Dr. McDreamy, the broken bottle and a naked car ride

This morning I broke the news to my girl.....we in fact were making a trip to see Dr. McDreamy for her 9 month checkup. Well actually, as always, we are about three weeks behind so it was her 9 3/4 months checkup to be exact. ;)

"This is the best news so far today mom! Please tell me you have a cute outfit picked out for me?"

When we arrived it was a little past her lunch time so she was not shy about letting me know she was hungry. But thankfully she was sweet enough to let the nurse and I get her measurements and weight until we settled in the exam room for some mangos.....

"I don't mind eating during my date with McDreamy...I'm a healthy growing girl (but he better pay)"

Here's her playing card stats for this checkup:

• Height- 26.5' - 20th percentile
• Weight- 19lb 11oz - 60th percentile
• Head Cicrumference- 98th percentile

Hallie waited patiently for McDreamy to come through the door. Once she laid eyes on him it was only smiles and giggles from that moment on. Yes folks, I've tried to tell her that he is much too old for her but she is convinced that he is the one for her. He took a look at her ears and told me they looked just fine. I had been concerned about the possibility of having to get tubes in her ears but he said they looked perfect right now. He commented on the four teeth coming through on top. Whatchu say doc??? Four teeth at once? Poor baby....sure enough he showed me and all four pearly whites are making their way through. He also said it was time to start stage 3 foods: pasta and meats. Yum! Not sure if I'll be doing homemade with these just yet...I'm still getting the hang of homemade veggies and fruits. Speaking of, I asked him about the "cleansing" effects that the homemade grub has had on her system and he thinks I may need to cut out one food each week to see if it makes a difference and that way I can figure out which one is making her go go go.  Luckily the dirty diapers have slowed down a lot in the past few days so hopefully her body is adjusting. Hallie and I were both very happy campers when we heard that she wouldn't be getting poked with any needles during this visit! Yay!! What didn't make her happy was when McDreamy finished feeding her the last bit of mangoes in her bowl....that is when it all went south. It got even worse when Hallie overheard him tell me that I had to start getting tough with her at night. I mentioned to him that she was still waking up to eat one time at night. He just shook his head and laughed at me and proceeded to say "she owns you." He confirmed my suspicions. The girl has been playing me for awhile now. So after a little tough love advice I decided to put my big girl panties on and make a commitment to end this whole getting up in the middle of the nigth business. I've created a night-time partier. She was none too happy about this news.....

No MANGOES and no bottle at night make for one angry baby

After her date with doc we took a trip to the mall. Hallie was the perfect little shopping partner and sat quietly in her stroller and watched as I tried on clothes. Our shopping trip was exciting for two reasons today. #1...I am FINALLY back to down to my pre-pregnancy weight and ready to get a new wardrobe! #2...I have missed living just a short drive from the mall and realized I must have been having withdrawals because I couldn't help but feel a little giddy as we pulled in.  Ugh, that's pathetic. What's even more pathetic is that sometime during our shopping Hallie had a minor accident with her bottle that I didn't notice until we were on the way home. Her bottle top must have cracked during one of the many times that she threw it on the ground for fun. Silly girl. The bottle malfunction made for a fun trip home let me tell ya. Note to momma: take an extra bottle. (Duh)

After she shopped to the point of exhaustion and Hal was falling asleep sitting up, I loaded her up and decided against stopping at Jamba Juice. There you have it, a sleeping baby overrides the delicious fruity heaven in a cup. If only they had a drive-thru. Hehe. So I settled for a Limeaide from Sonic and we headed home. I could've sworn she was going to sleep the whole way home. Hmmm, NO. It was a small version of our Texoma car ride...ya know, the one which we won't speak of. ;) We made three stops on side roads to search for binky, Mr. Elephant and any random object that she could teeth on. Because wouldn't ya know, she doesn't care for the toys that are made for teething. Nope, she loved a measuring tape. Whatever floats her baby boat.

Do you see something missing here?.......

Yep, that's right. We had to pull over midway home and strip her down to a diaper to make her happy. Since we were working with no milk and a binky that had made it's way deep down under the seat it was my pleasure to let her ride naked in her seat as long as it made her happy (see, she owns me).

Tonight began our new bedtime routine. Hallie enjoyed her nighttime bottle in the comfort of her living room on her pillow. We did some dental care afterwards and went straight to bed with no bottle. Mr. Binky is a must at this point while we ditch the bottle. Now it is t-minus 15 minutes until I head to bed and put my new plan into practice. At least I think. I don't plan on getting any sleep tonight because I foresee a lot of screaming around 2 a.m. Or maybe she will be the angel that I know she can be. We shall see.......wish us luck!!

"I"m gonna try it mom, but I can't make any promises"