Nine Months

Shelby Kaitlynn Ross is one busy, happy, loving little girl. She’s a turbo crawler now. Crawls all over the house. Pulls up just about any where she can. Shelby has taken a few side shuffles as she hangs on to the coffee table, couch or the crib rail. I love watching her reach high to touch something…my little ballerina practicing her relevé.

Shelby dances (bounces up and down) when she hears music or when we sing. Her faces lights up, her legs start kicking and at times a squeal pops out when she gets excited. She squeals more than she laughs. On of our favorite things is what we call her silent laugh. She does this a lot! When she’s all excited, her mouth pops open and at any moment you think a laugh will come rushing out, but nothing…just a lot of happiness in her face and eyes! But, Levi can get her to laugh. He can just look at her in a certain way or do something and she’ll start to laugh. Plus, he knows all her tickle spots too and likes to tickle her belly laughing! A few new sounds have been added to Shelby’s vocabulary. The “Ba-Ba-Ba” sound and my favorite, the “Mama-mama” sound. Sounds just like Ma-Ma but just never ending. Sweet sweet sounds.

Shelby puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. Shoes, paper, crumbs and even leaves are some of Shelby’s favorite things to go after. Yes, I’ve had to fish out one too many leaves in the past week. Makes my heart race every time. Levi has been so helpful of informing me when she’s eating something she’s not suppose too. So Thankful for big brother!

Two more teeth have broken through this month, for a total of four teeth now. Two lower, and now both upper lateral incisors. Yep, she’s still missing her upper center front teeth, but that are swollen. Its just a matter of time. Shelby handled it all well. A few restless and sleepless days, but she continued to sleep through the nights very well.

At 9 months, Shelby continues to sleep very well. Two naps a day. A morning nap around 9, lasting about 1 to 1.5 hours. Then, a second nap around 12:30/1:00 which usually last 2 hours. She’s still sleeping 12 to 13 hours a night. She loves her sleep.

At her 9 month well check, Shelby measured 29.5” long and weighted 18.5 lbs. She hasn’t really gained much weight from her 6 month well check visit, but nothing to be too concerned about. She is a very active girl and burns off most of those calories quickly. We’ve adjusted her diet to include more proteins and fats. She’s loving all the new foods we’ve introduced. Yogurt, cheese, bread, and avocado. I’ve pureed more of our le ft over meals this past week. Cranberry pork roast, meat loaf, roasted lemon chicken just to name a few. She is gobbling it all up. Shelby still receives 4 bottles a day, but has begun to drop some of her ounces due to a full belly of food.

I loooooove my little girl. I love to hold her and sing to her, rock her, dance with her, talk with her, and snuggle with her. She melts my heart, both my kids do, just in different ways.