Jolene turned 9 months old this week and it's got me feeling all kinds of feelings. She is an absolute delight to be around, 90% of the time (she's a baby!). She is full of laughter and joy and absolutely adores her people, made evident by the way that she flaps her arms and squeals when any one of us walks into the room. We absolutely love being her parents and getting to know her, love her, and watch her grow.
She has several teeth budding all at once - we can see/feel at least 3. She is starting to look like a darling little jack-o-lantern and it is seriously cute. Most days, we dress her in little pajama sets, but I'm planning to do a little photo shoot this week with her for valentines day. I can't get enough of her sweet dimples and her gummy/toothy smile.
At night, she sleeps curled into me. Her feet are often propped up on my legs in some way. She sleeps with her arms above her head, just like her daddy. Side by side, they are a sight to behold. She usually wakes to nurse every 2-4 hours and although I complain about being woken so often, I am grateful for the ability to simply offer her the breast and fall back asleep. She usually falls asleep and falls off of the breast and either cuddles into me or rolls onto her back.
We didn't bedshare with Hank because he was a constant nurser. He would never stop - after getting a full feed he would continue to suckle and use me as a pacifier. We were able to transfer him to a paci pretty successfully and kept him in a sidecar crib for a long time before moving him to his crib. I didn't really know much/research much about bedsharing but I'm so glad we are doing it with Jo.
Jolene is eating several meals a day with us - she loves food! Dada was her first word, followed by words that sound like "more," "banana" and of course, "nurse/mama."
