9 month appointment

Today we had Ryder's 9 month appointment (he officially turns 9 months tomorrow). We tried a new pediatrition (if you remember, our beloved first pediatrition retired) named Dr. Oneil and we really like her. She's young and very genuine and you can tell she loves kids. She was good with Ryder and answered all of our questions...so I guess she's a keeper :)

Anyways, here are Ryder's stats this time around compared to his last appointment at 6 months:

6 months:
height--26 7/8 inches (70%)
weight--20lbs (90%)
head--80th percentile

9 months:
height--28.5 inches (60%)
weight--23 lbs (80%)
head--70th percentile

*I swear his head looks way bigger than 70th percentile...see for yourself! (although, it could be the angle maybe...haha)



The funny thing we found out today?? We are technically not feeding him the "average" diet that someone his age would eat. Based on the handout they gave us and talking with the pediatrition, she stated we needed to start feeding him more protein (the examples she gave us?? turkey, chicken, or hamburger casserole....) and we could also add in yogurt and cottage cheese among other things. So we feed him three times a day, but we're missing out on the two "snacks" a day. But she said that each child varies and she's not worried that we're not feeding him enough because he's a "tub". Another adjective used to describe Ryder by the pediatrition? TANK. haha. She said that he's bigger than average on his height/weight/head categories, but since he's big in all three, it's fine for him--he's just a "tank".

One bummer that I've had to come to terms with over the last week is that ryder no longer will nurse during the day with the exception of the morning. That first feed he will do, after that, he wants NOTHING to do with being laid down to eat and stare at mom. He gets so ticked, seriously it's kinda funny. But sad at the same time. I know he's just getting bigger and all, but it kinda made me sad! Obviously considering he eats more regular food during the day over the last few months, he in turn drinks less milk. Therefore I'm drying up like the Sahara Desert. In my peak I put out 10ounces per pump session, and now I'm pumped (no pun intended...) if I can put out 2 ounces. Based on what I have in the freezer, I would not be able to make it to the one year mark alone for breast milk only :( My goal was to get to the one year mark with only breastmilk and then he could switch to whole milk. But I'll fall short by about 5 or 6 weeks...so the solution? Give ryder one bottle of formula a day to supplement my supply. Now I know it's not that big of a deal, but you know me...I set a goal...I want to achieve it. Oh well, he'll still be getting mostly breastmilk till one year. The downside of this (besides having to introduce formula) is that I am pumping three times a day now! blah! I'm back to lots of washing bottles/pump parts and it sucks. Oh well.

Anyways, one more picture for you all...it's of Ryder in his overalls that have English Setters on them. It's kinda hard to tell, but it's cute (joe's family has two english setter dogs, so it's an ode to the haskins family)