Eliana {Nine} Months

Pictures became extremely difficult this month since she wanted to climb out of the chair, drop the sticker over the side, and tackle the bear. ;)

Date: January 13, 2016

Weight: 12lbs 2 oz to 13lbs 10oz (on the 15th)
Length: 25.5 inches (on the 15th)

Clothing Size: We finally put away the 0-3 month leggings! They still fit around her waist, but they were getting too short. She's mostly in 6 month onesies, but some 6 month dresses/shirts are still too big. I got out her 9 month clothes the other day just because I was ready to look at something different and I'm a little sad that she probably won't get to wear all the cute winter 9 month outfits... maybe next winter. ;)

Sleeping Patterns: Takes one consistent nap in the morning (2ish hours) and two cat naps in the afternoon. She goes to bed by 6:30 every night and usually sleeps until 5 (so about 10.5 hours even if it doesn't always seem like it since we go to bed much later than 6:30! Ha!) She had one week this month where she was fussy when we laid her down - we totally weren't used to this because she's always gone right to sleep without making a sound. She just needed a little extra comfort so one of us would rub her back for a few minutes and then she was fine. Her bedtime routine is short and sweet for now -- change diaper, put on jammies, nurse, pray, kiss her and put her in her crib. I can't wait until we can all read books together as a family, but right now that just doesn't work out in our routine with Trice. She is exhausted by 6:30 and stiff-arms me when I pray for her because she wants to be in her bed!

Eating Patterns: Still nursing about every 2 hours. If I'm not with her, she goes much longer but she just likes to be close to her mommy! She nurses before every meal so we are making sure that's still where she's getting most of her calories. For breakfast she still usually has a banana because I need to give her something quick before my 3-year-old enters full-blown hangry mode. Sometimes she'll have an egg yolk or blueberries. I just whipped up some healthy baby "pancakes" this week and she LOVES those! For lunch she continues to just graze on whatever we're having (as long as it's healthy which it usually is and something she can mash with her gums). She loves green beans, avacados, sweet potatoes, squash, peas and pumpkin. We also introduced chicken, pork, peaches, pears,  black beans, yogurt, mangos, this month .. she's a big fan of food. Honestly I don't think there's anything she doesn't like. It's still a little crazy to me that she's already tried that many foods because we didn't give Trice ANY solids until 8.5 months. I'm not sure if we would have started her on them so soon if she hadn't struggled with gaining weight, but it does make meal times much easier for us (Probably also a 2nd child thing). She's doing so well picking up food with her fingers. She loves sitting at the table with us! She'd prefer to feed herself, but I do occasionally feed her with a spoon. She loves when Trice feeds her, too, except he doesn't go quite fast enough. 

Likes: Basically everything -- she STILL thinks it's hilarious when people wear hats, still loves her monkey and blankie, Trice's toys.

Dislikes: Having to wait for food once she's in her high chair, when Trice takes toys out of her hands, when she can't get down from standing position.

Milestones: 
Waving (and SO proud of it!), pulls to standing on everything, climbs on top of things, inch worms everywhere in the house, one day I went to get her from nap and she was standing up in her crib holding on with the BIGGEST grin I've ever seen so now that's all she does when it's time to sleep, initiates peek-a-boo, drops toys and watches where they go, feeds herself with her fingers and starting to feed herself with spoon, loves playing the "drop the toy" game, puts things in front of your face to initiate peek-a-boo, climbs ALL of our stairs (seriously, how many calories does she burn doing that?)

Exciting Events: 
Mostly finished her room - we just need to take down the window box and put new knobs on the dresser, but she might be 5 before that happens. 

Trice's Thoughts:

While feeding her, he paused to take a bite of his own food and she screamed.. He looked at her and sternly said, "Eliana. Excuse me, but I have to eat my food, too."

I made a comment to Nick about it being weird having two kids... Trice said, "Well, I guess we could just get rid of one of them." .. "And which one would we get rid of?" .. "Well, I guess Eliana." .. "Wouldn't you miss her?" .. "Well, she can come visit us sometimes."

"Trice, what's the greatest gift God gave us?" ... "Eliana."
(We were reflecting on Christmas and I was looking for "Jesus," but Eliana was a very sweet answer!)

Loves climbing in her crib with her (but knows he's only allowed to do that if he asks first)!