Pearls and Perfection Problems: 9 Months Old

How Old: Nine Months
Weight: 16lb 2oz (around the 10th percentile)
Length: 27 in (around the 25th percentile)
Head: 17 1/2 in (around the 60th percentile)
** Things have changed a lot :) Her head has grown over time from the 10th percentile to now the 60th haha!! And her weight and length percentiles have dropped a bit. I asked if we should be concerned, and her doctor said that their weight usually slows down at this time. And as Emersyn was climbing all over me and jumping up and down in my lap... her doctor also said, "I can see she is very active and is probably just burning a lot more calories than she was previously." Haha! That's our little girl!! VERY active and mobile!
Clothes: She is in 9 months and some 6-9 months dresses. She seems to always grow out of her jammies first because they have feet in them and she needs extra length. Her 9 month jammies are beginning to get too small, so we are going shopping for some 12 month ones!! She is in size 3 diapers.
Sleep: Since I am home with her each day, naptime has been wonderful and very predictable. She takes a morning nap around 9-9:30ish and an afternoon one around 1:30-2ish. Both last around 1 1/2 to 2 hours. She goes to her blankie and paci when she is starting to get sleepy and we go to her room. I turn on the ocean sound machine, rock her, and within 3-5 minutes she is out. She has been doing less evening naps, but if she has played extra hard or if she woke earlier than normal, she will sometimes take a third nap around 5 or 6pm for usually less than an hour. As for nighttime, we had another beach trip for a week this past month, so nighttime was different. I nursed her several times each night just to keep her from waking others, but it sure did increase my milk supply!! When we returned home after the 4th of July, it took about a week to get her sleeping through the night again. THEN... I decided to try to lose weight (which I have tried several other times since she has been born). And as with the other times, I quickly started shedding pounds and my milk supply went from pumping around 4 ounces a feeding to only 2 ounces. SO, she is currently waking once a night again to feed to help boost my supply back up. I guess I will lose weight once I wean her when she turns one. :/
Food: She is nursing 4-5 times a day and once in the night. I know my supply is low right now, so I don't mind her nursing in the night. She is eating three meals of solids (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and does an afternoon snack around 3:30 or so when she wakes from her afternoon nap. She still does oatmeal for breakfast and dinner and at dinner I mix in extra breast milk that I have pumped right after her morning nursing. This helps give her extra milk before bedtime. We are still doing the purees that I make or we use the food pouches you buy at the grocery store if we are going out to eat, shopping, etc. We have started letting her pick up some foods to feed herself at most feedings. She LOVES this!! And she loves being independent. Sometimes she will not eat from the spoon unless I have food on her highchair table for her to self feed. Some foods we have cut into tiny pieces to let her pick up to feed herself are: peaches, bananas, bread, cucumber, avocado, cooked broccoli stems, green beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, and of course she loves "puffs" and Plum teething biscuits. I am excited for her 9 month doctor appointment because I want to ask about adding meats and things such as cheese, yogurt, and other finger foods. Here is her typical schedule now give or take 30 minutes.

6:30 Wake/Nurse

7:30 Oatmeal/Fruit/Water

9:00 - 11:00 Nap

11:00 Nurse

12:00 Starch/Pick up Food/Water

1:30 - 3:30 Nap

3:30 Nurse/Snack (teething biscuit/water)

6:00 Nurse

6:30 Oatmeal/Veggie/Pick up Food/Water

8:00 Nurse/Bedtime

1:00ish Nighttime Nurse

Emersyn's Firsts:
- Words: Dada (said it the first time on the beach), Hey, Bye Bye Bye, Uh-oh. She said Mama back in May but doesn't hardly say it much anymore. She says dadadadadada ALL DAY LONG!!!
- Uses fingers to pick foods and put in her mouth (we started with puffs)
- Plays peek-a-boo using her blankie!! She LOVES this game and it is adorable! She will also do it now using anything she can put over her face, even her sweet little arm and hands.
- Open drawers and cabinets (not necessarily a good thing ha!!)
- Manage to get out of the straps in her Rock n' Play: it's now gone in the closet
- Take steps while we hold her hand
- Take steps while pushing things with wheels
- Climbing over things and people
- Teeth: we now have 5 teeth!! She went from one last month to 5 this month :) Three on the top and two on the bottom.
- Give kisses... and I mean on the LIPS! It is adorable because she gives her daddy and me one every morning first thing, but I worry about germs when she gives them to everyone who holds her lol!! She's loving!
- She still loves to wave at everyone we see... she is a very friendly little girl. It was so adorable when we got back from being gone from our trip for 12 days, I was rocking her before bedtime and she looked over in her little rocking chair and saw her teddy bear and took a big deep breath and started waving at it. Then she started waving at everything in her room. I could tell she was glad to be home :)
Emersyn Loves: Children, crawling around the floor, pulling up on everything, feeling new textures, going for stroller rides, swinging in her swing outside, wind blowing in her face, being sung to, Baby TV and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, chewing on everything, playing with kitchen things (Tupperware, spatulas, measuring cups), playing in the water, when we play peek a boo with her, eating solids, picking up food with her hands to eat, her blankie and paci when she's tired, golf cart, pulling her hair bows out :/, eating her shoes, playing with our faces when she's laying in the bed with us, giving kisses
Emersyn Dislikes: her face being washed, hair being washed, when we take away things from her that she isn't supposed to have, being hot, taking her vitamin D drops, when we say "no"...., when we put bows in her hair!! I am at a loss on this one :( It is a daily battle... any tips on how to keep hair bows in??!!
Emersyn is Learning to: Use new words, walk while pushing toys, play peek-a-boo, chew pieces of food instead of purees only, raise her hands up when I say "hands up" for high chair table to be put on, open anything and everything, wash her high chair with a wash cloth when I sing the "clean up" song, give kisses, wave to everyone
Mommy's Favorite Thing: You keep stealing my heart more and more every month. I always think I cannot love you any more, and then you go and do something new and adorable and it just explodes!! Sometimes when I am laying in bed after putting you to bed, I wonder how it is possible to have so much love for such a little girl. It hurts my heart sometimes I love you so much... but in a good way :) This month you have made me melt when you use those precious little hands to cover your eyes when you play peek a boo with us!! You also greet me every morning with a wet kiss and will turn my face to you if I forget to let you give me one. Although you make some days exhausting, life is more fun with you than I ever imagined it would be!!
Daddy's Favorite Thing: Daddy says, "I love when we were at the beach and you said: "Da Da" for the first time. When I leave for work you are waving bye bye to me and are so sweet when I get home. I love our outside time and all of the new adventures and experiences we have had together."
What I've Learned This Month:
** Routine Takes Time: I will be honest, the first few weeks once school was out, and I was with Emersyn all day long I was wondering how I would make it through the weeks. I seriously would watch the clock starting around 3:30 waiting for Daniel to walk through the door to give me a break. And if he called to say he was going to be late I would go crazy haha!! Not that I don't love my baby girl and spending time with her, but she is much more demanding than my job with first graders :) Looking back, I thought she had just gotten easier, but I actually think we have adjusted to a new normal. After being home with her for 2 months now, we have developed a nice schedule that is typically pretty predictable. I know when is best for her to sleep, eat, and when is best for me to get ready each day, do chores, etc. We also have gotten in the habit of trying to have one activity on most days whether it is going to the library for story time, going swimming with a friend, or visiting family, it really helps to plan to get out of the house on the majority of the days. Emersyn LOVES going places and gets excited when she sees me packing the diaper bag or getting the car seat ready. Now, on the days when she is not with me it is hard to know what to do :)

McDowell Family Beach Trip

Unfortunately these are not in any order of the week :)

Murrells Inlet after dinner

Playing in the sand with Emma

Playing with Daddy and Matt

Matt was dying for crab legs all week, so Daniel bought him some and cooked them for dinner

Our nieces, Addison and Emma

Last morning at the beach... out attempt to take some family pictures :)

4th of July baby

Gran Gran and Papa with all the grandkids

Proud to be an American!!

On a mission

Stopping to eat some sand :/

Best part of the trip!! Snuggles with mama :)

Loving my pool!! It was a lifesaver at the beach!!!

Playing in the sand

Emersyn's aunties

Loving on Aunt Liz

Curious George inspecting the seashell

Addison and Emersyn

Inlet view

Daniel's sister Jennifer and her crew

Daniel's sister Elizabeth and son Matt

Daniel's parents

Snoozing on the beach

All the boys in green

McDowell family and a few friends

Pretty Emma

Daniel with sisters and parents

Out to dinner

Practicing her wave

Playing with Matt

Eating watermelon on the beach!!

Sisters :)

So HAPPY!!

Loving on Aunt Jenn

Messy Emersyn!!

Lake Greenwood for 4th of July

We left the beach and headed straight to the lake for the 4th of July weekend!

Emersyn's first boat ride!! She loved it and did not complain about wearing her life jacket. She actually took a nap every time we got on the boat :) Relaxing!

All the boats waiting on the fireworks show

Emmie slept straight through the fireworks even though they were very loud.

Sitting with the captain! She kept trying to take over the wheel!!

Gran Gran's 60th Birthday

Emersyn managed to stick her foot and both hands into the cake!! I don't think we will have a problem getting her to eat her first cake at her birthday!!