Saturday, March 3, 2012

Gemma: 9 months

Another month, another time you get to hear me say "Where did my little baby go?"  I was recently looking through some old photos of Gemma and I can't believe how much she has changed!  I used to see a little bit of me in her (mostly in the mouth/smile), but I only see Jeff in her these days.  She is the spitting image of her daddy.  She definitely has her mama's personality though.  Here's why:

-She loves to sing.  Whenever I sing the "If all the raindrops" song, she skips ahead to the "ah ah ah ah ah ah" part! Love it.

-She loves to dance. (Just to be clear here, I do not dance. HOWEVER, I have been known to dance around like a fool to make my baby smile.)  It's pretty darn cute now that she can stand on her own.

-She is learning baby sign.  She has mastered "fan" and "milk" along with "hi" and "bye," and we're working on "apple," "hot," "eat," " night-night" and "dog."  She also likes to clap.

-I know a lot of people might not believe this, but she is beginning to TALK. Yes, real words.  She says "mama" and "daddy" in context.  And, her cousin, Miles, taught her "cracker."  She calls almost all of her snacks a cracker. Cheerios, bread, an actual cracker, you name it. :)

-Has regressed in regard to her sleeping habits.  Ever since we went to Florida (which I think is a total coincidence) she has been up every 1-2 hours.  I'm exhausted.  Whenever I go into her room, she is standing up in her crib.  I curse the day she learned to stand! (Not really.)

-Gemma standing on her own for about 30 seconds at a time. 

-She finally learned how to crawl forward, and has been doing it for quite a while. I honestly probably didn't even know it, because she wants to be walked around the house constantly.

-Loves to take the stairs! When you hold onto her arms, she walks up the stairs, actually swinging her leg up to each step and pushing off.

-Loves to eat anything and everything. Especially loves meat. Yes, MEAT. Hamburger, chicken, ham.

-Our favorite game is to chase Harper around the house.  Harper is way too fast for us, but its a fun game anyway.  Gemma laughs and squeals, and I mostly just run out of breath. :)

-Has learned to jump on her bed already. I came in to get her up this morning, and she was so excited to see me, she started jumping while holding onto her crib railing.

-Is getting two more teeth. When these come through, that will be 10 for her!

As exhausting as this stage of her life has been, it has been so much fun to see the new things she is learning.  I love seeing her little personality coming out!

We had her 9 month well baby check up yesterday, and I was surprised that there are no shots! And to think that I was dreading the appointment all week for nothing. (Well, not nothing. We waited over an hour. Not fun when your baby has already missed her nap to stay up for the appointment.)  At any rate, her are Gemma's stats:

18 pounds 4 ounces (58%)
28 inches long/2 feet 4 inches (77%)

And for some reason, they didn't give me her head stats! Guess I'll have to call in for those, so I can keep the baby book up-to-date.

What would be a monthly update without a couple of photos?

Ha! Gemma didn't like the Santa at our late extended family Christmas in February.
Gemma on her very first Valentine's Day. Her dress was her gift. :)