Our little Maia has now been with us as long as I carried her in my belly. The past nine months have been the most emotionally overwhelming, amazing yet challenging months of my life! Nine months is a short time considering I can barely remember life without her. Nine months also feels like a short time for Maia to have developed into a small child from the tiny creature she was last December.
She really is a little person now with her own mind. She babbles away in the most adorable manner either when trying to interact with others or while playing on her own. We get a lot of “ra ra ra”, “ta ta ta”, “wa wa wa” but unfortunately no mama yet! 😄 Maia has more courage to approach other people and especially other kids to the extent I have to keep an eye on her – she tends to be quite rough while making friends (“no, not the eyes Maia!”, “Don’t grab her face, Maia!”). I’m trying to arrange playdates so that she can practice playing nicely with others. Mummy’s company alone isn’t enough anymore I think!
It feels like every day Maia discovers something new – yesterday she kept sticking her tongue out and today she won’t stop blowing air!
We’ve really seen a huge change in Maia in the last month. She started crawling and climbing up to standing with support soon after her 8-month birthday and now she’s all over the place! It’s been so fun to watch her go and explore her surroundings. She also likes the swings of the playground nearby and we go there almost daily if for nothing else but to watch other kids – always so fascinating to Maia!
She now weighs 6.73kg and is almost back on her 9th centile graph! I’m very pleased as it shows that our efforts with baby led weaning and solid food have paid off – she has gained 300g in a month which is good for a baby of her size. She is also having more and more milk and water from the sippy cup and I’m breastfeeding less and less during the day (something I have very mixed feelings about!).
I can finally pack away Maia’s pyjamas size 1-3 months because she is now filling up 3-6 month-size well and even wearing some 6-9 month-size clothes. 😊 At least we’ve gotten a good use out of her clothes! Summer is now over in London and so I bought Maia her very first pair of jeans which make her look like a big girl! I have added shoes to my shopping list because she wants to be on the ground when we are outside too and I worry her feet will get cold (and socks ruined).
Her pretty white hair is growing longer making her look absolutely gorgeous (I am biased of course). It’s not just the hair that makes her look less like a baby, it’s the teeth! No more gummy smiles. Maia has her 6th tooth peaking through now. She loves to chew on anything hard and I give her apple and carrot sticks which seem to help with teething. During the day anyway…
I’m tempted to say her ninth month has been the most challenging month for us parents because all of the changes she’s gone through have disrupted her (and our) sleep. She has been waking up very frequently and instead of self soothing she climbs up to standing in her cot against the rail, crying miserably. I think she is also having dreams and nightmares now. I’ve observed her sleeping through the baby monitor screen and sometimes it’s very obvious that she gets upset in her sleep, not after having woken up. Then she’s unable to calm down on her own which makes our visits to her nursery very frequent…
Considering all the new skills she has learned and new experiences she’s had, it’s no wonder she is restless. I do have to say though that I can’t wait for this phase to pass because I am starting to feel exhausted myself… Having a 9-month old who doesn’t sleep at night is infinitely harder than having a newborn who doesn’t sleep because regardless of what happens during the night, Maia still wants her activities, outings and meals as usual which means Netflix marathons are out of the question! Sometimes I go back to bed for a half an hour snooze during Maia’s morning nap if I’m struggling, but that means sacrificing time to do chores or to have a shower… Life as a mother, eh?!
Our typical day (without baby classes) looks like this:
- 6am – wake up and play with daddy
- 8am – breakfast with mummy
- 9am – nap at home
- 10.30am – play with mummy
- 12pm – lunch
- 1pm – go out to the park and nap in the buggy
- 3pm – eat snacks, play at home or playground
- 5pm – dinner
- 6pm – bath
- 7pm – bedtime
I have to say that I do enjoy having a bit of structure to our days. I struggled with the unpredictability of life with a newborn baby – our days felt like continuous but random “sleep-feed-change the nappy”-cycle. Maia also really benefits from the routine too and is happier when we stick to it. We try to meet up with other mums and babies for play dates (and coffee) during the week to be more social. Soon our baby activities will start again which will make our days more varied too. Maia will have weekly swimming lessons, “Baby sensory” and “Monkey Music” classes. I think when we get into autumn and it gets a bit darker and rainier we will both appreciate having reasons to get out of the house!
On to our 10th month with Maia!
xoxoxox,
Sini