Baby Ella - 9 Months

This week marked Ella’s nine month birthday. These nine months have gone by both quickly and slowly; on one hand I can’t believe it is only three months until her first birthday, but on the other hand I can barely remember what life was like without her around.

We took Ella to Brighton to the beach for the first time (since our trip to Portugal, which didn’t really count as she was so young that she slept most of the time). She absolutely loves being in the water when we take her to the pool and give her a bath, and I think she was intrigued by the added texture of the sand under her feet.

This post is an update on the things we have learned and what Ella is up to now that she is nine months old.

Ella loves:

• Shaking, pulling and poking things to make a noise. In particular the front bell outside our house and things she can shake in her hand.
• Eggs, kiwis, cheese, pears, bananas and chicken.
• Her bunny comforter which she sleeps with every night.
• Being in the water.
• Her reflection
• The song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams.
• Her Jumparoo
• Swinging on the swings with daddy.
• Anything that is not a toy: remote controls, plugs, cords, magnets, glasses etc.
• Going for walks/runs in the pram, sitting in the most upright position so she can see the world!
• My new teething necklace beads.
• Digging through her basket to find toys
• Going over to other people's houses. She is super interested in anything/anyone different.

Ella does not like:

• Lemons
• Being taken into her room before she is sleepy.
• Being held facing inwards.
• Getting dressed - especially not putting a jacket or sweater on top of what she is wearing.
• Having a cold (I'm making an assumption here... or maybe this is just something mummy doesn't like!)
• Not being able to crawl.
• Avocado and feta on toast. Something in that combination makes her vomit. I'm thinking maybe the feta. Hopefully it's not avocado... how can you be from Melbourne and not eat avocados?!

Things Ella does:

• Rocks back and forth when she is sitting
• Claps
• Chews food with her two bottom teeth.
• Goes from sitting up to lying on her tummy.
• Moves backwards on her tummy.
• Sits by herself in the bathtub.
• Turns around while sitting.
• Makes connections between objects and the noises they make.
• Laughs when you do something silly.
• Laughs when you say "stop" in a stern voice. (We'll have to work on this one).
• Holds herself up in a crawling position and then launches herself forwards, falling on her face.
• Pigeon and Frog yoga poses.

What we’ve learned:

• A vaporiser is really helpful with a baby's cough. If you put "Euky Bear Sleepy Time Inhalant" in the vaporiser the room will smell like a spa.
• Babies get a lot of rashes. If there is no fever, the baby seems happy, and when you press down on the rash it disappears, then there is probably nothing to worry about.
• But still, day cares do not like rashy babies. So you need to take them to a doctor so they can tell you it's "just a virus".
• You can pretty much attribute anything to teething from about four months to two years old. Fussy baby? Teething. No sleep? Teething. Fever? Teething. Rash? Teething. etc etc... you get the picture. You can do this even if there is no sign of a new tooth.
• Your baby WILL sleep all night one day. It might happen at 8 weeks, or like us, it might take 9 months or more. I have a friend whose baby did not sleep through the night until 18 months. I was beginning to think this would be us, but Ella has given me hope by FINALLY sleeping through the night four times in the last week.
• Seven hours of sleep in a row is AMAZING! But it will only feel amazing if you have had nine months of broken sleep preceding this one magical night.
• Other little kids love babies. We have an eight and six year old living down the street who love to come by and "play" with Ella. It's great. She is so amused by them.
• Just when you think you have your baby figured out something will change and you will have to start all over again. “Everything is a phase” is something one of my mum friends told me early on, and that exactly describes what life is like with an infant. It also helps you to get through the rough times. Babies are predictably unpredictable.

Overall things are going really well with Ella. Andy and I are more confident the decisions we make as parents and she is a very happy and healthy little girl (most of the time!)