All posts about our second daughter, Mirei Mirabelle Allen.
Mirei tried corn for the first time the other day, and we decided to just give her a whole corncob to see if she’d be able to successfully eat the corn off of it now that she has five teeth. She actually ate the corn pretty thoroughly, but we couldn’t help but laugh at some of the faces she made while she was gnawing on it!
View more of Mirei’s corn-eating here:
Happy ten months, Mirei! She hit some big milestones this past month — here’s the latest on what our sweetheart’s been up to…
(I’ll be taking photos of Mirei sitting in my white desk chair and wearing her monthly onesie every month until she’s one year old.)
Previous Photos:
One Month Old • Two Months Old • Three Months Old • Four Months Old • Five Months Old • Six Months Old • Seven Months Old • Eight Months Old • Nine Months Old
Stats: At your doctor’s appointment a few weeks ago, you weighed 22 lbs 9 oz, so we’re pretty sure that you must weigh around 23 lbs by now! You measured 29.5 inches tall, and have a head circumference of 18 inches… all three of the growth measurements are above the 90th percentile! A lot of strangers that see you are surprised to hear that you are still under one year old because you’re so big and active for your age. It seems like your weight gain is tapering off, and you may even be losing a little bit of your chunkiness between all the moving you’ve been doing and the fact that you got sick a couple weeks ago and didn’t have as much of an appetite. Your top two teeth have completely grown in now, and a third one is emerging… making it a total of five teeth you have now!
Things You’re Doing Now: You took your first steps the day after you turned nine months old, and you’ve been perfecting your walk this past month! You rarely stumble now (and when you do, you know how to expertly land on your tooshie), and you’ve gotten really fast at walking! You’ll walk a few laps around the dining table, and can power walk across the room in a matter of seconds if you see someone you desperately want a hug from! You love getting held, and it feels like you’ve gotten clingier than usual in the past few weeks — you get very upset if we put you down for even a few seconds, and are showing signs of major separation anxiety! You also don’t smile as readily to strangers anymore, so maybe that shyness/”stranger danger” sense is kicking in. We are impressed with some of the cognitive ability that you’ve been exhibiting, like remembering exactly where to find certain things that are stowed away in drawers, and opening them to access them. You react to certain words with upset cries or excitement, showing that you understand some of the words that we use often. You like having “conversations” with us, repeating certain simple syllables with very expressive tones — sometimes softspoken and affectionate, other times bossy and demanding. You have quite an appetite, and want to try everything we’re eating! You’re really strong and are always trying to wriggle away during your diaper changes, and have started pushing against us with all your weight in protest at times. Your smiles are the best — big and wide, and can light up the room! Everyone that meets you seems enamored with you as you are quite the charmer. We are so thankful that we get to enjoy these precious smiles every day!
On November 3, Mirei went to the doctor for her 9 month wellness checkup. Her pediatrician asked me a bunch of questions, and it looks like she is doing great in terms of her growth, health, and is ahead of the game in hitting a lot of milestones!
Dan and I had thought that based on her past measurements and how heavy she has been feeling, Mirei would for sure be over 23 pounds by now, but we were wrong! It looks like her growth in weight is slowing down a little, as the nurse weighed her at 22 lbs 9 oz! That puts her in the 96th percentile for weight-for-age.
She measured 29.5 inches tall, putting her in the 96th percentile again for height-for-age.
Her head size is now 18 inches around, which is in the 91st growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age.
We are so fortunate that Mirei has been growing so well and is so healthy. I can’t believe she’s only 3 months away from her first birthday. Time sure does fly, especially with the second child!
We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this announcement: Mirei has officially started walking! While she’s been doing some little mini-steps for the past week or so, she took her first “real” steps on Sunday evening to walk to Daddy, and I was able to pull my phone out in time to capture some of it!
I love her beaming smiles of accomplishment! Reminds me of when Mio took her first steps, because she was cheesing so much then, too. Hooray, Mirei!!! We are so proud of you, sweetheart!
(Excuse the awful mess in the room. You can blame it all on the little toddling one that you see there in the video, as she loves to pull out her diapers and clothes and scatter them everywhere. 😛 )
Mirei is now nine months old! Which means she’s now spent just as much time out here as she did in the womb. (I can attest that the months outside have flown by much faster than those on the inside.) We’re continually stunned by how fast she’s grown and is continuing to grow, both physically and in her capabilities — I feel like she’s not really a baby anymore! We cherish this stage, as she’s becoming and more independent with each passing day.
(I’ll be taking photos of Mirei sitting in my white desk chair and wearing her monthly onesie every month until she’s one year old.)
Previous Photos:
One Month Old • Two Months Old • Three Months Old • Four Months Old • Five Months Old • Six Months Old • Seven Months Old • Eight Months Old
Stats: Your 9 month appointment is not scheduled until a little over a week from now, so we don’t have exact measurements but you must weigh over 22, possibly 23 lbs! You just get heavier and heavier and neither Daddy nor I can hold you for more than a couple minutes at a time! While you only had your two bottom teeth for a few months, a couple of your top teeth are finally starting to emerge from the gums. Your hair seems a little longer and thicker now, growing off of the scalp now, and it looks like you may have the same curly textured baby hair as your sister! You are so bottom-heavy (for the lack of a better word) and have such a chubby butt and thighs that you’re already in size 5 diapers! (Unbelievable!) You’re now wearing mostly 18-month and some 24-month size clothing — while the sleeves and pantlegs are a little long on you, we’ve needed to size up to accommodate your girth. 😛 We suspect that you’ll start slimming down soon with all the walking you’ll do in the coming months!
Things You’re Doing Now: You stand for long periods of time without support now, and have been taking two or three little micro-steps here and there, shifting your feet along the floor without holding onto anything, signaling that you are oh-so-close to walking! Your separation anxiety is really starting to kick in, as you start whimpering and crying as soon as you see me exiting the room for even a moment. You love to crawl or cruise right up to me, stand up, and hang onto/pull at my legs. You’re starting to be very vocal, and you started saying “Dadadadada” and “Mamamamama” around the same time (on the same day, I believe!). It seems like you know what they mean, as you use them respectively to Daddy and I. You like to hit your fists together at times to show excitement or joy, and nothing makes you happier than when big sister graces you with some attention. At the same time, you seem to be developing a tough skin and can stand up for yourself — when Mio pushes you away, you’ll push back, or if she takes away a toy, you’ll try to pull it back away from her.