad habit that would be hard to break.  But somehow this past week she has been perfect!  Staying asleep after being put down, and NOT WAKING UP AT ALL UNTIL 7:00  Wahoo!  I have no idea what changed.  I knew by 9 months babies didn't NEED to be fed during the night, but I figured since she goes to bed so early she'd still at least wake up for a 5 am feeding.  But she hasn't been!  It may all just be a wonderful fluke (the same week she decided to be a good sleeper was the same week Eli got sick and wasn't sleeping well, which made me even more appreciative of the good timing), but I sure hope it sticks!

Clara's up to some pretty sweet tricks these days.  First, she says "mama!"  Yay for me!  Boy, hearing your name from your sweet little baby is just so precious.  Melts my heart every time.  She usually says it when I pick her up from her crib or highchair. (She says "dada', too.)  Clara and I have also started having a lot of conversations.  She's become an excellent babbler, and seems to respond accordingly when we talk.  : )

Her second trick is waving!  Dave and I get such a kick out of her cute little open&close palm wave.  Anytime you enter a room and make contact with her, she smiles wide and waves.

Lastly, baby's also begun to clap!  It's not perfect, her hands miss each other a lot of the time, but it's cute she tries!

Here's a final video of just watching Clara play for awhile;

We love this little sweetie to pieces!  My days would be so much drearier without her glowing smiles!