One Particular Harbor: March 2013

*a couple weeks late, but better late than never!

Dear Hannah,

You are 9 months old! Where has the time gone?! It’s been 3 months since I wrote a letter to you….in my defense, we’ve been pretty busy!

We bought a house and signed the papers on December 27^th (your 7 month birthday!) so that month was a crazy blur with moving, and I didn’t even get pictures of you in your 7 month onsie! I was pretty sad about that.

Mama also started school back up! It’s been a tough couple months being away from you! By the time I get home each night all I want to do is soak up every last second with you.

Anyways…..since we have been so busy, this letter will be updates from the past 3 months….and boy, have you grown!

You have such a little personality now. You make your Daddy and I laugh so hard. You definitely know when you have someone’s attention and you ham it up. You are shy when you first meet people, but it only takes a few minutes for you to warm up to them and act like a little goofball. You are definitely like your Mama in this.

You are crawling, pulling yourself up on EVERYTHING (literally you find a way to hook your fingers into a blank wall and pull yourself up on it). You love opening drawers and cabinets….so obviously everything is in the process of being baby proofed. We already have gates up all over the house, electric outlets are covered, and drawers and cabinets are in the process of being locked.

You love to clap and wave. It's a big hit when we are out and about. It makes me realize just how smart you are. Not only do you wave when you hear the word "bye" or "hi" but you also wave when someone new comes into the room. You only do it to people you haven't seen in a while (i.e. like when Mama comes to pick you up after school) so I know that you understand that waving means "hi". You also clap along to music and start clapping when someone says "Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake". It's too adorable.

Your 6 month stats are as follows:

Weight: 19 pounds, 3 ounces (over 95^th percentile)

Height: 26 ½ inches (50-75^th percentile)

Head circumference: 17 ¼ inches (75-90^th percentile)

Your 9 month stats are as follows:

Weight: 20 pounds, 13 ounces (75-90^th percentile)

Height: 29 ½ inches (over 95^th percentile)

Head circumference: 17 ½ inches (50-75^th percentile)

You haven’t been sick yet, but we have definitely gone down a stressful road with your skin. On December 31^st (the day after we moved!) we took you to the doctor because your skin was broken out into a horrible rash. We’ve been battling rashes with you since birth, but this one was really bad. Our pediatrician said that it was excema and is usually treatable once you figure out where the allergy is. We switched you to Nutramagin formula; a non-dairy, non-soy (and VERY expensive) brand. We also started an elimination diet with you and went back to the basics trying to figure out what caused you to break out. We had prescription creams, special lotions and bath wash, and were careful to keep you covered at all times so that external factors (i.e. dust, pollen, dog hair) didn’t get on you. Nothing seemed to work. We could get somewhat of a handle on it, but there was never a point that you had perfectly clear skin.

So in February, we took you in for allergy testing. Mama put if off for a while because I was too nervous to put you through that. But you were the best little baby. You didn’t cry once, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be! However, the results came back and you weren’t allergic to ANYTHING that we tested (and we tested A LOT)! On one hand it was good news, because that meant that we could move forward with new foods for you but on the other hand, it meant that you just have super sensitive skin and this might just be a battle we fight every day.

As far as health goes, we also got a second opinion about that lump behind your ear. You’ve had it since birth and our previous pediatrician always brushed it off…we switched pediatricians (for that reason, among others) and she suggested we get it checked out at Seattle Children’s Hospital right away. We did and it turns out it’s a cyst and needs to come out. You have surgery scheduled for April 16^th. I haven’t let myself think about it too much, yet….I don’t want to get myself so upset and stress over it before it happens, so I’m not going to go into it now.

Other than those, you have been a healthy baby!

You have 4 teeth…and they are the cutest teeth this Mama has ever seen.

Your hair has grown so much and I like to stick bows in your hair. You put up with a lot of what I dress you in, so I’m predicting that you will be one of those little girls wearing plastic high heels, princess dresses and plastic jewelry. I can’t wait. J

You love playing with your toys. Your favorite toy is Mama’s cell phone. ;) You also love your play house that Grammy and Grandpa Grindley got you for Christmas. You love pulling yourself up on your table that Grandma and Grandpa Cavanah got you, too. You LOVE your Minnie Mouse. Whenever I bring Minnie out you get so excited and kick your little toes and reach for her and then pull her into you giving her the biggest hug!

We don’t watch that much T.V. but you are still loving your Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Though, since it’s not a common thing in our house, you don’t spend too much time watching. You love the beginning song and watching Mickey talk, but then you are off exploring new toys.

Mama and Auntie Kelly took you to the park for the first time. You seemed to like the swing. You were being a little diva though and wouldn’t crack a smile. You had on your sunglasses and jean jacket and were the hit of the playground. People kept coming over to see you….but you just sat there with the same expression on your face. Too cool for school, princess.

You and Hudson have started noticing each other more. We still try to keep you apart because Hudson is still a puppy and often thinks you are trying to play with him. But you like to poke him in the nose and laugh and wave to him. It’s pretty darn cute.

You have started sleeping through the night for the most part and sleep in your own crib (at least for half the night). We are still working on sleep training, and plan to kick it up a notch, but hearing you cry makes me cry and sleep training means you cry it out in your crib….and I have a hard time with that. But, it’s good for you to get use to sleeping in your own space.

You are definitely a blanket baby. Whenever I snuggle you in a blanket (especially your Minnie Mouse blanket) you get so excited. Now, when you are ready for a snuggle, you find the nearest blanket and drag it over to Mama to wrap you up in. It might be the cutest thing I have ever seen.

You are definitely a Mama’s girl, pumpkin. You love your Dada, but Mama seems to always be able to calm you down when you are sad. You always turn to me when you are ready to bed and like to snuggle into me. You love holding my face as you sleep, and I kind of love when we are snuggle together and you have your little arms wrapped around my face. You are so good at kisses and give them to Mama all the time. Some mornings I wake up to sweet, wet baby kisses on my nose and it’s the best feeling. You just started giving kisses to Dada, and he loves those.

Your favorite words are “Mama”, “Dada”, and “Baba”. Your very first word was “Mama” but we aren’t sure if that was a fluke or not….after that one time, you said “Dada” for a whole two weeks before we heard “Mama” again. I love hearing you chatter.

You love to fake cough and always try to imitate funny noises that Mama and Dada make. You have the FUNNIEST fake laugh, too. You are trying to imitate our laugh, and it comes out like a fake laugh, so when Mama and Dada think we are being funny and you give us the fake laugh….it just cracks us up.

Alright sweet girl, this is a few pages in now. You turn 10 months on March 27^th, and I’ll be sure to give an update then.

I love you forever.

Love,

Mommy