9 months

Dear Mallory,

You’re nine months old now!… and the past month has been a true whirlwind. This month we contended with major holidays, tons of outings, bouts of sickness, food issues, sleep issues… you name it… it happened. And you pulled through it all like a champ.

In December we celebrated your first Christmas. It was hilarious to see you so nonchalantly act as if you knew exactly what was going on. We took a picture of you standing beside Liam as you both opened your stockings… and the look on your face says that you are not at all questioning why you are pulling new toys out of an oversized sock. It was wonderful to celebrate as a family of four, to have your presence enhance Liam’s excitement, and to finally have a vision of what our family holidays will be like for years to come. You received lots of great gifts and didn’t even seem to mind when Liam commandeered them as his own – of course he would find the baby toys way more fun than anything he had asked for and received!

You were a real trooper through many long days of visiting friends and family, something that was even more amazing to me because on December 21st you came down with your first stomach bug. We were at the Barrs’ for Cory’s birthday dinner, sitting at the dining room table, when you just leaned over, opened your mouth and spewed everywhere! You threw up in their dining room, in their kitchen, in their sink, all over Megan, in our car, in your room, all over me… all told, you threw up at least twenty times until finally you were just dry heaving. The next morning you woke up cheery as usual, ate your breakfast and seemed to be doing fine. So we went ahead with our holiday plans, making trips to see the extended Cook family that day and the Robinson family the next. Unfortunately, on our drive home from Stratford you started vomiting again, and Gramma and Grampa Cook spent Christmas Eve in bed… Gramma and Grampa Robinson followed and were down for the count on Christmas day! Half the Barr family caught it, too, and who knows how many extended Cooks. Congratulations, girlie – you single-handedly decimated our entire family! (Not that you are truly to blame; it was Liam, after all, who brought the bug home to you.)

After you were sick, it took a good 10 days or so for your appetite to return, and during that time, all you wanted to eat was pureed fruit and yogurt. So, essentially, that’s all I fed you. When you did get your appetite back though, you thumbed your nose at the baby food – basically went cold turkey on it. So that was that. You are still eating baby food cereal but otherwise you eat what we eat now, and do so surprisingly well, since before you were sick, you spit out anything that was the slightest bit chunky! Now you are eating quesadillas and salmon, Yorkshire pudding and roast chicken, pizza and pasta… even the odd French fry. That is the end of shopping the baby food aisle for us.

Then, just this week, you went on a 24-hour nursing strike, spurred by I-don’t-know-what. You have a cold, though the strike ended before the cold has cleared, so I can’t attribute it to that; you hadn’t lost your appetite and your interest in the boob hadn’t seemed to be waning prior to it. And just as suddenly as you went off, you are back on again, nursing your normal three times per day. I am glad to have you back, little nursling. I was not ready to see you go so soon!

One of the best developments this month is that you now sleep through the night. This was not something you started on your own, however. It was over the Christmas break, while Chad was off work. You woke up much earlier than normal for a feeding one night, and I got up and fed you, but swore when I put you back in your crib that that was it for the night. So when you woke up again at your usual time, I refused. I thought it would be a good time to let you cry, seeing that Chad didn’t have to get up for work in the morning, but I admit that I did not expect you to cry as much as you did… nearly an hour and a half, all told. The thing about letting a baby cry is that you have no idea how long it’s going to last, and once you start, you really have to stick to your guns and not cave – or else all that crying was for nothing, and baby will only cry harder next time. We were sure the next night would be better, but that night you cried for an hour and fifteen minutes. So it was better… just barely. But every night since then, you have either slept straight through, or been able to settle yourself quickly if you do wake up. And this leaves us saying, oh my lordy be – why didn’t we try this so much earlier??

This month, you learned how to clap your hands, wave, and stand (momentarily) on your own. You went sledding for the first time and thought it was a hoot – too bad Liam threw in the towel after just 2 runs and sent us all home. You spent a couple of half days with Gramma and Grampa Cook so we could take advantage of Chad’s vacation time to run some errands for our new house, and you did wonderfully with them – hopefully a sign of what’s to come when you start going to Cindy’s.

At 9 months old, you weigh 18 pounds 2 ounces and are still (roughly) 29 inches long. Over the past few weeks you have developed a steadily worsening all-over rash, and I was saddened to hear it diagnosed at your 9-month checkup as eczema. Lots of eczema sufferers are really miserable – itchy, uncomfortable, and at a much heightened risk of developing asthma later in life. And I so hope that won’t be you. So far, we have been able to keep it in check. We’ve added a cool mist humidifier to your room and slather you in lotion after your baths, and we have yet to see you scratching. I hope we can make it through a couple more months of winter and see things clear up again when the warm weather returns.

We are now firmly entrenched in the doldrums of January, which is normally a cruddy time of year, but I rather like it right now. In a couple more months, I will be back to work. I like that the hustle and bustle has died down and the days seem a little longer right now. I am just trying to soak up every little moment with you.

Love,
Mom