Noah's Nine Month Check-Up

Noah recently turned nine months old, which meant another trip to the doctor to see how he is doing. First up, his stats. He weighed in this month at 18 lbs, 8 oz (still in the 10th to 25th percentile), up 9 ounces from last month! He is measuring up at 28 inches (still in the 25th to 50th percentile), but up one inch from last month! His head is still nice and big, as its measured circumference was 46.4 cm (still in the 75th to 90th percentile). His doctor was a bit concerned about his weight dropping in percentile since his six-month check, so he wants us to come back in six weeks for a weight check. I'm not too worried, because it looks like he is just thinning out to what Ethan was at the same age. We shall see. This appointment was nice, as he was up to date on his immunizations for the time being, so no shots. Yay!

Below is the pic of Noah at nine months, wearing the 12-month onesie. What a lady killer! ;) Those eyes just bore right through you, don't they?? Such a serious little guy! I think he is looking as adorable as ever, but then I am a bit biased I suppose. ;)

So after another long month of Noah waking up every few hours all night, I think we finally have him trained to sleep through the night again. Woo hoo...and knock on wood!! It was a rough month for him as he cut tooth number two shortly after the first one came in. He has also continued with the same two-nap routine this past month.

New foods tried this month:

• Pancakes
• Egg yolks
• Pasta
• Corn
• Cheerios
• Rolls/bread (an easy way to keep him happy at restaurants! haha)
• Tiny, bite-sized pieces of other various things we eat

We've started letting Noah try lots of different foods now since he doesn't appear to be having any problems with any as of yet. Those two little, sharp teeth are quite efficient at tearing into food and he doesn't appear to have any problems handling anything we have given him. He even enjoyed some hard-boiled egg yolks for Easter! The boy can gobble down pancakes with as much zeal as his big brother. Surprise, surprise! He likes plain whole wheat pasta too as an option for lunch or dinner. He is shying away from the fruit and veggie purees now and prefers to eat actual pieces of food instead, like steamed peas or cut green beans, or chunks of banana. He has finally backed down on the nursing to every 3-4 hours throughout the day, which has been a nice break for me! I think he is making up for it by the amount of solid foods he is eating. That boy can pack it away!

His normal schedule:

8 or 8:30 am - Wake up, nurse, play

9 or 9:30 am - Eat breakfast (banana, peaches or pears and Multigrain Cheerios), then play with Ethan (he wakes up between 9 and 10) or take a bath (every other day), get dressed

10:30 or 11:00 am - Nurse, then nap

12:30 or 1:00 pm - Wake up, play for a bit with Ethan

1:00 pm - Eat lunch (pasta, peas and corn, yogurt)

1:30 pm - Take a walk with Daisy, Mommy and Ethan

2:15 pm - Play with Ethan

3:00 pm - Nurse, then nap (Ethan naps at this time too for 2-3 hrs, yay!!)

4 or 4:30 pm - Wake up and play with Mommy

6:00 pm - Nurse and play with Daddy and Ethan, sometimes another walk

7:30 pm - Eat dinner (veggies, some of what we are eating, snack food if still hungry), then play with Daddy and Ethan

8:30 pm - Get jammies on, nurse, then to sleep

New accomplishments this month:

• His second tooth! It broke through, unexpectedly, on March 27th.
• Starting to stand on his own without holding onto anything
• Music appreciation
• Developing mild eczema :(

After his first tooth was finally through the surface, we thought we were going to get a break and that things would return to normal. Noah had other plans. His second tooth made it's appearance shortly after the first, and they are both growing in together at about the same rate now! As I mentioned earlier, it resulted in an entire month of interrupted sleep for both of us. Fun, fun! I'm hoping that the teeth yet to come don't give him so much trouble, but I am sure that is just wishful thinking!

Though we haven't had any unassisted steps yet, he has started to randomly stand on his own, balancing all by himself for up to 10-15 seconds before he grabs back on to move again. Sometimes he'll just drop to his butt from the stand, then start crawling like a mad man across the room. He is a little speedster!

He has started to really appreciate music. If music comes on the tv, he will often stand there and dance/bounce to the beat. Too cute! He also loves listening to Adele in the van. We have found that if he gets fussy, we can just turn her on and he will calm right down and be happy for the rest of the trip! Awesome. Let's hope this trick works on our long drive to the beach!

So we think Noah may have developed some mild eczema. Whenever I put him in the bathtub, his entire back gets red and his legs and arms have splotches on them as well. I started giving him cooler baths and limiting the time that he is in there. I switched to Baby Eucerin cream to bathe him and I use an Aveeno cream to moisturize him afterwards. This seems to be helping quite a bit. On non-bath days, his skin seems to be fine. It's weird that it only comes with the baths. :( The doctor agrees that it is probably just sensitive skin with mild eczema, and hopefully not a reaction to anything he is eating. Poor Noah is probably going to be the unlucky child that inherits all the "wonderful" problems I have since Ethan appears to be normal so far. :(

Here is the pic of both Ethan and Noah at 9 months. Once again, ornery Ethan and serious Noah. When it comes to personalities, Ethan is definitely following in the footsteps of his father, and Noah after me. We'll see if that continues! Being a cancer like myself, I have a feeling it will. He is way more sensitive and moody than Ethan was as a baby, but generally still a happy little guy most of he time. :)