Our Happy, Healthy 9-month Old!

Our family supported the Sooners on Saturday!  Abbey was so happy in one of Luke's old jerseys.

Abbey is 9 months old!  She has to be one of the happiest, most-content babies ever!  God knew exactly what we needed at this stage in our life and blessed us with this precious baby girl.  Here is what Miss Abbey has been up to lately.

Mobility:  In my "Abbey is 8-months old" post, I mentioned that Abbey really had no desire to be mobile and that was just fine with us.  Actually, we were happy that it appeared her energy level was not near the level Luke's was at her age.  At her age, he was EVERYWHERE!  Well, as we have been able to spend less time with her (and bring her everything that she could possible want or need), I guess she decided it was time to get moving.  Two to three weeks ago, she began rolling everywhere.  Actually, Abbey figured out how to roll both ways at three months of age, so she mastered that skill a LONG time ago.  But then, she decided, "well, that was fun, now I am going to move onto other things" and she never ever really used that skill to get places.  She would roll onto her tummy and then just stay in that one spot and play.  Then, when she was able to sit up unsupported around 6 months, she decided that was pretty cool and didn't desire to move from that one spot (except to her tummy, where she would stay for long period of time).  Now, this baby is rolling and scooting everywhere to get what she wants and explore.  She loves electronics and Luke's toys.  Perhaps she finally thought, "these people are bringing me all of these cute baby toys, but I really want this other exciting stuff....guess I better start moving."  She will find the tiniest, nearly microscopic, crumb in the ground (like from Luke's granola bar) and travel to it to eventually put it in her mouth.  Baby-proofing our house has begun!

Size/Growth:  Abbey is still big.  At her recent doctor's appointment (9-month well visit), the little sheet of paper they use to document her physical size percentile pretty much said ">95%" for everything (weight, height and head circumference).  Baby girl is 30 inches tall.  Luke was 28.2 inches at her age.  Luke was about 15 months old when he was Abbey's size, and Luke has always been around the 50th percentile.  Currently, she cannot wear any clothes smaller than 18 months size.  Yeah, our 9 month old wears 18 months-sized clothing.   She really doesn't seem that big to us, but I guess we are just used to her size.  Honestly, I was surprised at her percentile, because she really hasn't gained any weight this past month.  I thought this was due to a week or two of eating way less than when I was able to breastfeed her.  But, I guess that didn't hurt her too much.  :-)  Abbey is teething!  She already has her bottom front two teeth, and has four more that the doctor says are about to poke through:  the upper front two teeth and two more bottom teeth.

Personality:  Abbey is hilarious!  She jabbers non-stop, like she thinks she is having very intelligent conversations with you.  She is extremely expressive as she speaks, and she even changes the tone of certain words as she speaks.  She really tries to mimic our speech patterns and it is very entertaining.  When my parents visited a few weeks ago, my mom whistled a lot when playing with Abbey.   Ever since then, Abbey's most common facial expression is the "whistle" expression.  She even blows air through her mouth when she gets in "whistle formation" and sometimes even actually whistles!  She talks to all her toys and makes the funniest faces all day long.  She flaps her arms when she gets really excited.  When she does this, it looks as if she is trying to fly.  As I said at the beginning of this post, Abbey is very content.  She rarely gets upset and cries.  Everyone that sees her comments about how happy she is.  Even upon seeing her for just a few minutes, strangers can tell just how happy and content she is!

Eating:  Abbey is a great eater!  We are still thankful for the donated breast milk, as we continue to mix that with formula.  I hate that I had no choice but to wean her, as I intended on never giving her formula and breastfeeding her for at least a year.  But, the donated breast milk has helped me with the transition.  Abbey honestly doesn't seem too bothered by the formula/breastmilk combination and is happily drinking it out of a bottle now.  We have come so far this past month!  Abbey is now also eating table foods and loves being able to feed herself.  You can tell that she is so proud of herself.   Fruits and baby mum-mums are her favorite, and meat is her least favorite food group. 

Abbey tried on a free wig I received from the American Cancer Society.  She had been "talking" to it for a few days in our bedroom, so we thought we'd let her try it on.  She is already doing the "look" most people give themselves when they look in the mirror. 

Getting ready to cheer on the Sooners on Saturday! 

precious baby girl!

Here is a video I captured of Abbey a few weekends ago.  You can see what a happy baby she is in this video.  Her favorite show she has seen on television so far is "Little Einsteins".  On this show, the kids pat their laps to get rocket to "take off".  She has learned how to do this and loves it.  So, she is doing this in the video also.  We love you, Abbey!