8 month...going on 9

My goodness, where have time gone to? My baby girl is about to turn 9 months old tomorrow. My usual procrastination self says that I got to clean the floor, fold the laundry, wash the dishes, and a whole long list of things to do. But I am sitting myself down and typing this before time flies by again and all is forgotten. I kinda ashamed to admit that I have forgotten to do a monthly growth photo for the past 2 months. Oh well, I must make a mental note to take the 9th month growth photo for Hannah tomorrow. 

So this is going to be a milestone post. If you are not interested in baby updates, just skip this post. 

Hannah is turning into a beautiful smart girl with a mind of her own. Everything with her is new and exciting and being her mama and watching her learn and grow is the best thing ever. I cannot believe she is on her way to the big 1 year old mark and there are times I wish that she will just stop. Stop everything, stop growing, and just stay my little sweetheart. But oh well, I do  cherish every moment with her and love her to bits.

Sleeping

- Hannah co-sleeps with me. Before we left the States, she had quite a decent sleep habit and slept well on her own and only woke up twice to feed. But as we started our journey back home, she had to share bed with Rockstar and I while we settled in. And with the added change of being in a new place, surrounded by unknown factors made her especially attached to me. She have to sleep beside me and would wake up to 5 times a night to nurse or be comforted. It was pretty exhausting to say the least. But thankfully things are getting better. Some nights she just wakes up and reach out her hand to touch me before falling back asleep. Things are getting into a rhythm and on good nights, she only wakes up twice. I've been trying to train her to sleep in her own crib. Success rate is sadly low but guess what, last night I persisted. She slept in her own crib the entire night. It was pretty tough hearing her sobbing herself to sleep and not allowing myself to carry her back to my bed. And my heart broke a little when she woke up this morning and refuses to look at me. As if I had wrong her. Oh, be strong my heart. 

Feeding

- Eating solid started out real rocky at first. I was in the States and I tried all kinds of baby food to which she rejected. The week before we left, I brought up my concern to the Pediatrician about Hannah's reluctance to eat. She told me to try feeding her whatever we eat as most babies can eat most food by 6th month. So we did. From out stopover in Japan to back home in Malaysia, we gave her all kinds of food. Japanese curry, beef rice, prawn noodles, wan tan mee, rice, pasta, she enjoyed them all. However, I've been receiving lots of 'advice' such as no meat in her diet, no salt, no adult food, etc and it came to a point where I started doubting myself and my ability as a mum. I've started preparing plain and unseasoned food and using the frozen ice cube method. But I got to say that its tough when she refuses to eat them and clamp her mouth shut. She still prefers eating whatever we eat. Oh well, at least she is eating something. And it beats having to see my carefully prepared food thrown onto the floor and having to clean them up. Feeding her is still like a car ride with lots of speed bumps and slopes along the way. Will just have to wait and see how things goes next month. 

Other milestones

- Her lower two front teeth popped up last week. It's just barely showing but guess who is super excited about it. 

- She learned to sip from a straw. The first time she managed to suck her orange juice through the straw, she had such a 'what just happened' face that made me laugh out loud. This girl still fascinate me with her expressions. 

- She is crawling. Started with just a hand pull and dragging of body method but have now progress to a proper crawl. 

- She can clap her hands. Soundless but its clapping all right. 

- Smiling on cue. OK, she learned that a couple of months back but it helps when you stick a camera in her face and say 'smile'. I love her cheeky grins. 

- She can somewhat say 'papa'. But I got to remind all that 'mama' was her first word. 

- She has this funny thing that she does. She puts the back of her fist to her mouth and open and close them while making some noise. Kinda like a Indian call. I can't take credit for that. Rockstar is the big culprit for this silly noise, on top of the raspberry blowing. 

- She is a strong pincher and grabber. She grabs everything she can lay her hands on, study them for a bit before popping them into her mouth. She kicks hard too. Lots of headbutting times and bruised nose and mouth.
- She tried durian for the first time. Although I can't really tell if she likes it or not, she did go for a few more bites. She has this funny expression on her face whenever we feed her. Like a 'what did you just feed me' silly face. 

There are days where I feel like I am about to lose patience and control. But the good days outnumbers the bad days. And I am enjoying this phrase of my life and being a mama. There are still many things to learn and I am far from being a perfect mum. But I know that I will do whatever is best for my baby girl. I love her.