giveaway

Here we goooo again! I thought for certain we would make it through this month without an illness. Isn’t that funny! I know, I should have known better.

So yeah. This 9-month update should have come to you a few days ago, but Meebs was in no position to have her picture taken. Ha!

Meebs  //

For those of you who are new around here, Meebs is the nickname for baby number three — Mila Rose. Her big sister, Remy, age 3, can’t manage to pronounce “Mila” so she says “Meeba.” The name Meeba has somehow turned into “Meebs” and now that’s generally what she is known as… by, like, everyone.

It’s funny and cute and weird, but totally normal to us. And I sometimes have to remind myself that people who don’t know us well aren’t familiar with this name (and find it strange, not surprisingly) and that I should just take a second to explain.

My first child, Ari, was quick to pick up everything. From the bottle to crawling, then walking to talking — even potty training! — he just did it all early. Kind of odd for a boy (and first child), but I rolled with it.

The same cannot be said for my girls. Both have completely different infant temperaments, but they both seem to be taking their darn time at ‘big kid’ milestones. And I guess I’m just rolling with them, too.

Although I expected Meebs to start crawling before 8-months, it wasn’t until about 8-months and one week before she started doing her own little army crawl. And guys, this army crawl is unlike anything I’ve seen before! It’s a combination of an army crawl and a half-roll! It’s hilarious but effective!

I’ve never been in any sort of hurry to start my babies on solids. We have always done a combination of Baby Led Weaning (BLW) and purees but only began once we were certain that they were ready. And with all of the meal-making for the big kids, I was honestly in zero rush to sit and force another child to eat.

In the last month I’ve been giving her at least one jar of food every day, but oftentimes it ends up being 2 or 3. I kind of let her take the lead and tell me when she wants food. She makes it pretty clear when boob isn’t cutting it. But last night, for instance, she let me know that less than one jar of food was sufficient for dinner. And that’s absolutely fine with me.

Her favorite baby foods are pears, sweet potatoes, and oats. And, thus far, she hasn’t really spit out anything.

Well, I was super excited to see her weight and height progression at her 9-month well child visit. Although she was born my ‘biggest’ and is my chunkiest baby, I knew she was still really small compared to the average. Her weight, coming in at a whopping 15 pounds 11 ounces, came as no shock to me (although, truthfully, I was hoping she would break the sixteen-mark!), as she is still fitting quite comfortably in most of her 3-6 month clothes. That puts her at 10th percentile for weight! — STILL my biggest percentile baby, can you believe that?!

I can’t remember her exact height, but she’s over 40th percentile for height. Makes sense considering those 3-6 month clothes are just starting to get a little short.

In the end, our pediatrician isn’t worried one bit. She’s exactly perfect and right on track with her siblings. She’s meeting all of her milestones (and has crazy good hand-eye coordination!) regardless of her tiny stature.

We’re on a once-a-month illness schedule around here. I’m chalking it up to building her immune system — and I’m just grateful it has never been something truly serious. But just days ahead of turning 9-months, she got hit with yet another yucky cough, turned double-ear infection, turned bronchiolitis.

Again, not serious, but definitely not all that fun either. We had a couple of really bad days and nights battling a low-grade fever and fussiness, but no sooner was she diagnosed and put on an antibiotic did she start to show signs of improvement.

It’s hard to believe that we’ll be celebrating her first birthday in 3 months. I’m already (slowly) starting to plan an elaborate celebration (my very last babies first birthday, y’all!). But in the meantime, I’ll be over here crying over every teeny tiny milestone.