Georgia's 9 months old

Georgia's ninth month was full of lots of growing, lots of developing, and some adventure. She is now pulling up, and then letting go and standing on her own for several seconds. She crawls really fast, like a little wind-up toy. She thinks it's hilarious for Banks to "chase" her while she is crawling. Her favorite toy is probably an empty water bottle. She can entertain herself for hours with it. She is a great eater, and likes everything - pureed meats, vegetables, and fruits, puffs, teething crackers, and some small pieces of soft solids. She even had her first taste of ice cream at our church social. I'm still nursing her. She has one tooth (her bottom left central incisor) that is JUST breaking through her gums.

She is saying, "mama," "dada," and "bubba" consistently. She is waving, and imitates any sound and facial expression we make. She clicks, blows raspberries, and shrieks. She is still SUPER clingy on Momma. She is fine with anyone else holding her as long as I'm not around, but the second she sees me, she wants me. She is terrified of being lifted up in the air, which is funny because Banks always loved that. She is also not a fan of being in water right now. I hope that changes soon since we are about to go on some beach trips! She did have her first long car trip, to the river. We stopped once to feed her, but overall she did pretty well. It probably helps that she has her big brother in the backseat to help entertain her. She is also doing much better with sleeping at night. She is typically waking up one time, but we only have to go up to put her paci back in her mouth and pat her back for a few minutes and she goes back to sleep. She is still waking up around 6 in the morning on most days, but that's not too bad.

One of the most unique Georgia characteristics is that she LOVES skin to skin contact. She must be touching someone's (mostly mine) skin at all times when she is being held. Especially when she is nursing or taking a bottle, or being rocked to sleep, she wants to rub, pinch, pat, or at least touch skin. The other day I had her on my chest to take an afternoon nap, and I had a tshirt on. She wouldn't go to sleep and kept taking her hand and rubbing my neck. So I took off my tshit (I had on a tanktop underneath it), and she immediately laid her head on my bare chest and went to sleep. It's such a sweet little characteristic.

Also in her ninth month, Georgia had a hospital stay. After being on 3 different antibiotics, she had a UTI that kept hanging on and she continued to spike fevers 101-103.4. Dr.Maddox (her primary pediatrician) was on vacation during this time, so we had to see another pediatrician who recommended she be admitted to Greenville Hospital. She was there from a Wednesday to Friday to receive IV antibiotics and monitor her. Finally after two days of antibiotics (and 4 traumatizing IV placements), her fever finally broke and we were sent home with Levaquin. After a 12 day course, I later found out that Levaquin is an extremely strong and somewhat dangerous antibiotic for infants, but it was what the pediatric infectious disease doctors at Greenville Hospital recommended. While she was at the hospital, she had a renal ultrasound to check her kidneys, and her kidneys did not appear to have any defects. Praise the Lord! That was a huge relief considering all we have been through with Banks' kidneys. We have to go for a VCUG this coming week to check the function of her kidneys as well.

Hopefully the only adventures she will have during her 10th month will be beach trips!