Miller Time: November 2012

The stats are in...Ellison was 15 pounds, 11.5 ounces (in between the 10th and 25th percentile) and 28.5 inches (right around the 90th percentile). She has now been around the 90th percentile for height since her 4 month appointment, and staying on the same track for weight for the last couple checks as well. Her doctor doesn't seem as worried about her weight now, she just thinks she will be tall and thin. Not the worst thing in the world!

Ellison now has the ok to eat "real" food! I'm a little (ok, a lot) stressed/anxious about trying to make sure she gets enough of the right things. It's so easy to just feed her some oatmeal or rice cereal and a little tub or pouch of baby food! I have no idea what to feed her now. The doctor said not to waste our money on the "3rd food" baby food, and just feed her what we eat. But I don't know if Jay and I eat healthy enough food to feed a growing child...I think I will be doing a lot of research on what to give her!

We were also told that we can start transitioning her to whole milk when she is 11 months old. Guess that means I need to start using up all the milk we have in our freezer! I have been exclusively pumping since Ellison decided to quit nursing when she was 6 months old, which has been a LOT of work. I had planned to breastfeed until she was 1, so I don't know how I feel about transitioning her off EBM before that. I think even though pumping can be an annoyance, I will miss that little bit of time that I get to myself every day!

We also had to fill out a developmental survey at the appointment. I didn't like it, because I realized Ellison can't do everything some babies her age can. We did get to check yes to most things though! The main area of discussion after the doctor looked over it was the verbal area. Ellison doesn't really clap, do "so big", etc. And she is constantly babbling and making noise, but she doesn't say any actual words yet. I guess we just have to work with her a little more on that stuff!

Overall, Ellison is doing great. She recovered very well from her broken clavicle, she is growing and learning fast, and she has been a healthy little girl so far! No high fevers, no major illnesses, no issues with diaper rash...what a good girl! Hopefully she keeps it up. Her next appointment (with 3 shots, boo!) isn't until she is 1. No extra weight checks in between this time. Yay! My favorite part of the appointment was the doctor pointing out during her exam that Ellison is really flexible...my little future cheerleader!

9 months already?! It's crazy to think that Ellison was only a couple hours old at this time in February. We hadn't even moved up to the postpartum unit yet! She has grown and changed so much in such a short time - from a tiny helpless newborn to a (still kind of tiny) little lady with a BIG personality. She is so feisty and fun, and learning new things so fast. She pulled herself to standing on furniture for the first time less than 2 weeks ago and now she is so quick and can pull herself up on almost anything. She can support herself with only one hand holding on very lightly and has already started to let go to move from one thing to another (like her play table to the couch). Today she even started letting go with both hands and was trying to stand with no support at all. She's still a little wobbly for that. She is cruising along the furniture and starting to try to climb things too! Her crib is now in the lowest setting...

Ellison has learned how to get herself into a sitting position in the last couple of weeks too. I have started to find her sitting (or standing) up in her crib, babbling away, while she is supposed to be napping. She also likes to kneel. I caught her on the video monitor the other night, kneeling and holding onto a crib rail with one hand and waving (at who or what I don't know) with the other. We have been working on getting her to wave, but so far she really only does it when no one else is around and while she is eating! Clapping is another thing we have been working on that she has not quite mastered yet. She will bang two objects together, but not her hands.

Very into modern technology!

Ellison is SO FULL of energy. I call her the Energizer Monkey (she's definitely not a bunny, because bunnies don't try to climb everything) or Energizer Ellison. I am looking forward to the day we can start putting her in activities to help her work off some of that excess energy! Swimming lessons ended today, so I am trying to come up with something else fun to do. We are going to skip the winter session of swimming because of the weather. I'm really looking forward to when we can put her in gymnastics, dance, and sports to tire her out! It has become quite the workout trying to follow her around and make sure she doesn't get into anything she's not supposed to. She has been trying to chew shoes this week, and she is still obsessed with the laundry. She got herself into a laundry basket earlier this week and also managed to fall into the toy bin in her room. I just can't believe how mobile she is Jay even had her climbing the stairs this week! I will be shocked if she isn't walking, or very close, by Christmas. She is a very determined little girl, so I think all it will take is her really wanting something that's not within her reach. I'm not ready, but I think she will be!

Another new development is that Ellison has started to "play" with her stuffed animals. There have always been a few in her toy box, but she never showed much interest in them. But in the last week or so she has started to drag one or two around with her wherever she goes. I brought more of the small ones down from her "pet net" because she seems to enjoy them so much! She chews on them, shakes the ones with rattles, and just looks at them. It is really cute watching her with her little friends!

Playing and sleeping with her buddies

I am really looking forward to the upcoming holidays, despite how stressful they can be. Our work schedules and various family commitments make December an extremely busy month, but it is so nice to get to spend time with our families. We definitely have more "Christmases" than the average family, but Jay and I are pretty used to it by now. It will be a little different this year with Ellison, but we managed to schedule all of our celebrations on different days rather than cramming multiple things into one day. I realize Ellison won't really know what is going on this year, but it will still be fun to dress her up in Christmas outfits and see what she will do with the presents and decorations. I'm a little worried about setting up our tree since she is starting to get into everything...we'll see how it goes though!

Her hair still kills me!

I should have some new pictures to post soon...one of my coworkers is a very talented photographer and is taking some pictures of E tomorrow! 9 month stats should be posted in the near future too (appointment is on Monday).

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! I really can't believe it is already this time of year!!!