9 months

Three more months and I will have a one year old. He will probably be toddling or close to it by then. For as long as he has been crawling, he has been pulling himself up to standing on the furniture, or in his crib. If there is something on the ground he will try to use it to get him to standing. He is now starting to let go of the objects and stand independently for seconds at a time. Once he realizes what he is doing, he will either sit down, fall down, or re-grab the surface he used to stand up with. I can't believe it. When he first starting pulling himself up, he was so wobbly I thought he would never learn to walk. :D (Of course I knew it would happen eventually, but he looked so unsteady I couldn't imagine him mastering it in the near future.)

Now, he is quickly moving around our coffee table, transferring from the table to the couches, and back again. It is quite exhausting just watching the little guy move around and around and around. :D

Today, I took him in for his 9-month check up. I've been worried about this appointment for a while now. I know I have a small baby. I know he isn't gaining weight like most babies his age do. But I also know that he is healthy, and acts normal, and is a happy little guy. So I was worried that my doctor would recommend testing to figure out if there is something causing him to gain weight slowly. I would be hesitant to do any tests at this time, especially since they would most likely just conclude that I have a small baby. So, my son would go through testing (and therefore pain, discomfort and/or annoyance) for no reason. If there was any telling sign of some sort of problem, then I would agree to tests, but he is an otherwise healthy little man.

So, as the medical assistant weighed him and found him to be 13 pounds 15.5 ounces, my heart dropped. At his eight month weigh in, he was 14 pounds 5 ounces. Left alone in the exam room, I stared at the scale thinking I needed to weigh him again. That weight just could not be right. When the doctor came in, she plotted his weight on his growth chart, she noted how small he was, then slowly realized he had lost weight from his previous weigh in. As the patient, or the patient's mother it is easy to forget that the doctor doesn't always remember every detail about every patient they encounter. She did a full exam on him and after I got his fresh diaper on, she looked at the scale.

"Let's check the scale, and make sure it is balanced" she said. You know I had my fingers crossed, hoping it wasn't. It is an old type scale, one that has a bar you have to level by moving the markers to the correct weight.  She adjusted the scale, and sure enough, it wasn't balanced. He really weighed 14 pounds 12 ounces! Relief washed over me. He did not gain very much (only 7 ounces in a month), but he gained. And at this point I would take a gain of anything over a loss. He eats breast milk, formula and solid food daily. I give him formula when he nurses on both sides and still seems a bit hungry. And since I've known he is a small baby, I want him to get as many calories as I can shove down his throat. ;)

Then my doctor and I talked about how difficult it is to get extremely active babies to gain weight, as he is burning up the calories right as I give them to him. Most of the time he is wiggling even while eating. She cleared him to be seen next at his year check up for shots and an exam. But said I could come in to weigh him between now and then. I'm not happy, with the results, but I am relieved. I'm encouraged that he gained 7 ounces this month (which is 2 ounces more than the previous month). I'm going to shoot for a 10 ounce (or more!) gain for next month. If only it were as difficult for me to gain weight...haha!