Fiona is Nine Months Old!

Only three more months before my baby is a year old! She is getting so big and is really starting to develop a cute little personality. It is so fun to watch her as she hits new milestones and experiences things for the first time.


This month, she got to ride in the shopping cart at Costco with Gwen. She loved it and kicked her feet and smiled the whole time!

Speaking of Gwen, she still adores Fiona and no longer comments that she was happier before Fiona came. Phew! Glad that stage is over. The feeling is mutual and Fiona keeps tabs on Gwen's every move. She loves it when Gwen gets in her crib and plays "baby" with her!

Fiona is still eating enthusiastically- as long as I give her what she wants- which is sometimes hard to figure out. We still have to trick her into eating most veggies as well as anything with a smooth texture. Usually it works to dip a infant toothbrush into a puree and let her chew on it.

She also seems to have some food sensitives that we can't pinpoint. Sometimes she gets red around her mouth after she eats, but I can't figure out what's doing it. Once she gets the redness, it lasts for days. One of these days I might get around to taking her to an allergist.

Fiona has also said "mama" and "dada" although it is hard to tell if she's just babbling or if she is communicating with us. I'm starting to think she is really calling me "mama" because if she eats all the food on her high chair tray and I take to long to replenish her supply, she will start saying, "mama mama mama!"

Fiona continues to be content to sit and observe what's going on. She's not crawling, but she scoots around while sitting up. On her nine month birthday, she also figured out all at once that rolling around can get her where she wants as well. She's so funny.

Although I have yet to get photographic proof, Fiona sprouted her first tooth on the bottom left hand side. It's cute- but sharp!

Here are her stats...

Height: 25.5 inches- 3rd percentile

Weight: 13 lbs 12 oz- 0 percentile

Head: 43 cm- 22nd percentile

I was really excited to see that she gained a whole pound in just a month. It seemed like so much to me. But then the doctor said that it was okay, but she would like to see her put on another pound or two. What? Then I looked at the sheet she handed me and saw that she was still at zero percentile for weight. How does she gain a whole pound and still stay at the bottom of the charts? How much are the other babies gaining? Oh well, the doctor said it was good enough and we don't have to go back for 3 months. Fine with me!

Then I asked how long Fiona should be able to go at night without a feeding. Since she is 13 pounds, she should now be able to go 6 hours without eating- or basically one feeding a night should suffice. That will give us something to work on since she is still up twice a night.

Then I made the mistake of asking how much she needs to weigh before she doesn't have to eat at all during the night. Her answer? 20 pounds!!! Gwen didn't weight 20 pounds until she was almost two years old!

I almost cried when she told me this because I am so tired. I'm SO tired that it's testing my sanity. The doctor reassured me that I don't have to actually wake her up to feed her. But, if she wakes up on her own and it's been more than six hours, the best thing to do is to feed her. Whatever. It's better not to think about it.

Here are a few photos that I took of Fiona on her 9 month birthday. The first one is adorable, but the rest are a bit blurry because the little peanut loves to wiggle! What a sweetheart!