Nine Months Old

 Aah!  My girl is 9 months old already!  All the "big girl" things are starting to come into sight making my baby feel suddenly so much less "baby" and more "big girl."  Things like first birthday, weaning, walking...they're all in the not-so-distant future once you hit 9 months.  Kayden still feels very much like my baby, though, thanks to the fact that she's quite quiet and doesn't move around at all yet.  It's stretching the "babyness" out just a little more for me :)

 Like I said, Kayden still isn't moving, nor is she trying to move at all.  She's just content to sit and watch and play with whatever is around her.  Sometimes she looks as though she'd like to just go over to where the action is.  But most of the time she'll just sit and play or watch and we won't hear a peep.

 Levi continues to love his sister.  Here (above), Levi is trying to get Kayden to look at the camera.

 She didn't like that very much.  Not sure why not.  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't mind at all if my brother grabbed my neck/head and tried to force my chin up at an impossible angle. 

 He does have the best intentions most of the time.  And when he's not trying to be helpful, well...we'll just chalk his antics up to curiosity.  "Hmm...I wonder what Kayden will do if I put this chair on top of her?"

 We see this look (above) from Kayden alot when Levi is around.  She'll be a tough girl from having a brother around all the time.

 Kayden.  What a little doll.  If only I had a dollar for every time someone has commented on how content she is.  She really is so happy and content 80% of the time.  The other 20% of the time she is either being mauled loved on by her brother, or is hungry, tired, or hurting.  Kayden's favourite things these days are, by a long shot, animals.  She will squeal and flail and get so very excited when she sees any type of animal.  Dolls and stuffed animals are also being enjoyed these days.  Pretty much anything with a face and/or fur, she loves.  Kayden also gets excited when she sees anyone from her family.  Daddy, Mommy and Levi all get happy reactions from her.  She's a bit shy with most other people, at least initially.  She doesn't cry right away, though.  She will watch the person for a while and either render them unworthy of her fear...or else she'll not be able to hold it together any longer and just burst into tears.  It sometimes takes us off-guard because she seems good to go and then a few minutes later all of a sudden she'll be crying.  But she's easily consolable.  A hug from Mom or Dad and she's ready to face the world again...as long as there's a shoulder to bury her face in when needed.

 Kayden's eyes are still blue so I'm thinking they'll be staying that way, or at least not turning brown.  They have a teeny tiny bit of hazel in the middle and, depending on the day, they are either blue or grey.  They are quite dark and oh-so-beautiful. 

 Kayden still doesn't have much hair.  It has started growing a bit but thanks to our sleep training nights, she has rubbed off what stubble had started filling in on the back.  So there's still a prominent bald spot back there.  But the rest is quite light so it's not terribly noticeable.  She just kinda looks bald all over!

Kayden is still on the small side of the scale, I think.  My home measurement brings her in at 16.8lbs.  She is shorter than Levi was at this age so I'm thinking she might be the one who rivals her mother in height.  Kayden is still chubby though!  You can see her cheeks but her legs still have rolls and her fingers have dimples.  I love the pudginess!  She's wearing 6-12 month pants and 9-12 month tops.  Sleepers are 12 month size.  If she were in disposable diapers, she could probably fit into 9 month sleepers better than she does but that cloth diaper just adds bulk!
 

 Kayden loves to grab absolutely everything and most things take their turn in her mouth.  She's very much in the "exploration" stage.  I've noticed lately that she will pick something up and then right away drop it.  Then she'll pick it up again.  I don't know if it's just to hear the noise it makes when she drops it or to see it fall?  Or maybe she just likes the fun of picking it up again?  At any rate, that's what she does.  She also turns things over and looks at them from all angles.  She's so curious.  She loves to stand up with our help but isn't pulling herself up on her own yet at all, nor is she standing next to things without our assitance. 

Kayden doesn't have any "words" yet.  She'll make an "uh!" noise and babble a "bababa!" or "dadada!" noise regularly (and many other noises, of course) but it hasn't evolved from there yet.  I imagine she doesn't see much need for words as her brother fills all empty space with noise and talking every waking hour!

Kayden has now lived in two different houses, as we moved to the farm in Kayden's 9th month.  She is now a country girl!  She has had her first pet kittens this month.  Kayden has started giving "hugs" this month.  Well, sorta.  She'll grab your neck and just hold on so tight.  LOVE it.  She will also just push her face into me (or Nathan) which I like to think is kind of a hug too. :)  She had her first trck-or-treating experience and made the cutest skunk!  Ironic that she was dressed as a skunk just days after we had our first skunk visitor on the farm!  She smelled much better than the animal variety! 

She has been eating so many more solids this month.  She loves everything she puts in her mouth.  She doesn't have teeth yet but does amazingly well with gumming things.  She just ate a piece of fruit-to-go and has eaten pieces of bun, crackers, and whatever table food we're eating (in addition to the typical purees, which she doesn't seem to love unless it's raspberries mixed into baby cereal, prunes, or a pureed veggie soup that I made for the family).  She would much rather be eating what everyone else is eating...and who could blame her, really?

Sleep has been worse again this month.  Shortly before we moved, I thought I would give sleep-training another try.  I used to nurse her to sleep before bed but not before naps.  This month I changed up bedtime routine a bit in hopes of longer stretches of sleep for her.  I also tried to wean her off of night-time feeds, knowing that she wasn't actually hungry in the night, rather just nursing to put herself back to sleep.  We went through 10 days of her crying for 2 straight hours every.single.night.  So often you hear that by night 3 the kid will just sleep.  NOPE.  We had crying every night, plus multiple wake-ups aside from that, and it wasn't getting any better.  So finally I couldn't do it anymore and just started nursing her again.  It's not ideal to have to get up every 3-3.5 hours but it sure beats being awake for 2 hours every night.  So she's actually sleeping worse these days than she was as a newborn but hey.  Everyone says it...one day she will sleep!  At least she puts herself to sleep REALLY well.  I lay her down for a nap or at bedtime and IF she cries, it's only a few minutes.  Kid #1 was a night-waker AND cried for hours before falling asleep so I'm incredibly thankful that I at least have a baby who can put herself to sleep well.

Anyway, that's Kayden at 9 months. What a beautiful daughter we have.  It's an absolute pleasure and joy to be her mom.