Wow, I was really early with the 8 month update, but 9 month's flew by due to baby girl catching not one, but two viruses, and a cold! Needless to say, her routine was a complete mess for the majority of month, and in addition to that, she was teething and is finally sprouting two shiny, white bottom teeth!

She's been home a lot, so I'll try to show you what her day at home looks like recently.

6:00 AM | GOOD MORNING

I've given up on expecting her to sleep past 6:00. Some days she does, but most days she's up at 6:00. Sometimes she yawning and laying her head down by 7:00, so I thought about just keeping her in her crib, but I miss the quality time with her, so I just keep her 6AM schedule and hang out with her until breakfast. She usually has a vid call with family or just snuggles with me.

7:00 | BREAKFAST

She's now eating about two tablespoons of weaning and 200 ml of milk. She has been resisting the weaning, which is understandable due to sickness, but my husband I are beginning to think she is bored with the mashed food being spooned to her. So, breakfast might look really different for her in the upcoming months!

8:00 | PLAY TIME

During this time, I might turn put on some music and let her free play in the living room. She is pulling to stand and has a blast using her toys and the furniture to cruise. She tends to burn a lot of energy, and she has shown to get tired quite early, but I don't put her down before 9:30. So to help her stay awake, we still take a morning walk

9:30 | FIRST NAP

She goes down easily for this nap, and she tends to average 1.5 to 2 hours of nap if we put her down at just the right time. Although that sounds great, actually, if we let her sleep for 2 hours, then she'll resist the second nap. So, we've been waking her up at the latest of 1.5 unless she seems particularly under the weather.

11:00 | LUNCH

She gets the same amount of weaning meal for lunch and 200 ML of milk. It's the same pattern with this lunch. She'll start off grabbing the spoon and being really receptive to the food, but then she starts whining and refusing to eat. She'll eat about half, but then will gulp her milk. So, we have to figure out what is going on.

12:00-3:00 | ACTIVITY

As mentioned before, we tend to do all of our major errands, adventures, after the first nap. So this three hours is usually for exploring, doctor appointments, shopping. If we stay home, which we have been a lot because she has been sick. I'll do some special activity with her, such as do water play or try to work with her, such as teaching her how to use a straw (failing by the way!). 

3:00 | SNACK AND BOTTLE

This time of the day is really tricky. It depends on if we are still out of the house or if we chose to stay in, but usually I follow her cues, as she is great about sleeping when she is tired now. Sometimes she's extremely tired, so we'll put her down for a nap and then feed her upon waking up at around 4:30. But, there are some days where she seems to be resisting this 2nd nap or we are outside the home and she's excited, so we'll feed her and then put her down for her second nap. For a snack, I give her a baby rice cracker that she usually just plays with and crushes. We then give her 240 ML milk.

3:30 | 2ND NAP

As I mentioned before, this time is pretty tricky. If all goes well, she's sleep by 3:30 and will wake up around 4:30. She does sometimes resist this nap because she is so excited, but she hasn't completely missed it yet. I think it is because she usually only takes one 2.5 hour nap at nursery school from 11-2, so her body is just confused.

4:30 | PLAY AND NIGHT ROUTINE

So, this is the time she leaves nursery school, but even when she doesn't have nursery school we let he play and then we prepare her for a bath at 5. We then play in the living room while I or my husband make dinner, and then she eats at around 6-6:30. We then allow her time to digest her milk and read books or play in dim lighting in the living room.

7:30 | GOOD NIGHT

Her bedtime is flexible and completely depends on her last nap. If she comes home from nursery school, she is usually in the bed by 6:30. If we were able to stick with this schedule at home, she's in bed by 7:30. A few nights ago she was having false starts and waking up after about 40 minutes, and in that case i let her play for 30 minutes before trying again, but the second time she was out like a light until 6 the next morning. Her cough has been waking her up, and I bet the teething also contributed to it, but actually she has been sleeping amazingly. Not peep until around 4:30, when she starts coughing but she can go back to sleep by herself.

So, that's her 9 month routine! I'm kind of afraid she will transition to one nap early due to nursery school. They have been pushing her wake windows to like 5-6 hours and then she's up until she comes home. So, that is our next challenge is deciding to keep her on the 5 days one nap, 2 days 2 naps...or we also commit to the one nap a day. Also, let's see how her weaning goes now that she has two bottom teeth, which will also add teeth brushing to the routine!