Nine Month Check Up

Karina asleep after her trip to the doctor's office

Karina had her 9 month check-up today and we were expecting to find out that she weighed 20+ pounds...so imagine our surprise when the scale read 18 pounds, 8 ounces...meaning she had only gained 1/2 pound in 3 months (other times she had gained about one pound per month)! That weight put her in the 50%, which, I guess is more in keeping with the size of her mommy and daddy, but the drop from >95% to 50% was nonetheless a bit concerning to me at first. The doctor said that it's not an uncommon time for weight gain to taper off...especially if the baby's activity level has increased. So given that Karina is practically a jump-aholic (in her jumper) and is more active in many others ways, too, I began to feel less worried. As Karina's Aunt Lee put it, "Well you didn't really want her to permanently stay in the >95% for weight, did you?" No, I definitely wasn't hoping Karina would be the heaviest girl in her class!...excellent point, Aunt Lee!

For height, Karina stayed on track measuring 28 1/2 inches tall...which continues to be tall for her age...making her currently long and skinny (relative to her first six months.) See below for long and lean Karina!

Otherwise the only remarkable finding was that the doctor noted that Karina must eat a lot of carrots, because her skin was somewhat orange! I'll tell you....I couldn't see it then and I still can't see it now...but she does eat a lot of orange foods. Actually her favorite orange food is not carrots, but rather sweet potatoes, squash, peaches and apricots. The carrots show up as the second ingredient in most of her combo "dinners"(i.e. chicken dinner, beef dinner, etc.) Maybe we'll make an effort to eat more of the other colors of food...although I don't know that I'll be able to tell if it's making any difference anyway!