Ten Months Old
I regret not doing a 9-month entry, and I don't want to miss out on a 10-month one too. So much has been happening!
Weight / Length - 16lb 2oz; 27.5 inches
Eating - One of the biggest changes is that Kierra now takes formula from a sippy cup. At her 9-month appointment on October 30th, the doctor was AGAIN unhappy with her weight and again pushed us to make her drink formula. This time, I mixed some pureed pear in with the formula... and she accepted it! For the first time in her life! Over the course of those first two weeks, I slowly decreased the amount of pear in the cup... and now she's drinking straight-up formula. THANK GOD. She takes about 15-18 oz a day, bit by bit because she usually just sips and flings the cup away to do more exploring and playing. x_x
Still, I'm super thankful she's drinking formula because by now, my nursing supply has TANKED. She's basically just nursing as a snuggly, comforting routine by now. 4 times a day: once when she wakes up for the day, when she wakes up fro her two naps, and just before bed. I'd like to keep this up through the winter at the very least, so she can benefit from the antibodies passed along through the breastmilk. I'm sure my boobs can limp along for a few more months, specially now that I'm not so stressed about the dwindling supply being her only nutrition anymore.
As for solids, we're into finger foods now, which means Kierra is eating dinner with us now. We haven't branched out too far yet, but we're getting there.
Sleeping - Another huge change! A few days after she started drinking formula, she began to SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT. Now it's about half and half, some nights we don't hear a peep and some she's up just once. On the nights that she sleeps through, she goes for about 9 1/2 hours and wakes up for the day at 4:30 or so. Unfortunately, there's no putting her back to bed after 4:30ish. x_x When she wakes up at night, usually around 2 or 3am, she takes about 3-4oz of formula, flips through a book, and goes back to sleep after about 30 to 50 minutes. THANK YOU JESUS.
She now has two solid naps, and a pretty predictable schedule! It shifts around a little, but a pretty typical day for us has her going down for first nap around 8:30, sleeping about 1.5 to 2 hours, down again around 2pm, sleeping about 1.5 hours, and bedtime around 7pm. Her bedtime routine is diaper, pajamas, upstairs to her bedroom to read a book in the glider chair, nursing (where she gets super relaxed and sleepy), then I hold her and sing our bedtime song while she cuddles up on my shoulder. ;3; That bedtime routine was the first time she'd ever really snuggled with me, and it still makes me feel the warm fuzzies in my heart. (She now gives hugs and snuggles while playing, but bedtime is still special.)
Clothes - Mostly 9-month clothes with a few 12-month ones too! We have some nice fleecy footie pajamas at night, and several different onesie and pants outfits for daytime. She can't wear those marvelous footie pants during the day anymore because they flap off her feet when she crawls and she gets tripped up. I'll miss you, footie pants! She doesn't really wear shoes yet, but that should be coming soon.
Diapers - We're finally up to Pampers Swaddlers size 3! For the past month, I've been using all disposables to try to combat a crazy-persistent diaper rash with gunky rash creams. Every time I thought I'd gotten rid of it, it would come right back as soon as we went back to cloth, even with frequent changing. It's looking really good right now, so I'm hoping we can go back to cloth soon and save some money!
Personality / Behaviors - I still can't believe it, but Kierra has become very cuddly! She likes to drape herself over me and give hugs while we play on the floor. It's so sweet! She also laughs out loud more often now, which is really fun.
She absolutely loves performing for an audience now, and enjoys getting reactions out of people. When you ask her "How big is Kierra?" she grins and flings her arms up over her head. Sometimes she throws her hands up out of the blue, and wants you to sing out "Soooo big!" and clap for her. Once you're clapping, she claps along - one hand open and one fist closed.
New Milestones - Over the past two months, she's gotten so far!
Crawling. This is an "old" milestone, but in October Kierra began to crawl up on all fours instead of her previous "army crawl." She's FAST. And she reminds me of a baby sea turtle racing to the shore.
Pulling up to standing. Also from October. She only got "stuck" in a standing position in her crib twice, lol. She had pulled up on the crib bars after I put her down for a nap and was crying and crying. When I went in to see why she was fighting the nap so hard, I found her stranded and unable to figure out how to get back down onto the mattress! (I immediately dreaded the idea of her doing this at all hours of the night, but thankfully she never did.) By now, she's a pro and getting up and getting back down again.
Sitting up by herself. I think the only reason she was "late" to the sitting party is because we could never get her to sit still! But she finally realized that sitting allows her to have both hands free while staying upright - double win!
Waving hello and bye-bye. She usually waves if you ask her to wave hello, or she might take the initiative and wave on her own. We have a goodbye routine when Tom goes off to work, and now when Kierra sees him start to pack up to go, she starts waving enthusiastically, like a silent "BYE-BYE BYE-BYE BYE-BYE!!!" She does wave goodbye to other people yet.
Walking while holding our fingers. She can go on FOREVER this way!
Cruising. This is the thing where babies walk all over your living room, using furniture for support. This one is a bit newer, and she's still kind of doing the sideways shuffle to get around, but she does it often.