Harper has become the sweetest, funniest, silliest, most loving baby girl. Her personality really shows more and more every single day and I have these moments where I can't believe I'm the lucky woman that gets to be her mama.
Harper is also showing more independence this month and she's more vocal. It's fun to anticipate what new or cute thing she might do each day.
Here are Harper's 9 month updates:
Weight: I won't know official measurements until her 12 month appointment but she's about 22 lbs now.
Health: Harper has been pretty good this month! She has a perma-runny nose, but that's par for the course at this point. Spring and summer should clear it up (I hope!) One of the neonatologists I work with mentioned that most babies have 10 colds in their first year of life, so that was reassuring. We continue to use a cool mist humidifier in her room to help with her nose.
Sleep: The recent time change means that Harper goes to sleep a little later and this working mama couldn't be any happier about that! We put her down between 7-7:15 ish and she typically sleeps until 6:30 a.m. She also naps twice a day, usually around 10 and 2 which is the schedule the daycare has the babies on. It has been a blessing to have her sleeping through the night consistently. We still have a day here and there where she will wake up early or wake up crying at 2 a.m. but they are few and far between and she takes just minutes to settle back down.
Social: I love watching Harper interact with the other babies in her daycare class. Sometimes, they steal toys from each other and one ends up in tears, ha! I noticed that Harper has been a little better with strangers lately. She returns smiles, waves sometimes and is overall passing through her stranger danger phase. She does get shy once in awhile which is really cute.
Diet: I am still exclusively pumping for Harper (read more about my pumping story here). I'm currently working on having Harper get either five 5 oz bottles or four 6 oz bottles bringing her to 24-25 oz total per day. I noticed that as she's eating more solids, she seems to have dropped a feed all on her own but we continued to provide three 6 oz bottles for her at daycare and she would sometimes not take one. So I think balancing it out to where she's getting about 25 oz total is the direction we're headed in. Of course it's still the bulk of her nutrition, but she's so great with solids that she's getting a nice balanced diet.
Health: Harper has been pretty good this month! She has a perma-runny nose, but that's par for the course at this point. Spring and summer should clear it up (I hope!) One of the neonatologists I work with mentioned that most babies have 10 colds in their first year of life, so that was reassuring. We continue to use a cool mist humidifier in her room to help with her nose.
Sleep: The recent time change means that Harper goes to sleep a little later and this working mama couldn't be any happier about that! We put her down between 7-7:15 ish and she typically sleeps until 6:30 a.m. She also naps twice a day, usually around 10 and 2 which is the schedule the daycare has the babies on. It has been a blessing to have her sleeping through the night consistently. We still have a day here and there where she will wake up early or wake up crying at 2 a.m. but they are few and far between and she takes just minutes to settle back down.
Social: I love watching Harper interact with the other babies in her daycare class. Sometimes, they steal toys from each other and one ends up in tears, ha! I noticed that Harper has been a little better with strangers lately. She returns smiles, waves sometimes and is overall passing through her stranger danger phase. She does get shy once in awhile which is really cute.
Diet: I am still exclusively pumping for Harper (read more about my pumping story here). I'm currently working on having Harper get either five 5 oz bottles or four 6 oz bottles bringing her to 24-25 oz total per day. I noticed that as she's eating more solids, she seems to have dropped a feed all on her own but we continued to provide three 6 oz bottles for her at daycare and she would sometimes not take one. So I think balancing it out to where she's getting about 25 oz total is the direction we're headed in. Of course it's still the bulk of her nutrition, but she's so great with solids that she's getting a nice balanced diet.
Solids are going fantastically and this baby loves all food! She is especially into cheese and yogurt right now and she also loves fruits and veggies. We got lucky with what a great eater she is, but I know that can all change as we move into toddlerhood (and as an aside, I'm totally not ready to use the t-word yet!) I continue to make all of her food except for bread, yogurt and cheese and I recently had her try a waffle as well. I love that soon she will be eating exactly what we eat but in smaller bites and portions. It will also force us to eat as clean as she does right now which will be great for our health too.
She is so awesome at feeding herself! She's got a great pincher grasp and learned to chew her food better than before. Still just two teeth but eating great!
Likes: Pulling up, cruising along furniture, crawling super quick, crawling under the dining table, looking out of windows, music, songs from the movie "Frozen," eating, kisses on her chin (those bring out major giggles), being tossed into the air, being chased, crawling competitions (sometimes I let her win), Mr. Panda, Lulu (but he doesn't want anything to do with her), banging on the table, throwing things, books (Cat in the Hat is a current fave)...
Postpartum: I think that being at the end of the pumping road is giving me something to look forward to and though I'm still bittersweet about it, I know that overall it will be incredible to have some time back in my days and nights and that I won't have to pause my day to pump or plan my days around it anymore. It will be so nice to be out and about on weekends and not have to come home or bring the pump with us if we want to stay somewhere a longer time.
I'm also eager to get back into a fitness routine and I know for me it will have to be classes. Ideally, I'd like to see my personal trainer for 8 weeks about twice a week just to get back into the swing of things and then I'd like to do Bar Method a couple of times a week to maintain muscle tone.
We are traveling to Canada this summer (I'm the maid of honor in my friend's wedding) and will be visiting lots of family and friends who are all meeting Harper for the first time (except for my mom, of course) and I'm just so excited about that! It will be nice to be back home and have a little break. I'm also itching to plan a vacation for the fall or winter but haven't thought too much about it yet. I would love to just go to a resort and lay on the beach and swim in the ocean�.ahhhh!
I'm also eager to get back into a fitness routine and I know for me it will have to be classes. Ideally, I'd like to see my personal trainer for 8 weeks about twice a week just to get back into the swing of things and then I'd like to do Bar Method a couple of times a week to maintain muscle tone.
We are traveling to Canada this summer (I'm the maid of honor in my friend's wedding) and will be visiting lots of family and friends who are all meeting Harper for the first time (except for my mom, of course) and I'm just so excited about that! It will be nice to be back home and have a little break. I'm also itching to plan a vacation for the fall or winter but haven't thought too much about it yet. I would love to just go to a resort and lay on the beach and swim in the ocean�.ahhhh!
Clothes: Harper is wearing 12-18 and 18-24 month Baby Gap
Baby Gear Love: We love our Prince Lionhart bathtub and mostly toys and books this month. I'll share some in an upcoming post!
Crying: Harper is still having some dramatic tears when she wants something or can't do something but she doesn't cry a lot. One time she cries every.single.day is after her bath when we put her diaper and PJ's on. I don't know if it's because she knows her bottle is coming or what, but she cries on cue every single night (and she's all smiles/happy during bath time). Hopefully she will grow out of it. She hates having her diaper changed and tolerates having clothes put on so maybe that's it.
Milestones: Harper is crawling much more quickly, pulling up on everything, balancing well and sometimes even briefly standing with no support. She can clap and wave and started to point a lot recently. She's also been more "talkative." I notice she continues to have better and better movement control when it comes to getting from one place to the next. She loves to cruise on furniture�I also can't resist her smile lately�not a milestone, but goodness gracious it's cute!
Milestones: Harper is crawling much more quickly, pulling up on everything, balancing well and sometimes even briefly standing with no support. She can clap and wave and started to point a lot recently. She's also been more "talkative." I notice she continues to have better and better movement control when it comes to getting from one place to the next. She loves to cruise on furniture�I also can't resist her smile lately�not a milestone, but goodness gracious it's cute!
You can really see how much her hair has grown here! The roots are very golden/strawberry and the ends are more of a true red. I love it!
Thanks for reading!
Harper's Dress-Baby Gap (in stores)
Harper's Headband-CharlieCocos
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