9 Months!

Wow, I'm 9 months old already! That was fast. With my first two teeth popping through it definitely was a big month. I had my 9 month checkup yesterday and I couldn't stop smiling and clapping my hands at Dr. Tan. He said that I am a happy and healthy baby!

• I weigh 15 lbs, 11 oz. and am 26 inches long. Surprisingly, that's only a 5 oz. weight gain from two months ago. Although I feel bigger and heavier, I'm definitely on the smaller side, coming in at the 10th percentile for my age for both weight and length. I even still fit into some of my 6-month clothes.
• I can say "dada." Among other things. I make up my own words and talk a LOT.
• I'm starting to "crawl." Creeping is more like it. I'm able to drag myself across the floor to get from one place to another, but still can't lift my tummy off the ground.
• I recognize and remember things. I especially remember what a container of Puffs looks like, as well as the packaging for the Baby Mum Mum's. Whenever I see either of them I get really excited and start squealing. What's also neat is that after months of reading the "Baby Animals" book at bedtime, I know to touch the patches of animal fur on each page with my fingers.
• Sleep. I'm still on a consistent schedule and sleep through the night most nights, although occasionally I still demand the 5am feeding. It also helps that I have three pacifiers in my crib. If I wake up without one in my mouth, I just have to feel around to find one, put it in my mouth and I'll go back to sleep on my own. I'm down to two naps a day now, so my schedule looks something like this:
• 7:00 am: Wake up
• 9:30 am: Morning nap (1 hour)
• 2:30 pm: Afternoon nap (1-2 hours)
• 7:30 pm: Bedtime

What a life! I should be becoming more mobile next month. Mom and Dad better start babyproofing the house!

In honor of my 9 month birthday, I ate 9 puffs. Count 'em.

Firsts

Since I'm only eight months old, it's no surprise that every new thing I do is a first for me. In the past month alone I've experienced my first plane ride, first time seeing snow, and first tastes of new foods. Here's a few more to add to my growing list.

First swim lesson
Mom bought a Groupon for swim classes at King's Swim Academy in San Mateo and finally got a space in a Saturday Baby and Me class. I love baths and this kinda reminded me of taking a bath. We sang songs, played with floaty thingys, and splashed around, but it was hard to pay attention with all these other kids swimming and making lots of noise around me. I've never taken a bath with so many other people at the same time! I was pretty bewildered by the whole experience.

I spent the entire first class with this blank look on my face.

First swing ride
Mom walked me to nearby Ray Park and wanted to see how I'd react on a swing. Turns out I loved it and couldn't stop smiling and laughing. Here's a video of my first experience (excuse Mom's "whee's", she was probably more excited than I was). 

First finger food

Puffs! It took a few tries to figure out how to get them in my mouth, but now that I know how to eat them, I can't stop! They're my favorite food. I get super excited whenever I see Mom pull out the container. My eyes light up, I start squealing, and grab for them with both my hands. I <3 Puffs!

First teeth
After weeks of anticipation, my bottom two teeth finally broke through! Although you can barely see them, you can definitely feel them. No more gummy smile for me!

Showing off my new teeth and my long lashes.

Tahoe

Last weekend Mom and Dad took me to Lake Tahoe. I love road trips! It's amazing how much stuff we had to bring with us just for two nights. It took Mom and Dad all morning to prepare, pack, and load up the car. Can you find me in the photo below?

Where's Kaitlyn?

I was an excellent passenger. I took a nice nap during the hour drive to Vacaville, stopped for lunch, then slept another 2.5 hours the rest of the way there!

We stayed in a big cabin with three other families. The next day they hired two babysitters so all the adults could go skiing. I got to spend the entire day playing with my friends Kira, Kyla, and Alex.

Here's a picture of Mom and Dad at Squaw Valley. Looks like they had a lot of fun!

It snowed overnight and the next morning we woke up to this.

I got to touch snow for the first time. I wasn't that impressed. Besides, it was cold outside...brrrr.

Get me out of here!

Until next year!

Product Reviews: Solids Edition

Kaitlyn has been on solids for three months now. She loves to eat, and there are so many products out there just to help transition babies to eating their first solid foods. Here's a list of products that we have found useful.


A friend loaned us these two books, Super Baby Foods and Top 100 Baby Purees. They've been a great resource for us in figuring out what foods Kaitlyn could eat and when we should introduce them.

I've been making and freezing all of Kaitlyn's baby food, and these Fresh Baby freezer trays with lids are great for freezing and storing. After everything is frozen, I just pop out the cubes and store in a Ziploc freezer bag.

I also got these Baby Cubes food storage containers. I use them to pack her meals for day care, and they're convenient for packing a meal if we're on the go. They're easy to snap open and closed, and since the tops are attached to the container, I never have to keep track of or hunt for matching lids. 

Also great for on the go are these fruit pouches and twist-on dispensing spoon. I've been trying to avoid buying any processed baby food since most of them tend to have added preservatives/artificial flavors. But according to the ingredient lists on these pouches, the only ingredients are the fruit itself. I like both the Plum Organics Baby and Happy Baby brands. These pouches are especially useful on weekends when we're out and about and don't want to worry about refrigerating/reheating foods.

Kaitlyn eats a serving of Earth's Best organic whole grain oatmeal everyday. She seems to love it, especially when mixed with mashed bananas or other fruit.

I was originally using the classic Gerber soft bite infant spoons, but Kaitlyn kept grabbing the spoons and waving them around, and I was worried that she would poke herself in the eye with the other end. So I switched to these Munchkin silicone spoons. When she's done eating I let her play with the spoons as much as she wants.

I bought these Munchkin fresh food feeders to help with teething and have been putting frozen mangoes inside. Kaitlyn still needs to figure out how it works though, because she always chews on the wrong end. Hopefully she'll start eating peaches and pears with these soon.

We have yet to buy Kaitlyn a high chair, since she just started sitting up on her own a few weeks ago. So we've just been using her Bumbo with the tray attachment. Now that she's getting bigger, I plan to buy this Keekaroo wooden high chair. What I love about it is that it's all wood (easy to clean), matches our furniture, can be adjusted as Kaitlyn grows, and with the infant insert, looks a bit more comfortable than the ever-popular Stokke Tripp Trapp, which we were also considering.

It's amazing how much stuff is out there to feed a baby. And she doesn't even have teeth yet!

8 months

Wow this month flew by quickly! I can't believe I am 8 months old already. I'm such a big girl! I'm a lot of fun now, at the perfect stage where I can sit up and play but am still immobile, so I can't get into any trouble. Here's some other new tricks I've learned:

• I figured out how to make razzing sounds. If I purse my lips together and blow it makes a funny sound. Sometimes I'll wake up in the morning and that's the first sound I'll make. It's really very cute. :)
• I grab at everything. I will grab anything that's put in front of me (and then try to put it in my mouth). I especially like the things I'm not supposed to have - Mom's iPhone, the TV remote, a cold bottle of beer.
• Not crawling yet, but almost. I'm able to creep and inch forward to reach a toy, but still haven't figured out how to go farther than that.
• I found my feet. And my toes, which I love sticking in my mouth!
• I'm such a happy baby! I smile and laugh all the time, especially when people are watching me. I also babble non-stop and when I get excited, I start squealing and squeaking.

*sniff sniff* I'm growing up too fast!

Weekend in OC

Last week, we flew down to Orange County for a long weekend. It was my first plane ride! I even got my own boarding pass.

We spent the weekend hanging out with Ma-ma and Yeh-yeh.

We also went shopping at South Coast Plaza and had lunch with the Torrance crew.

With Uncle Nori, Gavin and Uncle Riki

It was a quick trip, but a fun adventure. Mom and I were exhausted on the ride home!

7 Month Update

This update is a little late, but here are a few things I have accomplished in my seventh month:

• I weigh 15 lbs, 6.5 oz. I gained another pound this month!
• I'm sleeping through the night! Finally! Just a month ago I could only sleep an average of 7 hours at a time before waking up and wanting to be fed. Then Mom and Dad started ignoring my middle-of-the-night wakings and made me cry it out. It was tough, but it worked. This past week I slept consistently for 10-11 hours straight, from 7pm to 6am!
• I can sit up. Although I'm still a little wobbly and fall over sometimes, I started sitting up on my own about a week ago.
• I started formula. With me eating more during the day and Mom going back to work, she just couldn't keep up with me any more. We started supplementing with formula so I would have enough bottles at day care during the day. Now I finish four 6-oz bottles every day (4 oz of breastmilk topped off with 2 oz formula). It's not ideal, but a growing baby's got to eat!
• Speaking of eating, I'm loving solid foods! My favorites are sweet potatoes and oatmeal. Mom and Dad are just happy that I love food as much as they do. :)