Stella: 9 mo Old

Stella Baylee: 9mo Old

May 24, 2011

My baby girl is officially 3 months away from turning one year old! It's exciting and sad at the same time. Time has just flown by and Stella has made some great milestones. She had her 9 month check up on Saturday May 28th. This time around she didn't have to get shots, I'm sure she would have done well with them if she did have to get them. Our pediatrician says that Stella is perfect and very healthy! Here are her stats:

Weight: 19 lbs 10 oz- 66th Percentile

Length: 28 1/4 inches- 75th Percentile

Head Circumference: 46 cm- 94th Percentile

 

 

Doc says that Stella should be crawling at any time. She is already getting into position to crawl. She can pull herself forward and get on all fours, she moves her arms but just can't get her legs to move with her just yet. Doc says that we need to give her more solid foods than formula. She should be drinking at least 24 oz a day of formula. Stella has been eating more "finger" foods like mandarin oranges, chicken, olives, scrambled eggs and bread. She can officially hold her sippy cup all by herself and drink out of it. She is also holding her bottle more and feeding herself. Occasionally she gets lazy and wants mom or dad to hold it for her. She is now eating a whole jar of 2nd stage foods. Depending on her mood she may only eat half of it in one sitting.

Stella now likes to play peek-a-boo with her blankets or our laundry. She'll hold it and lift it over her head and then quickly drop it down. She'll do it over and over and we'll say "Peek-A-Boo!" She loves it! She is babbling a lot now, the babbles she does are "bababa" and "lalala". She also likes to oooo and aahhh at everything. She is going to be quite the talker! Stella still loves to walk more than ever. She can pull herself up with us holding onto her hands and she'll just take off! Grandma and Grandpa have  a walker at their house and Stella cruises in it! She loves to clap her hands and every time we clap she'll start clapping along with us. She's also starting to wave, she mainly does it with her whole arm but I think she understands. Stella still loves to play with her toys and bang them on hard surfaces. She really loves her music dog that we got at the D.I. This dog has push buttons on his ear, foot, tummy and hand. The dog will tell you what you pushed, for example if you push the hand the dog will say "hand" and then it plays music. Stella's favorite stuffed animal at Grandma and Grandpa's house is Mr. Snail and Slow Poke. She will give him kisses all day long. It's so cute! Stella LOVES when we read to her. I've made it a habit to read to her every night, I do miss a couple nights a week. She will sit on our lap and listen to the story, she has even turned the pages for us a few times.

Stella can now pull herself up onto her knees. She has done it in her crib and with Grandma and Grandpa's coffee table. She is very strong, she can lift her heavy toys almost over her head. She loves to play with her feet. If she's sitting, she will lean down and try and put them in her mouth. If she's laying down, she'll pull them up to her mouth and stuff them in. It's adorable! Stella loves to imitate everyone, one of her favorite imitations is to smack her lips. One of the new things she is doing is she will scrunch her face and breath hard through her nose. Her little face looks so cute when she does it. Stella is very articulate with her fingers. She does so well at picking up her food with her index finger and thumb-she looks very proper when she does it :) She is also very perceptive. She will look up when you call her name and she reacts to all loud noises. Two particular noises she absolutely hates are the coffee grinder and the blender. Grandma and Grandpa discovered this when they were babysitting her one day. She just bawled...she didn't like it at all. Funnily enough, she doesn't mind the vacuum at all! She will even let me vacuum right next to her when she's sitting on the ground. Stella had her first trip to Hogle Zoo on Saturday May 21st. She loves seeing all the animals and reacted most to the big Gorilla. She lasted 3 1/2 hours before she was ready for a nap. She was very well behaved, didn't fuss once! We were so proud :)

Stella is still sleeping through the nights 5-6 times a week. There are 1 or 2 times that she will wake up. Sometimes she just wants her binky and other times she wants a bottle. She is still wearing 6-9 month clothes and 9 month Carter's clothes. She is even able to fit into some 12 month clothes. Stella officially has her baths in the big bath tub now. She loves to splash and play with her toys. She's not very fond of it when I have to wash her hair. For some reason she just hates it. I have to distract her with funny noises while I do it so she won't cry. Stella absolutely loves to laugh! She likes to be tickled and loves to play with people's faces. She is always smiling and has the most beautiful smile. Our baby girl is one smart cookie, we are excited for her to start crawling and eventually start walking. We know once she gets the balance for walking she will never look back! She has loved walking since she was 3mo old when she first started taking steps with us holding on to her. Stella is our pride and joy and we love her more and more every day. Life wouldn't be the same without her and she is our special blessing. We love you Stella Baylee :)