Can you guys believe Riese is 9 months old today?! As I always say, time FLIES. Suddenly she is looking and acting a lot more like a little girl than a baby! I love it (this stage is so fun!) and hate it (this is all going by too quickly!) at the same time.
It has been awhile since I’ve done a baby check in, so I thought it would be fun to share one today!
The biggest update is that we are officially on the move – Riese just started crawling this week! She has been SO CLOSE (lots of rocking on all fours, and then getting frustrated and crying) for the past month so I knew it was only a matter of time. She took her first legit crawling movements on Tuesday, and just in the past few days she’s gotten a lot faster and able to crawl farther. Crazy how rapidly they get better at something once they figure it out! She’s happy – she used to get pretty frustrated trying to crawl and not being able to.
So, bring on the baby proofing! We already put covers on the electrical outlets, and we bought some cabinet locks but need to get those on. Baby gates need to happen ASAP too – there’s a flight of steep, scary, narrow stairs literally right outside the door to the nursery. Yikes. If you have any baby-proofing tips, I’m all ears!
Feeding
In terms of feeding, we are still going strong with breastfeeding, although we supplement a few times a week with a little formula because I can’t always keep up with the demand (and the very small freezer stash I once had is long gone). Riese is typically nursing 4 to 5 times per day right now – around 6/7 a.m., 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m. Before bed (around 6/6:30), we always give her a bottle (I sometimes nurse her first, but only if I feel like I still have any milk left – I don’t usually have much at this time of day). I am still pumping before I go to bed (around 9 or 10) so that milk goes towards the next evening’s bottle, although it’s not always quite enough… depends on the day!
We’ve also had a fun (and VERY messy – omg) time with baby led weaning! (More on baby led weaning and how we got started with it in this post: our experience with baby led weaning.) Generally, we offer Riese food in between nursing sessions because that’s when she seems most into it. (I know some people do combined feeds with milk/formula + real food at the same time, but she seems to prefer one or the other.) Usually she gets breakfast around 9, and lunch around 12. When we first started giving her real food, we did just breakfast, and have since added in lunch as it felt more manageable/she got more interested in food. Sometimes she also gets a mid-afternoon snack around 3… depends on the day/if it makes sense logistically. We haven’t been doing a real food “dinner” because she gets a big bottle right before bed and is usually not interested in taking the time to play around with food in the evening.
Riese’s favorite foods so far are nut butter (we stir it into something else like yogurt/cottage cheese, or give it to her on toast or as a sauce coating little pieces of sweet potato), yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, bread, applesauce (especially if PB is mixed in) and my banana egg pancake. She also likes shredded chicken, salmon, peas, broccoli, beets, squash, and my banana oatmeal! We give her most of her food straight on her tray as finger food, but for things like yogurt or oatmeal we still pre-load her bendy spoon for her to feed herself. It’s a total mess but oh well!
Still no teeth, although I didn’t have teeth until I was well over a year old apparently so I don’t think she’ll get any anytime soon… but you never know!
Currently, she loves: bouncing (either in a bouncer or in your lap – my arms are getting quite strong!), going for walks, standing with assistance, pulling herself up and down using you as a prop, and our dog and cat. She is REALLY obsessed with the animals now and loves trying to pet them! We are working on “gentle”… not quite there yet, but she’ll figure it out. 🙂 So far Freyja (the dog) is obsessed with licking her (hands + feet + face if she can do it before we stop her) but doesn’t love to be pet by her (she’ll just walk away). Zara (the cat) has actually been a lot more interested in Riese, too, and loves comes over and letting her pet her – she has even been okay in the few instances Riese has gotten a little too grabby – she didn’t run away or anything, which surprised me. Riese also loves watching big kids at the playground, going upside down (with our assistance), being tickled, and the swings! I definitely think she’s going to be a daredevil!
She doesn’t like: sitting still. 🙂 If the stroller stops, she immediately wants out! And eating meals out with her is challenging because she is so grabby right now. Everything immediately goes into the mouth so we have to be careful what’s within arm’s reach (I swear her arms double in length anytime we try to go to a restaurant…) She also loves dropping toys/food/utensils/etc. on the floor, and then letting us pick them up for her. Ha! Smart girl. 😉
Sleep
We lucked out with a great nighttime sleeper (knock on wood). I’m sure it’s probably absolutely nothing that we did and more just that she happens to be a good sleeper – I think some kids are just better sleepers than others naturally. She usually conks out by 6:30 and sleeps until anywhere between 5 and 7 depending. We know we are lucky!
She’s not a great napper (usually just takes 2 really short cat naps of about 30 minutes), but that’s totally fine with us because she sleeps so well at night. We moved her to her crib about a month ago, and she has done well in there. I miss having her right by us all night but it’s really nice to have our room to ourselves again! We do some of her naps in the crib and some are on the go (either in the car, or carrier, or stroller). I’m sure if we had more of a set routine during the day she might nap better, but… that’s just not really our style/I’m not that organized and that’s okay. 🙂 She seems fine with it so we are too! I love when she falls asleep on me in the carrier because I don’t usually get to hold her for naps anymore and I miss it! Anytime that happens while we are out walking, I come home and veeeeery carefully take off the carrier, then hold her for the rest of her nap. <3
So there you have it – Riese at 9 months in a nutshell! She’s a very busy bee right now and I’m always exhausted after my days at home with her, but I cherish our full days together and it’s such a joy to see her become so energetic and engaging. We have her 9 month pediatrician appointment today – I’m curious to see how much she weighs! Hopefully everything looks good.
One last question for those of you with little ones – at what age did you start putting shoes on them? Meaning, functional shoes vs. just super cute looking ones (although those are fun too!). Since it’s still hot out, I don’t have her in any sort of shoes or anything because we haven’t needed them for warmth, but I’m wondering if some flexible/grippy shoes might be good relatively soon as she starts attempting to walk and stand more with our help? Thoughts?
Have a nice weekend guys!
