We Have A 9 Month Old!

We have a 9 month old guys! Well, she’ll be knocking on 10 months soon, but our baby is growing! I look at this little human everyday and just thank God that I was able to give life to such a beautiful little person. Not many make it to this moment. So it is a blessing, I tell you.

Harper’s Growth Journey

What’s Harper Up To?

She is now on her feet trying to walk. She takes a few steps and then plops on the floor, but she crawls like a ninja! Its fun to watch her explore things in our home, especially the things she sees us use on a daily basis. So the kitchen is her favorite place to be and standing up on everything. Baby-proofing is still a work in progress so we’re kind of glad that she isn’t quite up on her feet permanently.

At her 9 month checkup, we were excited that her Pediatrician cleared her for table food, but still stay formula until she is one. We still give her baby food because we don’t want to rush things with her. We learned that slow and steady wins the race, plus she surprises us when she wants to advance to the next level. Sweets are her thing and she will only eat meat and veggies, if it’s human meats and veggies. That jar food is for the birds! “Mama, Dada, Nana and Papa” are her favorite words and she loves to scream at the top of her lungs.

We introduced Harper to the pool and she loved it! One of my goals is to get her in the water so we can start learning how to swim. I think swimming is more of a requirement than a privilege so it is very important she learns that. Harper thinks the swing is a mechanism for her to go to sleep so when we put her in the swing for the very first time, her eyes were getting heavy! We may revisit that a little later.

Harper’s Hair

I’m loving her hair! Her curls are starting to evolve and it’s completely different from mine. She has thick curly hair and I have about 20 minutes to wash, detangle, and style her hair before she gets upset. Currently, my favorite products to use on her are from the Auntie Jackie’s Curls & Coils Line. My favorite styles to do for her are finger coils, mini twists, and now that her hair is longer, I create small ponytails all over and coil the ends. As her hair gets longer and thicker, I switch up her routine a little bit, meaning wash days could be once a week or every two weeks. For her, less manipulation is key and also results in a happy baby and less tiresome mommy.

How are you doing as Parents?

Sleep is still non-existent! 😅 But we definitely enjoy every minute we have with her. Although we have fun, it is very challenging and we don’t always get it right. Sometimes Harper will wake up in the middle of the night crying and it takes us about 20 minutes to figure it out. There are days where we struggle to work or work on other things and she really wants our attention. Sometimes we wonder if we’re doing something wrong. But we never compare our child to someone else’s. Or compare ourselves to other parents. We all have difference journey’s in life and the more we focus on Harper and our family, we thrive. Its been less stressful, not to mention we keep “advice” to a minimum. There isn’t a handbook on parenthood and outsiders don’t have a handbook on your child.

Can we ever prepare for the upcoming years as a parent?

We can prepare as much as we want but we will never be ready. We don’t know what Harper will be like 5, 10, 15 years from now so the main thing we are doing is working on ourselves as individuals, as husband and wife so we can be the best parents for her. A lot of people are really against marriage before children, but a healthy marriage is a healthy family. But, we’ll talk about that soon. Despite COVID-19, God is still blessing me and my family and we cannot wait to see how the rest of the year plays out.