Z's Ninth Month !

 NINE.

Zara is 18 pounds, 11 ounces & 28 inches long.

She wears 6-12 month clothes & some 3-6.

Size 4 diapers.

She is healthy and happy !

Ignore my shadowy photos(they have been shadowy every time I take these, ugh) & look at this. I love this sweet thing so much:::

NEW

- Z is a mover. She is constantly playing. Standing up, sitting down, crawling to us, finding something to put in her mouth, etc.

- She has stood several times all by herself (but I need to be close) & we keep practicing.

- Z has been working on walking this month. She moves all around but needs to lean on something. She even went across the room with her walker.

- She can say "Mama" ! She did say "Papa" a couple times, but stopped. She loves to be goofy and just open and close her mouth when we try to get her to repeat our words.

- 4 whole teeth ( front two top and front two bottom).

- She cuddles with stuffed animals while she sleeps and lays her head on them while she holds them. She also enjoys laying her head on the cat. Katze does not enjoy.

- She likes to chew on her hands when she is tired. We were running one night and she looked so cute in the jogging stroller, just chewing on her hand.
- Zara learned to clap one day and never stopped. haha. She claps when Jonas comes home, when we find her trying to get the cat's food, when she hears something that sounds like clapping or sees it. She also gives high fives and loves to wave.
-Z loves to make a cute popping noise with her mouth.

- We have a stair climber! We really have to watch her, but we have stayed behind her and let her climb and couple times. She is pretty good unless she turns around.
-I know we are super late to the game, but Zara started sleeping in her own room. She was ready and I was ready. Now we all sleep better.
-Zara says "mmmmmm" when eating. The cutest.
- Z loves to hold on tight with her little monkey arm. She hooks on and will not let go. We love being loved by her.
- One of our little games is to put her on the couch and let her fall into our arms. She always closes her eyes as she falls. I love that!
- I always ask where Papa is & she immediately looks for him. She loves when her papa comes home :)
- Her favorite thing in the whole world is making it to the cat bowls and playing in the water and food. It is constant, so she has gotten past us a couple times. I actually do want this to stop. I guess we are at that point where you just cannot trust her.
-She is starting to like when we chase her and make a big deal of it when we finally catch her.
- She is really into sticking her tongue out and blowing spit everywhere. ha.
-Z loves to play all day. She will play alone or with us.
- She loves to shake her head. No reason. Just loves it.

-Over the past couple weeks, we had a little sick girl on our hands. She had some kind of bacteria or something that made her have lots of watery poop and one terrible time vomiting. She seems to be all better now and her appetite is back up.

EAT

I know I have so many photos of her eating. She doesn't eat constantly, but she does love food- eating it and playing with it. We always have a mess of food that she drops on the floor. She also does this squirrel thing where she stores food in her cheeks. I find it hours later sometimes. She still loves the staples- baby oatmeal mixed with organic baby food, yogurt and lots of milk. She really loves to play with and eat fruit- bananas, apples, grapes, pears, pineapple, watermelon, peaches- she devours them.  I have realized my supply is never going to go back up, but most days I have enough for Zara. When I don't, I only have to use 2 oz. of formula. For most of the month, she was having 20-23 oz. of milk per day. The past week it has dropped to 16-20. I have had enough  milk for her at this point and her pediatrician says this amount is normal :) She has regular breakfast (usually baby oatmeal)- lunch - dinner schedule with some snacks.
As long as it is not spicy, we let her try everything we are eating. Really, she just can't stand to watch us eat without trying something. She likes almost everything. I know it will not stay that way, but it is really fun right now.

SLEEP

We let Zara stay up until we go to bed because we want to spend all the time with her that we can. Having her on our sleep schedule works for us for now- she is never very cranky at night. So she goes to bed around 10:30, wakes up between 4am and 6:15 to eat and goes back to sleep until we leave- or she keeps snoozing if we are at home. She usually takes an afternoon nap and an early evening nap. I look forward to the day that she will sleep through the night, but I cannot complain too much.

I have no idea how 9 months went by so fast! It is crazy to think about last summer- I was expecting this girl and had no idea what life would be like with Zara or what she would be like. She is always observing everything and is very easy going. I mean, I have even taken this girl to work with me a couple times for the whole day. Z also loves to explore. She is content in our arms for a while, but will always eventually want to get down and crawl everywhere. I know she needs us for everything and she needs us close, but she seems so independent when she fearlessly gets into everything. She is our favorite girl. We love every smile, laugh, tired face, every new development and every chance to be with her.

Happy 9 months Zara! You are perfect. We love you so much & we always have your back.