Nine Months Old - Izzie B

Izzie is now nine months old and 3/4 of the way to her big first birthday!!!  I can't believe time is going by so fast!  Seems like I say that every month, but it's so true.  I already have the date picked for that big first birthday blowout and prep will begin soon!  She's changed so much this month and is doing so much!  Lots more firsts and still plenty to come!

Izzie has started taking swim lessons.  Both Brady and I started before we were 1, so of course, Izzie had to as well.  We go during Brady's preschool time, so it's something she and I get to do together.  She loves the water (must be genetic) and is learning to kick her legs.

Sleep has been hit or miss this month as she has cut not one but two teeth!  We could see the buds pushing against her gums last month and she's once again beaten her brother to another milestone.  He was ten months old before he got his first tooth and by his first birthday, he had as much sticking out of his bottom two teeth as she does today.

We made one trip home to Pittsburgh during the last month and we had dinner at Ichiban.  Izzie has only been there once before and it was my birthday, so she was only nine days old.  I was excited to see her reaction to the show and fire.  She wasn't scared, but watched intently just like Brady always did.

Brady's favorite part is when the set a fire and the fireman "pees" water on it to put it out.  Since he's been a toddler, the hibachi chef will squirt him too and he thinks it's hilarious!

Brady sleeps in my old room when we go home and one morning Andy had them both in there.  Izzie got stuck between the wall and the bed but didn't seem to mind much.

Playing a little Mario Kart when daddy had them all alone while I went to the dentist.

Sitting like a big girl in the shopping cart for the first time.

Morning smiles.

Always wanting to play with the big kids, even if that means playing cars.

This month we celebrated her first Thanksgiving!

In her official Turkey Day outfit!  If you click on this one to make it bigger, you can see her two tiny teeth poking out.

Both kids were sick on Thanksgiving (Brady more than Izzie), so this was taken right after preschool on Tuesday when Brady made his turkey hat.

Wearing Uncle Chris's husky dog hat he got in Washington. 

Brady wearing his Kiro shirt with Kiro.

Hugs for his only cousin before Kiro returned to Pittsburgh.

Annual pics by the fireplace with the kids in their Christmas outfits.

The whole gang.

Another shot.

Starting to get into the Christmas spirit.

She's definitely gotten bigger in nine months.

Going to see Frozen.  This is Izzie's third time at the movies.

Wearing the same brother/sister shirts from Izzie's newborn portraits.  Izzie's is obviously a new shirt in the second picture, but they've both changed a lot.

She's still cruising like a champ and can stand alone for upwards of 20 seconds at a time.  It's only a matter of time before she takes that first step!  Some might think it crazy that a baby so young would start walking and maybe wish that theirs did early.  Trust me, immobility in a baby is a blessing.  She gets into everything!!!

She had her doctor appointment this past Thursday and she's still what we lovingly call her - a peanut head.  She was in the 5th percentile for head circumference at six months and is now in the 3rd percentile.  They said not to worry as long as it stays consistent and she's still hitting her milestones (many of them earlier than most).  It's amazing to me that it's in such a low percentile because it doesn't seem disproportionate to her body.

She finally moved back into the size 3 diapers this past month and some (but not all) of her 6-9 month clothes are getting too small.  She fits well into most of her 6-12 month clothes, but the 9-12 month ones are still huge.  It's just as well that they are, as they may last her until the end of winter weather then and I won't have to buy much 12-18 month winter clothes.  Most of what I have for 12-18 months is for summer.  She was 15lbs 10oz at six months, only up 1lb from two months prior.  It's been three months since her last weight check, so it was time to guess her weight again.  We've been overestimating for months, so we both guessed really low this time.  Andy guessed 16lbs 4oz and I guessed 17lbs.  Brady was 18lbs 11oz at nine months.

Here are her official nine month stats:

Weight - 18lbs 7oz (50th percentile)
Height - 27.5 inches (40th percentile)


One of us finally scored a point!  And it was me!!!  She eats three solid meals each day, in addition to four breastfeedings, so she's certainly getting a decent amount of food to catch up to the average weight for her gender and age.  As long as she's healthy, that's all that matters to us.

Only one hand while cruising most days.

I love this profile pic.

All nine months side-by-side.

Our First Thanksgiving

We decided last year that if we were settled into a house this Thanksgiving, that we would stay home and host my family.  My parents were willing to drive from Pittsburgh, as well as my brother, Alex, and his girlfriend, Lauren.  For Chris, it was as simple as flying into Detroit instead of Pittsburgh.  We were excited for everyone to come and see our new house (my parents had come out in October), and for my brothers and Lauren, it would be their first time in Michigan.  Of course, all of us getting together is something very rare and since my dad was unable to make it to our beach vacation, we haven't all been together since last Christmas (and not even on Christmas Day).  That means that a group picture is in order (above).  Kiro was an angel, and Brady was much better than the prior year where he had to have his sippy cup to even sit still.

We always do multiple image Christmas cards and always do one fireplace shot where Brady is in his Christmas outfit.  It's safe to post it now as everyone should have received their cards in the last few days (if not, they're in the mail).

When it comes to the actual Thanksgiving dinner, no one in our family had really cooked a full turkey before.  My parents have done turkey breasts before and I think Alex made on in cooking class in high school.  We made sure to do a test run about a month before, while inviting our friends, the Reese family, over to be guinea pigs.  That bird turned out very well, and we felt pretty ready to tackle it again.  The difference on acutal Thanksgiving was that Bethany had brought the stuffing and rolls.  My dad made the pies at home and brought them from Pittsburgh, so that was one less thing to worry about.  We don't have a double oven, so the whole oven was taken up by the turkey.  We had to wait until it was ready to come out to tackle the stuffing, sweet potatoes (courtesy of my mom), and the rolls.

The one thing none of us had anticipated was that my brothers and Lauren would decided to go to the Detroit Lions game that's played every Thanksgiving Day.  It's a 12:30PM game, so they figured they'd be home in plenty of time for dinner.  They'd asked me before purchasing the tickets if I was alright with them going and I said of course, since it's their time off from work/school.  My finals words were, "The bird's done when the bird's done."  As irony would have it, the game went into overtime and for some reason the turkey cooked way faster than we expected from our experience a month before.  Andy kept turning the oven temp down to try and delay a bit.  Of course, the game went almost the entire OT period before Detroit ultimately lost.  They walked in the door as we sat down at the table, which was amazing.

At the game, they handed out hand towels with mustaches on them for Movember, which is in support of prostate awareness.  Brady thought it was fun to hold it up so he had a mustache.

Andy was the main chef, so he was exhausted after the meal and passed out laying on the ground.  Brady loves Kiro and he ends up wearing Kiro out, so he passed out right alongside Andy.

My dad and brother, Chris, were excited to see that there is a White Castle right down the street from our house.  They went there the night before Thanksgiving after Chris flew in, and then decided that all the boys would go on Sunday.  I personally can't stand it, but had no problem with them going.

 

Before my parents left on Sunday afternoon, Brady decided to play doctor with Dubby.

Everyone was gone by Sunday afternoon, except Chris, who had a flight back to California early Monday morning.  I took this pic because both Chris and Brady are slaves to technology and at that moment, they were side by side, with Chris on his laptop and Brady on my iPad.

We had an awesome time hosting everyone in our house for four days and enjoyed the company.  The boys and Lauren were already talking about going to the Lions game every year, so maybe we'll have everyone up again next year if they're willing to come to us again.  Brady had a blast playing with Kiro (although he did have a few timeouts for being too rough).  He talks about Dubby and Uncle Chris everytime we pass the White Castle and every time he sees an airplane, he thinks Uncle Chris is on it.  He'll be so excited to see everyone this Christmas.  We won't all be together until we make it up to my Oma's house in NYC the day after Christmas, but it doesn't matter.