9 Months and Thriving

When I took Piper in for her 9 month check up, everything looked great. She was hitting all the milestones... babbling, crawling, standing. She had grown an inch. BUT, she had only gained 1 ounce since she was 6 months. The doctor was concerned and perplexed as to why she hadn't gained more weight. She never acted hungry, but maybe I wasn't feeding her enough?? I mean, she really is a happy baby 95% of the time. It was the second time I have heard the phrase "failure to thrive" concerning her. (I also heard that when I was pregnant and measuring small.) The doctor wanted to do a urine test to see if that gave any answers. So while we were waiting for my sweet girl to tinkle, the doctor also ordered an EKG.

Here she is: 9 months old getting an EKG. The hardest part was keeping Piper from pulling all those cords off. I haven't heard anything about the EKG results, so I can only assume it came back normal. Since that day, we have doubled (possibly tripled) what we were feeding her. Included in that is some Pediasure which the doctor prescribed. She has eaten it all. I feel badly that I obviously wasn't feeding her enough, but at the same time, I am hoping that is the only problem. I take her back to the doctor in 2 weeks for a weight check.

Here she is before her doctor's appointment, happy as a clam. She was particularly excited about touching that dishwasher thingy (that's the untechnical term). Also, she loves to carry something in her hand. She crawls everywhere holding something in one or both hands. That little tubular lego? Her favorite.

She does try to put it in her mouth and chew on it sometimes. Then she gets told "no-no".

The face I got when I took it away.

She makes a really cute pouty face, I must say :)

I took her outside later that day to try and get a new picture for my living room. I have a frame that holds the kids' three pictures and I wanted to update Piper's pic.

She was fascinated by the dead grass.

I thought maybe she would be upset about sitting in the straw-like grass, but she didn't mind at all!

Then one morning, I decided I'd better take some pictures of her to document nine months. Here she is with the turtle.

Get used to these types of hugs, Piper. I see many of them in your future.

She often sits on her knees... easier to keep going that way!

Wyatt laughing at something she was doing.

She was laughing because I kept gently pushing her backward when she'd try to sit up.

Happy girl.

Happy hungry girl.

A picture of her hair swirl on the back of her head.

I believe it was at this point I started thinking, "Hmm. She IS 9 months old. She should have a doctor's appt. coming up." I went and looked at the calendar. Yikes! It was that day at 10 a.m. The time? 9:40 a.m. We ran out the door and made it on time. Little did I know I would be there for two hours waiting on things like an EKG.

She stands up all the time now. Notice the blocks in her hand.

Current eye color: gray?

She likes to stand up by the window and look out.

I thought I should document bath time now. She holds things in the tub too.

She LOVES bath time!

She holds on to the toys when she gets out of the tub too. You can kind of see all of her teeth in this picture. She has two on bottom and three on top.

Where's Piper?

So sweet.

Friends of ours got this towel for Piper when she was born.

I love hooded towels.

Oh, that tongue. And the dimple. So cute!

Different day, same block.

What do you think? Does she look like she's gained weight? She really is a happy baby. Loves to babble and investigate everything. She eats really well... has only gagged at a few things :) And she loves to snuggle. I'm sure if I wanted to, I could hold her all day long and she wouldn't complain. When I pick her up, she gets really excited and starts bouncing up and down in my arms. It is an instant mood booster :)