Nine Month Check Up

Brooklynn had her nine month check up today. The doctor said that everything looked great and developmentally she seems to be ahead. She suggested since B is losing interest in her bottle and baby food that now would be a good time to start her on table food (corn, peas, meat etc) and transition her to drinking from a cup. She thought that now would be the perfect time to lose the bottle since B just isn't as interested in it anymore.

B is getting closer to walking everyday. She has started walking (cruising) from table to table and has the bruises to prove it. She has taken a few tumbles at daycare and at home, but she is pretty easy going and never gets upset. Today at daycare she banged her head on the bookshelf as she was trying to walk and cried for all of 5 seconds before recovering. She does have a nice bruise on her face though!

Below are Brooklynn's stats from today's visit:

Height: 28 1/2 inches (80th percentile)

Weight: 20 lbs 11 oz (80th percentile)

Head Circumference: 42.2 (10th percentile)

We did discuss the H1N1 vaccine today, but Dr. Hosford said that it is up to us if we wanted to give it to her next month. Nick and I are going to continue to think about H1N1 and see where things are at in November and then decide at that time how we feel about B getting the vaccine.

I have added lots of new pics to the September/October photo album.

9 Month Birthday!!

Brooklynn nine months ago

Brooklynn today

B's new "pacifier"

Today is Brooklynn's nine month birthday! She actually slept until 8:15 this morning which was a nice surprise for Nick. That is the latest she has ever slept. Unfortunately, she was asleep when I got home from class so I didn't get to see her today. We did, however, celebrate her birthday this weekend with Mimi and Pops. She wore her new dress today that Mimi and Pops bought for her and they also purchased a few new toys that B picked out at Toys R Us. Thanks Mimi and Pops for the birthday presents! Brooklynn would also like to give a shout out to Aunt Stephanie who sent lots of birthday hugs and kisses over Facebook.

I want to explain the pictures I decided to put up for her nine month birthday. I thought it would be neat to include a picture of Brooklynn right after she was born because I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in nine months. The two pictures at the bottom are of Brooklynn and her new "pacifier." Brooklynn LOVES her bath toys and now seems to think that the turtle is a pacifier. She has been crawling around all day with it in her mouth. She will throw down her pacifier and pick up the turtle to suck on. It may feel like a paci in her mouth, but it is funny for us to watch B crawl around with a turtle hanging out of her mouth!

H1N1

We got a note from B's daycare today saying that a teacher at her school (not in her classroom) has H1N1. The teacher had been off for several days, then got sick and hasn't been back since. No other children or teachers have had any symptoms. The daycare won't even let the teacher return until September 29th and only then if she has been symptom free for 24 hours. Brooklynn goes for her nine month check up next week and I have lots of questions for the doctor about the vaccine. They are recommending it for children under five, but Nick and I are extremely uncomfortable about giving B a shot that has no research or data on long term effects. I've read so many studies on autism and early vaccines that it makes me anxious about giving B even more shots. I don't plan to get one for myself and the doctor is going to have to present a fabulous case for us to even consider giving it to B. We'll see what she says next week. Until then we are going to continue to wash our hands often and at school I have already gone through three bottles of hand sanitizer in my classroom this year! My class thinks I am nuts about clean hands, but we haven't even hit flu season yet and H1N1 is all over the Triangle.

B is terrorizing the nursery!

Clemson game before the downpour

My college roomie, Clayton and me

Toys, toys, toys

Ready for the rain

B loves her Daddy

We had a nice weekend in Greenville despite all the rain. We headed to Clemson Saturday morning with a couple of friends and luckily the rain held off for tailgating and the sun even came out for a little while. The rain came at half time and Nick and I made it through the first lightning strikes before we decided to head for the house! I love football as much as the next guy, but not enough to sit in wet blue jeans with the chance of being hit by lightning! Plus the thought of getting sick just isn't that appealing at this point in the school year.

Last night when we got back to Chapel Hill, I put B in her crib at bedtime and a few minutes later heard a thud. I walked into her room to find her covered in a blanket that she had just ripped off her wall. We hung her comforter on the wall over her crib before she was born and well I guess B was tired of looking at it. She had the biggest smile on her face like she had really accomplished something!

Brooklynn also seems to be terrorizing the nursery at daycare. Her teachers are often commenting on how she refuses to sleep and how she SCREAMS at the top of her lungs every time they put her down to nap. This, of course, wakes up all the other babies and does not go a long way towards becoming the teacher's pet (which at this point in time, Brooklynn is far from being). Well today Ms. Kathy said that Brooklynn has decided that standing up in her crib at nap time and shaking the railing as hard as she can while screaming is much more effective. Because the cribs are on wheels you can imagine the commotion this causes during nap time. Needless to say, I think B's teachers are going to be happy to see her move up to the one year old class at the end of the year!

Weekend

I can't believe that September is almost over!  Teaching, grad school and being  Mommy keeps me pretty busy during the week. It seems that I spend my whole weekend trying to catch up.  This doesn't leave much time for me to spend with Brooklynn.  Luckily, Nick has a semester that doesn't require much class time and he gets to spend lots of time with B during the week.  I am looking forward to December, which will bring with it graduation and time to finally relax after a chaotic year. With that being said, we are taking a break and we are going to Greenville this weekend so that Brooklynn can get some much needed time with her grandparents.  Nick and I are headed to the Clemson game on Saturday with some friends and B will split the day between my parents and Nick's parents.  We will head back on Sunday and then B and I will make the trip back to Greenville the following Friday night.  Nick has an oral argument due that Sunday, so B and I are going to give him a weekend to get things done!  

Spoon

Brooklynn is learning how to hold her own spoon.  This is a video of her first attempt. 

More pics

I walked in to B's room this morning to find her standing up in her crib!

I've added a September/October Album with lots of new pics!  Just click on the "Family Photo Album" link.  Click on the album name, "September/October 09" and then click slideshow and it will make them full screen and flip through automatically.  

Go Dawgs!

Brooklynn finally gets to wear her UGA dress today, but only because Nick has a workshop at school and isn't here to stop it.  I figured if there ever was a time that Nick would let B wear UGA gear, it is on the day that Georgia plays USC.  GO DAWGS!!!

Spaghetti Video

Here is Brooklynn trying out spaghetti last night for the first time.  Usually when we try a new food that she isn't real crazy about we can give her a bite of something she loves, mangos in this case, and she will swallow it.  Last night that didn't work!

Meat . . . yuck!

The doctor suggested that by the time Brooklynn is nine months that we should have introduced a few meats into her diet.  We started recently with a few different types. Since B loves anything with apples we first introduced Apples and Chicken, which she LOVED!  Earlier this week we tried Turkey and Gravy.  The picture above shows her reaction.  She refused to swallow it!  We tried again last night with a little spaghetti, which she hated!  She cried and fussed and just couldn't get it over.  She refused to swallow or spit it out.  She finally spit it out in the bathtub about five minutes later!   She continued to let us know her displeasure with spaghetti and she was in an ill mood until bedtime!  I can't blame her though, I'm not a fan of spaghetti either!

Hot Dog Dance

Brooklynn definitely has a favorite TV show, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  The best part is the Hot Dog Dance at the end of each show.  B loves when Daddy dances like Goofy.  I think it is pretty funny as well!

Check out Goofy's part, I think we can all see Nick doing this.  

Just click here: Hot Dog Dance

CAUGHT!

Well it looks like I finally figured out how Brooklynn flipped her rocker forward earlier in the week.  I caught her in the act this morning.

Yes, she is buckled in!

Turning it on and off

And this is how she managed to flip it!

Brooklynn in Motion

Brooklynn seems to have mastered crawling recently.  Her favorite place to crawl is the kitchen and we are constantly picking her up and bringing her back to the living room.  Nick was making her bottles today and he looked down to see B chasing Tugboat in circles. She got him cornered in the kitchen and then Tugboat started whining for help.  Tug isn't quite sure what to think about a moving Brooklynn.  He did try to "clean out" her ears today, a treat he usually only saves for his favorite dogs at the dog park.  B has successfully managed to sit in Boat's water bowl and attempt to lick it several times today.  Looks like Tug is going to have to figure out a way to drink from the toilet

Rocker

This morning Brooklynn woke up a little earlier than normal, so I put her in her rocker with a bottle and started to iron my pants. A few moments later Brooklynn started SCREAMING.  I looked over and B had somehow managed to flip her rocker forward, which she was buckled into.  Luckily she didn't hurt herself, but she did take a nice face plant into the carpet.  Nick and I are still a little puzzled as to how she managed to kick her legs hard enough to flip the rocker forward!  In the words her of teacher, "Brooklynn is a mess!"  I had no idea that the rocker flipping forward was even a possibility!

I'm finding it difficult to find the time to take pictures during the week since I am taking two grad school classes.  Most Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't even get to see B unless she wakes up before I leave in the morning.  Nick has been so great getting up with her at night and just being an all around great dad.  It is nice for him to spend so much time with her after not getting much Brooklynn time over the summer.  

I promise to post lots of videos and pics over the weekend!  I know lots of family members who are anxious to see B soon.  We will be headed home in a few weeks for the Clemson vs BC game and we always have an extra bedroom for visitors!!