Baby Diary: 9 Months Old

How has another month passed us Noah? It seems like I am always writing these monthly updates. These months feel more like weeks. Can time not slow down just a little?

Character

Still the cheeky boy we know and love. I don't know how it's possible but this month you have become even more cheeky! You have learnt how to show off and make us laugh. When you do you smile so much and are so proud of yourself. You are so excitable too and literally bounce off my knee when you find something exciting. Which is usually the dog, the vac or the hair dryer! 

SizeYou now weigh 18lb 9oz and are on the 25th percentile. 50th percentile for height and 75th perentile for your head circumference. So you are long, skinny and with a big head! You are still wearing 6-9m clothes with a fair bit of room to grow into. Some babygrows are getting a little short in the feet department but everything else fits well. You are now in size 4 nappies. 

Health

We took you to A&E this month. While you were having a nap one morning I was watching you sleeping and I could see you taking quick and shallow breaths. Your stomach was working hard to get the oxygen in and I could hear a rattle in your chest. It sounded different from when you had a chest infection and I ended up thinking was maybe it was asthma? We didn't wait long in A&E and all the doctors and nurses were great. You ended up having your throat, eyes, ears looked at and blood pressure, oxygen levels and heart rate checked not once but three times. We were moved into three different rooms to different doctors and nurses and each time they checked again. Although your oxygen levels were fine your body was working hard to get them and they said we had done the right thing bringing you in. You was given a little inhaler to open up your airways and it did help for a while. After numerous questions and examinations they came back to say it was a viral infection. They told me to continue using the inhaler for a couple of days and to see how you got on. If you got worse I was to take you back straight away. Thankfully by the second day you were fine and no longer needing the inhaler! Other than that you have been great. Teething on and off but no teeth as of yet! 

Feeding

Still a foodie, no change there! You still have three meals a day but you have more at each sitting. With eating bigger portions you now drink slightly less milk, between 15oz a day. You usually have a bottle at 6am, go back to sleep, have breakfast, then lunch, a bottle, dinner, then a bedtime bottle. You love to feed yourself and really enjoy eating. We are still trying to find a food that you don't like. You have tried beetroot and a tiny bit of anchovy this month and you liked both, believe it or not! 

Sleep

Most of this month you have been struggling with sleeping at night which I put down to the big leap you were going through. It was the worst leap to date! As soon as it ended you went back to sleeping how you usually do which is 8pm-8am. You do wake up sometimes at 6am for a bottle and if you do you end up sleeping in till 9am. Nap wise it's still hit and miss. You have two naps a day, an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. If I'm lucky!

Milestones

- Speech. You have always been a vocal baby and have been making noises we could class as words for a while now but this month it's different. It's intended when you say the words and you repeat the words we say. You can now say mama, mam, dada, dad, hiya. We have classed hiya as your first word.

- Sitting. You are 100% when sitting now. Unless you try to reach for something that's a little too far away and you lose your bearings.

- Crawling. No progress with crawling as such. You can hold your weight on your arms in the crawling positions and rock to and fro but you haven't tried to set off. Last week you also got yourself from the sitting position into the crawling position. 

- Movement. Although you aren't crawling if we lay you on your back or front you are able to wiggle about a bit and seem to be able to do so easier each day.

- Feeding. Although you have been able to hold your own bottle for a while now you are doing it a lot more frequently now. You are still to master drinking sitting up though.

- Waving, You can now wave hello and bye bye! You have just started doing this in the last few days! So now you can wave, clap and dance. 

- Kisses and cuddles. You gave me my first ever Noah kiss and cuddle last week and it was one of the most memorable moments. You don't give them freely as of yet and only when you are feeling extra nice but you certainly know what the words mean. If I say kiss kiss you will kiss me, yourself in the mirror or today for example you kissed a cat in your book! For cuddle I say "give me a love."

- Standing. You still love your walker and zoom around the conservatory. We have been practicing standing a lot this month and you are getting a lot better at holding your own weight. 

- Understanding words. You now understand the words; light, trees, rossi (the dog), milk, juice, love, kiss, cuddle, hiya, sky, dodo, dance, clap, wave. For example if I ask where Rossi is you will look for him and then smile when you see him. You are my clever sausage.

Things you like

- SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS. You are still loving good old Spongebob but The Simpsons are a close second! 

- The Guitar. You love it when Daddy plays you his guitar and sit there clapping and dancing. You are a little guitarist in the making baby! 

- Showing off. When you have hold of something you shouldn't have you get all excited and wave it about smiling, laughing and screaming! 

- The walker. You love your walker so much and I think because you aren't mobile yet you like the freedom it gives you. You zoom around like a pro! 

- FOOD! 

- Books. I was buying books before you were even born. These are all packed away waiting in the new house but this week I dug a few out and you've been loving being read to and having a look through the book yourself.

- Animals. You have a fascination with animals and will beam from ear to ear when you see one. 

- Electronics. Anything electronic, you love it. At the minute you are loving the vac and the hairdryer and get very excited when they are on. You will bounce up and down waving your arms about like you are about to take off! 

Things you don't like

- Getting crammed. If you don't nap or nap earlier I sure know about it. 

- Jumperoo. You are now bored of your jumperoo and won't sit in it longer than 2 minutes.

- Getting changed and having your face wiped.

- Waiting for food.

- The car. I am sure babies are supposed to love being in cars but you don't. You usually whine and get bored very quickly.