Finley at Nine Months

LIKES:

 - Watching Lou dance and run around

 - Eating

 - Peek-aboo

 - Playing in water (pool, bath, etc.)

 - Grass

 - Putting literally everything in her mouth

 - Drinking water

 - Sand

 - Sitting up

 - Swings

 - Fruit, especially blackberries, raspberries, and peaches

 - Most carbs

 - Nursing

 - "Chasing" Eloise and dancing with her

 - Playing with hair

 - Being outdoors

DISLIKES:

 - Long car rides

 - When I leave the room/her sight

 - Falling over from sitting

 - Salmon (one of the few foods she spit out and refused)

FIRSTS/SKILLS:
 - Road trip (over 50 hours in just a few weeks!)

 - Visit to states other than Arizona (Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California)

 - Going to the ocean/beach

 - Giving bonks

 - Purposefully going from sitting to belly

 - Clapping

 - Top tooth

RANDOM NOTES:

 - Weight: 16 pounds 8 ounces (20th percentile)

 - Height: 27 inches (32nd percentile)

 - Clothes: 6 months

 - Diaper Size: 2

 - Now has three cute little teeth! I think the other top tooth will be in very soon. I can't wait until those top teeth grow in more.

 - Definitely a bit of a mama's girl

 - Will occasionally give me some cuddles, especially right before and after sleeping and nursing. I love them!

 - She will often say "mama" while looking at me, but I'm not convinced she actually knows what she is saying haha

SCHEDULE

7:30 am - Wake up, nurse

9:00 am - Breakfast
10:00 am - Nap
11:30 am - Nurse

1:00 pm - Lunch
2:30 pm - Nap
4:00 pm - Nurse, snack if needed
6:00 pm - Dinner
7:15 pm - Nurse, bedtime routine
7:30 pm - Bed

Finley's schedule at the end of this month is pretty much identical to last months. It is working so well for us! We've only had a couple night wakings this month that were easily solved with some nursing or snuggles, though we have had a lot more trouble with getting down for the night and for naps. I rarely have to nurse again, but Dustan and I have often needed to hold Finn and rock her to sleep and gently lay her down. I think she might be having some trouble with her teeth and with separation anxiety (which I know gets more prevalent at this age).

Finn loves to eat! She really enjoys nursing still, though she is very easily distracted. She nurses best first thing in the morning and right before bed. I always nurse her right after she wakes in the morning, after each nap, and before bed. I'll often do a super short nurse before one of both naps if she seems like she needs a little snack. Finley is also a rockstar at eating solids. She never eats any purees and will often eat better and just as much or even more than Eloise. She eats three meals a day and sometimes a snack. Carbs and fruit are her favorites, though she eats almost all foods well. Some of her favorite foods this month (foods that she ate more than I thought would be possible for her in one sitting) were blackberries and blueberries, Panera macaroni and cheese, german pancakes, sweet and sour meatballs, and cheese quesadilla. 

Overall, Finley has been a little more fussy and needy this month, I think mostly due to the fact that her top teeth have been trying to poke through for so long. She doesn't like when I leave the room, but is sometimes okay with it if Lou entertains her a bit. She also seems to be anxious to get moving around more, but hasn't figured it out yet. 

She is a pro at sitting this days and has figured out how to intentionally get from sitting onto her belly, and sometimes she'll even hang out on her hands and knees for a couple seconds. She is sooo wiggly when you are holding her. Finn will spin around so quick on her belly, and can even scoot herself backwards by pushing off on her arms. She just can't seem to figure out that forward movement though, and it is getting frustrating for her. Hopefully she can figure it out in the next month! She also started clapping though and it is just so cute!

We went on our first family road trip this month, and we survived! We drove from Arizona to Washington, which is about a 24 hours drive one way. Beforehand, Dustan and I figured that Eloise would do well during any daylight/wake times on the drive, but would struggle to sleep in the car. And Finley would sleep all right, but would need lots of help to stay happy during her wake time. And we turned out to be right, haha. So, we drove about half the drive overnight and the other half during the day. Finn needed a lot of snacks and entertainment and there was definitely some crying, but that's okay!

We had such a fun time in Washington. This trip will get its own blog post, but just some Finley highlights: she loved being outside so much in the cooler weather and going on hikes, she really enjoyed the sand at her first time at the beach/ocean, and she loved all the extra attention from her grandparents and aunts and uncles.

It's been a busy month and we're just starting to get back in our routine at home. Both girls did so well on our trip and it was a blast! We are so happy to have gotten out and had some fun as a family!