Alia's 9 month check up/My 12 week Scan

Yesterday was a big day for both Alia and me. She had her 9 month check up, I had my 12 week scan...separate appointments, of course. 

I'll go straight to my scan...hold onto your hats, everyone....it's a girl! And she's active, and bouncy and measures perfect for her age. Down to the day.

Now let's discuss Alia's basics...Alia is still off the charts in all categories...height, weight, and head circumference. She weighed in at 23.6 pounds, and is 30.5" long. That's about a 3.5 pound weight gain from her 6 month check up, and a solid 2" growth spurt in height. 

Alia is always happy to go to the Doctor's office. She loves that she gets to strip down to her diaper and play with all the cool things in her new environment. She thinks that the nurses and Doctor are there to admire here, clearly. Yesterday's appointment was about as good as it could have been. I numbed Alia's little meaty thighs with topical numbing cream 2 hours before our appointment, and Alia didn't feel a thing...not so much as a flinch for either shots. That made me happy. 

The doctor's questions were also fun to answer since it seems that Alia is right on par across the board in her development...our doctor reassured us Alia's modified Army-Crawl-Rolling technique is perfectly normal for a baby Alia's size (meaning, since she's so big, she has more to carry around, and thus will crawl later than many babies). She also assured us that Alia's abilities of grasping things are within the normal range. See, her little cousin has basically been using a knife and fork since the day she was born, so since Alia has yet to develop pincer grasp skills, we were getting a little concerned. But rest assured, Alia's little caveman grasp and destruction of all food that makes it way into her little hands is totally normal. Now, the things Alia is excelling at? The sippy cup. And did I mention that Alia claps? Deliberately? Yep, it means she's happy. Apparently, this is a tricky skill for babies to learn, and our girl is a champ. Yep, we're those parents...the proud ones that boast about how well she claps. For goodness sake, when did this happen?

The funniest part of the day was the moment when Alia stopped destroying the paper that covers the exam table for a moment, and I swear there was a look on her face that said, "hang on, why am I the one on the exam table? Mommy is always the one on the fancy table...why am I up here?" It was like a little light when on right before our eyes.