The Journey of Parenthood…

Tess Summary of Month 9

This post covers Tess’s 9th month of life, from March 31st through April 30th! She was 8 months old during this time.

Nursing: Out of all three of my babies, Tess enjoys nursing the most. She is zero percent distracted by anything. She still gets urgent when I’m sitting down with her getting ready to nurse and is just very sweet the whole time. She does have her own little way of feeding. She latches on and then twists.

I started having more pain this month due to more teething (she was cutting her 6th tooth). She actually BIT me for the first time. It was quick and OMG the BLOOD. She just has so many teeth that they do serious damage. I was straight gushing blood. And it was BEYOND painful! I was so shocked and I don’t think she intended to have it happen. But whew it’s a pain I won’t soon be forgetting. I started using coconut oil on my nipples prior to each feeding. Not only does it help with the pain due to her cutting teeth, but it also seems to prevent the biting. I think it makes it more slippery? 

When she gets done nursing she’s very curious about my body and where the milk comes from. She tries to play with me and I just simply tell her “that’s where the milk comes from” and move her hand away. 

Tess is getting very quick with nursing. We finish typically within 20 min. Her last feeding of the day is her slowest, since it’s right before bed. Every nursing session is super sweet, but that’s her sweetest for sure and she will still sometimes fall asleep nursing 🙂

Ready for bed for the night

Highlight of my day is our nursing time together and the cuddles in my lap after each feeding!

Solids: Still going great! Tess enjoys a variety of foods and would probably just eat forever if I didn’t stop her. She LOVES to GRUB. She’s so tiny but can eat SO MUCH. Casey found out from her pediatrician about how much babies Carter’s age should be eating. He’s two months older than Tess and she still eats more than the recombination for his age! I’m not worried about it though because everything I give her is very healthy and she’s still nursing great! 

I give her a small sippy of water with each meal and usually she plays with it. Not a lot of drinking from the cup still yet! She does throw it some and we have to get onto her for that but I know it’s a phase that will be short lived. 

Strawberries and watermelon are her favorite foods!

I do messier foods at dinner since she goes straight to bath after. I also always give a spoon in hopes that she’ll master it at a young age 😉

We went to eat at Longhorn’s this month and Tess did GREAT. I brought along some food with us and she was happy and content in her high chair until we ate and then I gave her the food I had brought. Zach and I have VERY vivid memories of taking Kye and Britt there when Britt was around Tess’s age. We spent the entire time walking around with her. It’s crazy that dinner out with THREE kids is EASIER than it was with just two! I think so much of it depends on how easy going the BABY is, ya know? Thankful Tess is such a happy, content, easy to please baby! We needed a go with the flow one 😉

Bahaha

Schedule: Same at last month:

7:00 up for the day. Nurse and then do solids.

25 min independent playtime, if not taking kids to school

9:00 down for nap

10:45-11:15 up from nap, nurse

12:30 solids with kids after school for lunch

1:00 nap

2:45-3:00 up from nap and nurse

25 min of independent playtime

5:30-6:00 solids during family dinner

6:30 (or a little earlier) bath

6:45 nurse then straight to bed


Sleep: Someday I plan to write a post about high vs low sleep needs children. Now that I’ve had three kids I can see the differences in their sleep needs. Kye and Tess? Low sleep needs! Britt? High sleep needs! Since early on Tess has changed schedules due to her ability to have longer awake times. She still wakes early from most naps (whereas I still have to wake Britt most naps or she’d sleep till dinner!). Even though she wakes early, she’s still very much sleepy and ready for bed at the start of her sleep times.

On 4/9 she woke up at 4 am, which is odd for her. I checked the monitor and she was trying to pull up in the crib! We went ahead and dropped the crop down to the lowest setting just to be on the safe side.  Prior to lowering it she figured out how to untie the bows on her crib cover! 

Even though Tess wakes early, she is VERY quiet (Britt is the same way! If she’s awake she’ll be almost silent). I’m thankful for video monitor or we’d never even know she was awake! She will be sitting in the crib quietly 🙂 

This month Tess had a little cough and drainage. I talked to our pediatrician and they recommended using Claritin. I give her 1/4-½ a tsp once a day (in the morning). I also ran the humidifier in her room and used the nose frida prior to naps. It caused some sleep disruptions and caused her to wake from times of sleep pretty grumpy. And meant a lot of dried boogers!


Hair: When I look at pics of myself as a kid, Britt has the SAME hair I did. Very straight! Tess, however, has the same exact hair I have NOW. Wavy and a LOT of it. I’m interested to see how this evolves as they get older. Tess has this one section of hair in the back that’s like a clump that I wish I could just cut off and be done with. She doesn’t need it as she has a ton of hair and it’s a different texture and more difficult to style. Well. I have the SAME section of hair. I have this one spot in the back that I struggle to fix “just right” and often wish I could just get rid of it!

See the spot that is corse looking?

Teeth: At the start of this month Tess got in more teeth! She started off with 5 early in the month and ended the month with 6 total. Her top teeth remind me of Kye’s. Very spread out! And it’s funny b/c he had that front center gap (aka the “Sedgley Split” as it’s known in our family) forever but now his top front teeth are super close together. I’m interested to see if he’ll have the gap again once his permanent teeth come in. Same for Tess! I feel like she’ll have it since her gums come down like they do between the teeth? It’s VERY strongly passed down on my side of the family. Braces wouldn’t fix mine so I actually got veneers. We might need to start saving!

Crawling: On April 8th Tess crawled for the first time! We were in Britt’s room and both the kids and I witnessed it! We were all so excited, Kye even had a little party for her! It’s like she crawled for the first time then SHE WAS OFF! Child just gets it! She has the cutest little crawl and she keeps her little leg out straight. So funny! She’s very fast so my world has been changed big time b/c I can’t take my eyes off her for a second! 

Pulling Up: This month Tess started pulling up to her knees. She cannot yet pull herself to standing but can stand if I put her in the position. We got down the music table and she LOVES it. Her little legs simply don’t have much strength yet though. She gets so upset when she falls down but then doesn’t have enough strength to support herself if I stand her back up. 

Spanking: Whenever my kids get mobile they also enter the world of spankings. Before anyone freaks out, it’s not what you’re probably thinking! Tess’s first spanking came from her love of this extension cord we have set up under our couch. We have it sticking out on the end under our end table to use to charge phones and such (mostly used when I was nursing and my phone would die from so much use haha!). Tess is very attracted to it and goes back to it over and over. It’s a safety thing. I say no and move her away but she just continues to go back to it. If she continues to go back to it then I say “make good choices Tess” as she crawls to it and then, assuming she goes and gets it again, I use a paint stick and LIGHTLY pop her hand with it. I say “no ma’am we don’t touch” very sternly and then move her away from the situation. It’s enough of a pop for her to understand that she isn’t supposed to do that, but it’s VERY light. It helps train her and teach her boundaries and protects her from hurting herself. I did get a few pics of her first “bad choice” as Kye asked to see pics of his first spanking and I didn’t have any haha. 

Tess’s other discipline causing issue is pulling up to her knees at our entertainment center. She likes to push the buttons on the dvd player (I almost type “vcr” bahaha I’m old) and likes to pull the cords to them as well. I try to avoid her going in this area the best I can but seeing as it’s the straight up middle of our house it’s kinda hard to avoid!

This month Tess rode the lawn mower with Daddy for the first time! It’s been a favorite of all three of the kids (and gives Mommy a near panic attack! I’m so scared they will fall!)

Tess still enjoys the jumperoo as long as someone is nearby, she doesn’t like it if she’s in the room solo (like if I go in the kitchen to start dinner).

Tess is still doing about 25 min of independent playtime two to three times a day


We have SO MANY baby toys. I keep pretty much everything from each child so at this point we probably have more infant toys than Tess could possibly play with in a given month. It’s handy having so many because it does allow for me to have stashes of toys all around the house: in the pack and play, in the kitchen, in the living room, in Tess’s room, in the playroom, and in the car. We never have a  shortage of toys around here!

Tess LOVES mirrors!

We continued to have beautiful weather this month (March and April are our nicest weather months) and Tess enjoyed a lot of time in the infant swing

I’ve still kept our bouncer seats out to use for quick times of need. Like when I have to pee. I guess it’s time to pack ’em up huh? She just sat right up and bent over to pick up a toy she dropped haha! Glad she was buckled and that I was sitting right beside her!

Siblings: Britt is showing more and more interest in Tess and it makes me SO happy to see!!! Kye took awhile to show a lot of interest in Britt but it wasn’t noticeable to me because he was the only sibling she had, but I’ve been so eager for Britt to start forming a bond with Tess. I can’t wait to see how their relationship grows. I always wished I’d had a sister! 

Britt tries to hug her, but Tess just wants to pull her hair!

Now that Kye is showering, the girls are bathing together! It’s going really well and I think the bath seat helps minimize a lot of issues, at least so far!

“Mommmmm do we have to bathe together?!?!”

Kye is still very, very smitten with Tess. I don’t see that fading anytime soon! I think the further apart age difference allows for an admiration without annoyance. He always wants to carry her around which still makes me nervous!!!

He always wants to carry her in to Britt’s room to wake Britt from nap!

My sweet babies!

More about Tess:

  • I love opening the van door to get her out of her car seat. Every. Single. Time. She has THE biggest grin waiting for me!
  • She also gives that BIG grin every time I go to get her when she wakes from nap or bedtime sleep. If she’s not smiling, then I know she doesn’t feel good.
  • She has a great laugh, it’s a full on belly laugh and it’s very contagious
  • The kids call her “Baby Todd” which they told me means “Baby Tot” because she is little
  • Tess is constantly saying “DADA”
  • It’s funny b/c she’s my first baby not to have any fear with the vacuum
  • She gets PUMPED when we get out a book to read
  • When I leave her and then come back she gets very upset. It reminds me how they say dogs can’t tell time and that they don’t miss you until you get home and they realized you were gone? I feel like Tess is that same way. When I get home from time away from her she gets upset!
  • She also doesn’t really like to be held by others. We don’t push it, but still try it out when ever family is visiting
  • She’s entered the throwing things stage…oh fun!
  • Tess is very, very quick to be calmed and comforted. If she’s upset or hurt, she calms down very quickly
  • She is really all about her siblings. She always wants to be “in the mix” with whatever they have going on!
  • On the 15th of this month Tess fell off our bed. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and Zach was in the bedroom changing clothes. I never have liked Kye having any responsibility over Tess but Zach asked Kye to watch her on the bed while he changed in his closet. Tess grabbed the remote on the bed so Kye turned to put it on the shelf and when he turned she crawled right off the side of the bed. I ran in and was actually more concerned about Kye in that moment than I was Tess. I just felt SO bad that he had that responsibility and was so worried that if she was seriously hurt that he’d blame himself. Thankfully she was fine and it was a good lesson for us all! Zach’s not with her as much as I am and he didn’t realize how well she can crawl and how FAST she is. She shouldn’t be on beds anymore for sure, and we all learned how quickly something bad can happen, how careful we need to be, and that siblings can’t be held responsible. 
  • But don’t worry…I wasn’t blaming Zach either b/c the very next day? We were at Mrs. Charlotte’s for dinner and I was fixing my plate and holding Tess at the same time. And she stuck her hand in a HOT serving of dressing. Like fresh from the oven hot. So it was my turn to feel horrible and guilty!!! Another lesson learned…child is QUICK and will grab anything nearby! Praise the Lord that, again, she was fine!
  • Tess points her finger all the time at things
  • She als is VERY silly and crazy on her changing table! She beats her fists and kicks her legs and is just being silly, not trying to resist the changing.
  • She’s making LOTS of consonant sounds
  • Now that Tess has bottom and top teeth she sometimes grinds them together. This is like nails on a chalkboard for me!
  • On 4/25 she did high fives for the first time and started trying to clap
  • She reaches for me now and I LOVE IT
  • Tess shakes her head “no” a lot. I think she thinks it’s funny, but I also think she might know that it means “no”
  • She is trying SO HARD to make her mama happy by saying “MAMA” but she’s still not there. She says “nana” and “baba”and tons and tons of “dada” she also does a lot of “sisssss” sounds
  • We sing “clap clap your hands” (a song Britt made up) and she laughs and wants so badly to be able to clap on her own!
  • She loves her bath and gets REALLY REALLY silly afterwards while getting ready for bed. It’s Zach’s favorite time of the day with her!

Videos:

This month I pulled out a couple dresses that I wore as a baby. I had Britt wear the same dresses so I thought it’d be a fun chance for comparisons! 

Britt and I are both younger than Tess when wearing the dress. I’m a November baby and Britt is Dec so our seasons for clothes are more similar! And I think Tess must be smaller than Britt and I were too 🙂 I still think the resemblance is there, huh? I don’t think Tess and Britt look as much alike. I think it’s the eye shape? Britt’s mouth is bigger and her eyes are more squinted (both which are more Casey’s features than mine!). Whereas Tess has the rounder eyes like I do and the more similar lips. And we got that head tilt action on lock 😉

Here are more pics of our precious little girl from this month!

This chair is very special to me…it was always at my grandma’s house and she gave it to me when we had Kye. 


Sibling Comparisons; You can read Britt’s 9th month summary here. So interesting that this was the same month Britt started biting with nursing. Thankfully Tess doesn’t bite nearly as often as Britt did. Whew. And super interesting that Britt got all 4 top teeth in at the same time and that I had SO MUCH pain with nursing. I’m thankful that I recognized the pain with Tess was due to teething and didn’t go through all the hassles I went through with Britt trying to figure out what was wrong with me (side note but omg that pic of Britt with Zach with the sippy. She’s so cute!!!). I also did a lot less independent playtime with Britt. I only did it for 15 min, twice a day and she struggled with it. I think that’s a main reason I’m so hardcore with Tess having it. I wish I’d been stricter with it with Britt for sure! It’s the first comparison month where Britt’s post has made me get teary-eyed! She’s just SO GROWN now!!! I’m already having a hard time remembering her being that little. I love how different she and Tess are in so many ways, they are both unique, precious, beautiful girls!

You can read Kye’s 9th month summary here. Tess and Kye are very similar in their development patterns. Britt was quicker than both of them…at this age she was cruising! And Kye and Tess both started crawling this month. I’m thankful that Tess is so easy with diaper changes. I don’t remember that both Kye and Britt were fighting them at this age! Also so funny that while the girls were cutting 4 teeth at once, Kye finally had his first one break through 🙂 I love that Kye started his “camera smile” at 8 months old…he still rocks that thing 😉

We have been so blessed to have three amazing babies. I cherish each day with each of them and enjoy every stage of their lives!

Emily Parker
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