Karis Grace at 8-9 mos

It is hard to believe that our Sweet Karis is already 10 months old now!!!  In order to treasure our memories with her, I thought I'd jot down a few notable things that have happened in the past few months.

 Sweet Memory-  I haven't done this category on my monthly posts before, but I couldn't resist this time...  You see, in February, Hugh took Karis out on a Daddy-daughter date for Valentine's Day.  It was the sweetest thing!  She got all dressed up in a red dress with white tights, and Hugh even put on a tie.  :)  They went out to dinner with a few other Daddy-daughter couples, and I think both Hugh and Karis really enjoyed their time together.  (Hugh is thinking this will definitely be a tradition for years to come.)

Can you tell how excited and proud Hugh is?  Sweet Daddy!!

Eating- Karis has yet again made huge strides in her eating abilities over the past few months!  These days she is able to self feed solids like puffs and soft crackers (she can pick them up off the table or take them from your hand and put each piece in her mouth by herself).  She has also started eating soft solid chunks like banana and avocado and has moved up to stage 3 in the jarred baby food (however she prefers her food to be a little more chunky than the stage 3).  Though she still doesn't have any teeth, I feel like she may have officially entered the stage of teething a few days ago... she is wanting to chew on everything, nursing more frequently, has a rash on her chin from drool, and has even caused me some discomfort in nursing.  But alas, only time will tell.  In other news, Sweet Girl has been spitting up less frequently, which is exciting for the laundry lady around these parts.  ;)   And as you can note in the schedule below, she is typically nursing 5-6x per day and eating solids 3-5 times.

 My Messy, Messy Eater

Sleeping- For details, see the schedule below.  In general though, she is taking two 45 min naps per day (not counting the early morning one).  Typically I'm still rocking or nursing her to sleep, but sometimes she is able to put herself to sleep if she's calm & drowsy.  And thankfully she is currently still sleeping through the night.

Size- Size 12 mos (legs are long, arms are short, which must be a girl thing because Enoch was always the opposite) and size 3 in diapers

Developmental Milestones- Karis has been developing in so many areas it's hard to record them all.  Here are a few of the more notable ones: 

• Saying sounds like "da" and "ba" frequently (not in conversation just yet though)
• Independently sitting up (and sitting up well enough now that Enoch can play with her without her falling over, which is an exciting step)
• Getting good at pivoting on her belly in a circle (she can go about 180 degrees at this point, but she has to really want to, she won't perform just because you want her to, ha!)
• Self-feeding and chewing solids during meal time

Karis made the big move into the front of the shopping cart!

Current therapy- Occupational, 1 hour per week; Physical, 1 hour per week; Speech, 30 min per week.  All of the pictures below are of PT, mainly because she's made the biggest strides in PT lately.  Now that she's able to sit independently, our physical therapist has introduced Karis to a few new things:  the tilt board, the swing, and the rodeo bull (there are most certainly more technical names for these things... I just don't know them yet!).  Of all the new things, I think Karis loves the swing the most because she gets to look in that big ole mirror.  ;)

Seeing Karis be able to sit up on these things is so encouraging for me because I think that 4-5 months ago this would've seemed impossible.  Our PT has even told us that she feels like Karis has made huge strides in this area, which has left both of us surprised and thankful.  :)

Playing-  Sitting up by herself has revolutionized the world of play for Sweet Girl!  Now she really, really enjoys her brother's company, and is able to interact with him more.  If he is in the room, she still just loves watching him, and she even accepts more rough and tumble love than I'd expect her to.  These days Karis also likes going on walks with Daddy, getting a good tickle on her neck or belly, and as always, being held by anyone, even new people.  She is generally pretty smiley and happy when being engaged by someone.  Sweet Girl is also more interested in toys than before, and she typically looks for them after they fall out of her hands.

 Sitting in the laundry basket, playing

Typical Schedule- This is still dependent on the day (probably that's true for most 9 month olds), but in general Karis' schedule looks something like this:

• 6:30 am  Nurses in our rocking chair and then napping (she still falls asleep while nursing at this early morning time)
• 8:00 am  Nurses and then gets ready for the day
• 8:30 am  Breakfast with the family; Sweet Girl usually she gets to eat some solids with us
• 10:00-10:30 am  Naptime begins and usually lasts 45 min or so
• 11:00 am  Nurses and then plays until lunch
• 12 noon  Eats lunch with the family; Karis usually gets some solids at this meal as well
• 1:00 pm  After Enoch is asleep, Karis either has therapy or does a workout with Mama at home (workout for her, not for Mama).  This has recently gone really well and helped her get used to working hard at the same time each day, whether at home or with our therapists.
• 2:00 pm  Naptime begins and usually lasts 45 min (sometimes the afternoon nap can be up to 1.5 hours, but this is not typical)
• 3:00 pm  Nurses and plays with Mama and helps get dinner ready
• 4:00 pm  Enoch joins the playing & typically both kids get a small snack
• 5:00-6:00 pm  Dinner with the family; Karis gets more solids at this meal.  
• 6:00-7:00 pm  Family worship and bedtime.  Typically Karis is asleep and in bed sometime between 6:30 - 7:00 pm, and she sleeps until the morning.