The Larson Ladies: July 2012

Weight: 20 lbs.
Length: 28.25 in long
She’s in the 50-75th percentile for height and weight! Dr. Tess kept saying, “She looks awesome!”

Clothes: Size 12 months (9-12 months). She can still wear 2-piece outfits that are 9 months, but almost all 9 month onesies are too small for her

Diaper: size 3

Food: Audrey still gets around 28 oz of formula each day (in 5 bottles) along with 2 feedings of vegetables and 2 feedings of cereal & fruit (between 3 feedings of solid “meals”). Right after she has her 9am bottle, she gets cereal mixed with a 3.5 oz fruit pack; after her 1pm bottle, she gets a 3.5 oz vegetable pack; and for dinner she gets a 7 oz formula bottle, as many vegetables as she will eat (usually around 3-3.5oz), and then as much fruit and cereal she will eat (usually about 1-1.5 oz). Dr. Tess is pleased with her weight and said to keep up the current routine where primary nutrition comes from formula and solid food supplements. We will just let her eat as much solid food as she wants. This won’t change until 12 months; at that time, we will feed more solid food and supplement with whole cow’s milk. She’s very interested in table food these days! Over this past month, she’s had some bread, tortilla, chocolate chip cookies, twizzlers, chips, cheese, cheeseburger, chicken, pasta and a lot more. Really healthy food, huh? :-\ She will try anything that I’m eating! But what’s really funny is she’ll eat any table food we give her, but if we give her any baby food with “textures” like chunks of carrots or chunks of pasta she makes the funniest faces and flares her nostrils and sometimes spits it out. She is unphased by the “real” solid food, but spits out the solid baby food. She still loves (like can’t get enough of) her puffs and biscuits. Just think, in 3 short months she will get birthday cake!

Sleep: Almost all last month, Audrey was up during the night. Most of the time, it was a quick fix like a pacifier just to fall back asleep. But there were a couple times that Carl had to really work to console her to get her back to sleep. After Audrey’s bath each night, we start our bedtime routine. Typically Carl gets to spend this time with Audrey, but this past month we switched a couple nights. See, Mommy-phase. We’ll read her a couple books and maybe sing a song and say a prayer. We end up rocking with her until she falls asleep (usually we fall asleep too). It could be a lengthy process to get her to bed because a lot of times she will pop up wide awake as soon as we lay her down in her crib. I talked to Dr. Tess yesterday at her appointment and he said there is no time better than the present to let her go to sleep on her own. Dr. Tess’ advice was to be consistent with naps and with bedtime. We decided not to wait, so last night was our first night with this routine. Carl read her 2 bedtime stories, said a prayer, then laid her down to bed fully awake. She was not a happy camper for about 20 minutes, then she quieted down a bit and was sound asleep after 30 minutes. She’s such a flexible and easy-going baby and I’m hoping she adapts to this new routine soon. It’s so hard to hear her upset! She did sleep ALL night last night, so that’s great. A little part of me is sad that we won’t rock her to sleep anymore. But we’ll share other special times with her. Our baby girl is growing up!

Look at my 2 bottom teeth

Audrey has several new “tricks” from this past month:
• She can give "high-fives"
• We say, "Audrey is *so big*!" and she raises her arms above her head to show how big she is
• She puckers and smacks her lips; I think this started when she ate a tart cherry fruit and she's been doing it ever since
• She makes this new face where she crunches her nose and laughs and blows in and out of her nose real fast
• She claps her hands
• She plays peek-a-boo by covering her face with a blanket or towel and then uncovering her face and surprising us.

She is getting stronger everyday. She loves her walker and has been sprinting around in the bottom floor. She puts her hands up and just runs. It makes us laugh so hard. Gramps Patton said she looks like ET, and Carl calls it “The Frankenstein”. I guess I could sum it up by saying she’s doing everything fast these days… jumping, crawling, walking, pulling up. She has become the “greeter” in the Infant Room at the Daycare. Whenever the door opens, she crawls so fast to greet the people at the door.

Audrey’s getting really brave lately, too. She will pull herself up on everything and she can stand up with the support of only 1 hand. Then she’ll bend down to pick things up, sit down from a supported stand, and even let go completely while she’s standing up. She falls right away when she lets go, but her balance and strength is really progressing. I have a feeling she will be walking in the near future. Watch out!

She’s in a phase right now where she’s a total Mommy’s girl. I love it! I can’t get enough of it, and have decided I’m going to live it up. Hopefully it lasts through her teenage years. I can only hope…

She sure is a “people-watcher”. I keep telling Carl that she gets this from him, which we all know is not true at all…that’s totally me. Whenever we take her out to a restaurant or to a ballgame, she stays entertained just watching everyone else. Even in her stroller, she sits all the way up instead of sitting back and is so alert looking all around. She is so curious and intrigued by other people. Doesn’t want to miss a thing!

Happy 9 months, Audrey bear! You make us so happy! We love you!!