Josie is 9 Months

How is it even possible that 3/4 of Josie's first year has passed by? Some days when I'm playing with her I wonder what happened to that tiny little baby that I held in the hospital. When I watch her army crawl across the floor to get a toy I wonder how that is even possible since it seems like just yesterday she was learning how to roll over.

I took her to her nine month checkup today. She weighed 17 pounds and a half of an ounce. That puts her in the 30th percentile for weight. She is 27 inches long (2 feet and 3 inches) which puts her in the 26th percentile for height. The doctor said that she looks very healthy and seems like a very content and happy baby. We couldn't agree more!

This month Josie's bottom teeth have continued to grow. Her top right front tooth has burst through her gums on October 19th and is continuing to grow. I miss seeing her gummy smile, but seeing her show off her little teeth is also pretty darn cute. She likes to stick out her lower jaw to show off her bottom teeth and when she smiles really big you can see all three of them. She seems pretty darn proud of herself and I don't blame her. She's done pretty well the teething which really impresses me. Her other front tooth looks like it will come in pretty soon. Her gum is getting swollen and you can see some of the white behind it. I give it another week before that one breaks through. I can't believe how fast all of these teeth are coming in!

Josie continues to army crawl all over. She is getting so fast with it. She would make soldiers proud. Ha ha. She also enjoys getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back-and-forth. I'm waiting for her to take off crawling for real but it hasn't happened yet. She doesn't seem to know what to do with her arms to get moving. She will rock and lunge forward, falling on the ground. She doesn't seem bothered by it though and usually she will get right back up on her hands and knees and repeat the action. Sometimes she'll go halfway across the floor doing that. I'm surprise she doesn't have rug burn on her forehead yet! I am certain that she will master crawling in the coming months, but if she doesn't that is okay, too.

Josie is getting stronger and stronger each day. She has been sitting up a lot more. I have been concerned over her sitting up because she doesn't seem to do it for long. She can sit up right but after a couple minutes she will topple over or just plop down to crawl. She prefers to lay on the floor. I talked to the doctor about my concern since I think she should be sitting up a lot more. He didn't seem concerned at all and said that as long as she doesn't regressing and forgetting how to sit up then she is fine. He didn't think that her muscles lacked tone and she sat up well for him. I guess she just prefers to play around. That's fine too as long as there's no underlying issue for why she's doing that.

This month Josie had her first ear infection. She had been having an awful time staying asleep at night and was whiny. My prediction was that she had an ear infection, so Joe took her to the doctor's office. The poor thing's ears were both infected. She was not a fan of Amoxicillin, which made giving it to her twice a week difficult. She started feeling better after a few days of the medicine and when we went to the doctor today her ears were clear of infection. Thank goodness!


"What is this new treat?"

"YUCK!"

Josie absolutely loves her older sister. It is so nice to see them interacting with each other. I can't help but feel a surge of pride when I see them play together, Sophie hug Josie, watch Josie smile lovingly at Sophie, and how they gravitate towards each other. I am definitely a proud mama whenever I see them together.

Josie adores Cosmo, our cat. I know she's noticed the cat in the past but this month she really has shown interest in her. When Cosmo comes around Josie will start kicking her legs and army crawl towards the cat. Sometimes she even makes a 'ca-ca' sound as if she's trying to say cat. When she gets to touch Cosmo she always grabs her fur and pulls. Cosmo is so good with her though, just as she was with Sophie, and hasn't tried to bite her. Usually I am petting the cat as well and trying to keep Josie from attacking her face but she still is a good cat for letting Josie grab at her.

Josie loves playing with Sophie's blocks. They make great teethers and she is constantly gnawing on them. Whenever she sees the block bucket she will speed over to it and tap at the side. If we aren't paying attention she will cry until we dump them out for her. It is so funny!

I still can't believe that this sweet, wonderful little girl is mine! She brings our family so much joy!

Here are some more pictures from this month:

Josie isn't really interested in standing up on her own. She can do it for a few seconds, but the she will bend her legs so she can go back down to the floor.