Telg Family: 9 Months Old!

It is hard to believe that my little girl is 9 months old already! I feel like it was just yesterday that we were holding her in the hospital. It makes me so happy and proud to watch her grow and learn new things. That said, it also makes me sad because she is growing up WAY too fast.

Kinley is definitely developing her own personality. She is one of the most independent and strong willed babies I have ever met! It is both incredibly cute and horribly frustrating. I think I am in for a bit of a challenge with her. For example, although she is plenty capable of holding her own bottles (she does her own sippy cups and foods) she refuses and throws a fit if we try to have her hold onto it. She prefers to turn into a little rag doll during feeding times. Kinley also has started mini tantrums of crying when she is super tired or doesn't get picked up exactly when she wants. Is it bad that I sometimes laugh when this happens? I either laugh or tell her that "you're okay" and usually let her calm herself down. If she doesn't calm down, then I know something is actually wrong and she is not just being a turd.

She is MOBILE! As I previously posted, she is crawling all over the place. We had to put up gates upstairs. I originally wasn't going to gate the bottom of steps going up but she has recently started trying to go upstairs. Might have to gate those too. She is also cruising all of the furniture. This is good in the basement but we are seriously reconsidering our decision of buying a concrete coffee table upstairs. Oops, who knew! Turns out our parents might have been right on that one! (Still learning from you mom - eat it up!) So far, she has stood alone for 16 seconds max. She refuses to walk on her walker toy at home but apparently walks all over the place on the walker at school. Silly girl!

She continues to love bath time! We are working on sitting on her bottom as she likes to stand. Kinley has learned what "NO" means and in fact, has started shaking her head "no" at us when we tell her "no". Too cute! She is also picking up on what "not in the mouth" , "not for Kinley", and "diaper time" mean.

Kinley definitely loves being around people! She really enjoys watching groups of people, especially other kids. She also loves all the attention she gets when in groups. Not a shy girl at all so far. I am happy about that because I was horribly shy as a child. Boy did that change though! Kinley also loves to talk. She continues to say "dada" and has started saying the "m", "b", and maybe "g" sound. I have only heard her say "mama" twice and LOVED it. Now however, when I try to get her to say "mama" she looks at me and says "dada". It is really hilarious, almost like she is doing it on purpose. Needless to say, Matt loves it.

Here are a few of her stats:

Height: 28.5" (81.79%)
Weight: 18# 15.4 oz (53.62%)
HC: 45 cm (79%)

Basically she is tall, slender, and really smart!

Clothing/Diapers: She is wearing 12 months in both sleepers and everyday clothing. She wears size 3 Pampers Cruisers.

Sleeping: She still goes to bed between 7 - 8 p.m. We average 7:30. She typically sleeps till 5:30 -6:30. Seems like 10-11 hours is her comfort zone. On weekends, she will usually wake, eat, and then go back to sleep for a while. Mommy and Daddy really like this, even if it is only until 7 or so.

Feeding: Kinley has officially stopped eating baby foods. About 2 weeks ago, she started turning her head away and getting upset if we tried to feed her baby food. She is solely on solid foods and bottles. She is independent with finger feeding and drinking water out of a sippy cup. She LOVES food and eats anything we eat. She loves hummus, cheese, most veggies, potatoes, most fruits (especially bananas), fish (salmon, tuna, tilapia, crab), chicken, avocados, and well.... most everything. She doesn't really care for grapes, strawberries, ham, or peppers. Kinley takes 4-5 bottles of 4-6 ounces per day depending on her mood. Right now, she is doing 2 oz formula and 4 oz breastmilk. I am weaning down breastfeeding. This has been a huge struggle for me because I feel so guilty. But, she hasn't nursed in several months and pumping is getting harder and harder. I am down to 2 pumps / day. My goal is to be weaned off by 10 months and hope to have enough save for maybe a few more weeks.

WOW, these posts are always so long but I want to make sure I remember everything for when she is all grown up!

Enjoy these pics!