Although the 1-year mark is a major milestone in our western culture, it seems that the 9 month mark is a bit more fitting. At 9 months, Greta has now been out of my uterus as long as she was in it. Pretty crazy to think how much time has passed since she was born; trying to imagine life without her is impossible. The fact she spent just as much time inside is amazing, because that time didn't seem as monumental. She kicked some, but didn't do much else as far as I was concerned.
This has been a really, really big month for her (and, therefore, for us). This month, Greta started sleeping. In the week after her 8 month birthday, her sleeping went to shit. She started waking up 3, 4 or 5 times a night. The night before I gave up she consumed 20 ounces overnight, and a mere 7 during the day. She was totally flipped around, but any time we tried to feed her smaller bottles or water down her formula so that she would eat more during the day, she would have none of it. While I didn't want to resort to cry-it-out cold-turkey style, I didn't know what else to do. I hated thinking of her being so hungry all night, but there seemed to be no other way.
However, we did concoct a plan to lessen the blow. I'm sure I will get judged by the internets for this one, but it worked really well. The first night we drugged her. We gave her Benadryl in hopes of getting her to sleep as long as possible, and then hopefully she'd only be upset for a small part of the night. She slept until about 4 a.m., and then cried for all of 30 minutes (the horror, ugh.) But then that was about it. She woke again about an hour late and cried a bit. When she woke up after 6 we decided it was time to feed her. We fed her then, and she ate a ton throughout the day. The second night was better, she cried for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. By the 4th night she didn't cry at all. I thought about other non-cry-it-out approaches, but this seemed the most humane, to me. So that she knew from the first moment that something was different and she'd have to adjust, rather than leading her on. Since that time she's done really well. We continue to give her a dream feed before we go to bed. The first week we got up with her when she woke after 6 am (to break the habit of waking up for feedings in the middle of the night), but now we give her a bottle at 6 and put her back to sleep for an hour or two. She still doesn't take many bottles during the day, too much happening, but she drinks a lot right before bed and at those other two feedings (prob 15-18 ounces) so she's pretty set for the day.
Her other big accomplishment is crawling. She started crawling on April 27th, two days before turning 9 months. With MJ it was a much more gradual transition into crawling, but with Greta it was an abrupt shift. It clicked for her, and she was off. It's still more like scooting, but there's some crawling mixed in, and she definitely gets places. Like her sister, she's very persistent and determined to get places. She loves chewing on shoes (ugh!) and will seek out the tiniest piece of garbage to put in her mouth. She also loves outlets, something MJ never cared about.
Poor second child has definitely been injured more than MJ was. Today she fell down two stairs as I was reading to MJ. I just don't have my eye on her as closely as I did for MJ. Partly, I think, because I had to keep my eye on MJ so closely. But partly just because she's a second child.
This little girl just lights up my life. She's so full of joy and the first comment out of everyone's mouth is how happy she is. She beams from ear to ear much of the day. She jabbers and screeches much of the day, too. She continues to be "the calm one" but that will really only hold true in our family, because she's still awfully energetic and ready to get into things.
This month also saw my first trip away from her. Two nights in Vegas with some girlfriends. It was a glorious trip, and so very needed, but I did miss her (and MJ, too; my life is just not as entertaining without her in it). When I got back she kept poking me, as if to say "Are you real?" She also bonded with her Dad while I was gone, in a way that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. She's still definitely a Mama's girl, but she adores her Dad and he now has the confidence to watch her and play with her.
Happy 9 Months Miss G. You're getting more interesting every day, and my love for you just keeps on growing.
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| As usual, the very first photo I take is one of my favorites. |
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| These photos were so much more difficult to get than last months. And I think blocks would be easier than the sign I used for MJ.... so wrong.... |
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| Basically, the photos only worked if she didn't notice the blocks were there. |
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| Showing off some new skills she didn't have last month. |
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| Proving to me that I shouldn't underestimate the trouble she's capable of. |
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| So the photo shoot devolved into nursery pictures. |
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| Since she's nine months and I neer got around to taking photos of the nursery. |
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| I was not pleased with the lighting, though. And a few other things I forgot to move before taking these photos. |
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| The walls are much more of a sunshine yellow than these photos are letting on. |
