9 Months old!

I can't believe C is already 9 Months old. Time flies when you are having fun! And fun, we are definitely having!! Now that she is napping pretty consistently, both Mum and baby are happy! Here are the 9 Month Stats:

• Weight: 18 pounds, 6 oz
  
• Length: 27.5 inches
• Head: 18 inches

Everything is about the 40th percentile, which is down from the 60th, but normal do to her increase in activity! We saw the nurse practitioner who I LOVE this time, and C loved her too. She was very happy with how well C is doing! Yay!
And she's been going going going while awake! After months of "almost" crawling, this week she has achieved the true movements of crawling. She's still a bit slow, but each day she is speeding up faster and faster... which means I'm getting faster and faster! Her current favorite "forbidden" objects to crawl to include electrical wires (particularly the ones attached to floor lamps! EEK!) breastpump tubing, my booklight, and of course, the never boring remotes and iPhone. You should see her GLEE when she gets a hold of the phone for one moment!She loves waving and clapping for "the baby in the mirror" and tries to squirm from my arms to get to "her". Speaking of waving, for awhile I've been wondering if she is waving, but I'd say for sure, in the last week, she does a sort of "frankenstine-esque" wave intentionally. Other times she will do a small hand opening and closing wave (she did it a lot @ last night's red sox game) but still with her hand low by her side. But she's getting there. Since I didn't post about it in my 8 Month update, it must've been in the last month that she's been clapping for herself, the cat, pretty anything. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. :)She seems to have developed preferences for certain books, shutting others when we attempt to read them. It's cute, but also tough to find something she actually wants to read! Her favorites are "Peek-a-Who?" and "Grow Up" both of which feature a mirror at the end!
She does so well when we have outings, I'm so thankful. Last night we got the opportunity to get some GREAT seats for a Red Sox game at a GREAT price. She didnt have any great naps yesterday, had her 9 month appointment (didn't even cry at her shot!), and then spent the day in the car, stroller, or baby carrier. (Speaking of which, how many WW points do you think I earned babywearing an 18 and a half pound baby for the better part of 5 hrs?). She slept a little bit in her carrier till Youk got tagged out when he was trying to bring us into the lead. The Boos from the crowd woke her! She passed out again on the train ride back to the car and slept the whole way home- but still, wasn't in her crib till nearly one am, and never really fussed! We are so blessed! I hope she wasn't too badly scarred by everyone thinking she was a boy because she was in Red Sox colors! :) And yes, we are letting her lay low today!
Besides the return of the Red Sox, spring also has brought so much nice weather. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, it's been SO awesome to go running with C in the stroller. I ran a new personal longest run with my friend down on the Cape Cod Canal last week- 4 miles! (we stopped every mile or so for water, but we pretty much ran straight through, doing a 10 min mile!) C seems to enjoy it. We even ran to Starbucks to get our free coffee on Tax day. :) I'm looking for a race to run in soon!

It's not an April Fools Joke, I swear!

So, did I tell the story of the missing sneakers on here? I think it was around mid-February when it began. I ran on the treadmill one morning, and took off my sneakers. The treadmill (and therefore, the sneakers) is in our house. The next day, I go to look for the sneakers and I can't find them. I didnt have time to look, so I just wore something else. The third day was a day to run, so i really needed them. I could.not.find them ANYWHERE. I mean, Over the course of the next MONTH I tore apart my house looking for them! I even put away stuff that had been out since December! (On the one hand, that's a good thing, on the other hand, I had obviously NOT wanted to put it all away, LOL!) B also searched high and low for them. People in our small group looked also. I finally give up and buy new sneakers. But because of Murphy's law, I wait a few more days to take the tags off the new sneakers. ( I was sure buying new sneakers would be the key to the old ones turning up!). No dice. I finally give up and walk with my new sneakers (which cost more and I didn't like NEARLY as much!). At this time it's mid- March.

Fast forward to two nights later when I go out with some girlfriends. God bless my husband, who is much neater than I am, he was cleaning/straightening the basement (it's finished, but we don't use it for more than working out) up while I was out.
I come home.
There, sitting on my stairs, my old sneakers sat! I was shocked! Apparently he had found them in between a pile of clean sheets that I had folded by the laundry room. (yes, I had CLEAN sheets, folded, but not put away, for over a month!)

So that whole story explains why I hadn't run for over a month. Then even after the sneakers were found, I still have my very inconsistent napper to deal with. So I wasn't really into exercising.

But now we have our new (FAB!) jogging stroller. It's a BOB revolution, and if you're in the market for a jogger, I highly recommend it. Anyway, so yesterday, I decided to take it for it's inaugural spin. After a month and a half off, I had no idea how long i could run for, or how far, pushing a jogger. I started out trying to make it (on the flat side) to the end of my street. I kept going. I did it again, then I did the hilly side and back! I ran for about 30 minutes and for about 2.7 miles (according to B)! I can't believe it. So here's hoping I can do it again tomorrow or Sunday.

I also ended up walking with my neighbor for a few miles in the afternoon yesterday, I'm a workout machine!

In other weight loss news, I thought I'd post some about what I'm eating. I'm a snacker, that's my downfall. I've found eating some of the following things satisfies my need to snack without sacrificing my diet.

• I found out microwave popcorn is TERRIBLE for you (even the fat free kind, they are all very chemically), so I've been popping my own on the stove for awhile now (so easy, no need to buy an air popper or anything!). I put a little "Molly McButter" on it to make it taste SUPER yummy. Popcorn is actually a great source of fiber and better for you than chips and whatnot if you make it like this. I find it to be filling and it's only a few points for a LOT of it!
  
• I love eating a few pretzels and dipping them in trader joe's bean dip. The bean dip is no points and super yum. And a bowl of pretzels is MUCH less than 7 or 8 tortilla chips! I use the pretzel trick for guacamole also.
• I also started eating the Laughing Cow light cheese wedges. TWO wedges is only 1.5 points. And with a few pretzels or reduced fat-wheat thins, this is a low point and filling snack!

Another downfall of mine is drinks. I love me some sweet drinks. I've banned soda (diet and otherwise) from the house, though we treat ourselves to a diet or regular drink when we are out and about. I sometimes will buy diet snapple to satisfy a craving, but I'm not wild about artificial sweeteners in everything (i use them in my coffee and try to limit it to that). But, I'll tell you what, it's easy to not drink em when we don't have any in the house! That's my main strategy. Now that it's warmer I've been getting Passion Tea at Starbucks because it's sweet without syrup or anything and I like it! I'll also make tea for myself at home (I like Harney and Son's Hot Cinnamon Spice) that is so flavorful I don't need to add anything (sometimes a little agave, but not even all the time).

It's so true that as you cut out some of those things, you crave them less. I really am enjoying my water, most of the time! And my milk at the end of the day! :)

Alright this is long enough and I want to get some downtime in before the wee one wakes from her nap!