So...Charlotte had her 9-month well baby checkup on Tuesday, and we got mixed reviews. She weighed in at 17 lbs, 13 oz, and measured 27.5 inches, which puts her in roughly the 25th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for length. But she's puttering along nicely on her own growth curve, so all is well in that area.

She was very happy to discover that the 9-month checkup means...NO SHOTS! Yay! Dr. Velez checked for all the other stuff, like making sure she's rolling over, sitting up, crawling (not so much on that one...), she can sort of stand. All that good stuff. What didn't go so well was the chest listening and ear inspection--Charlotte has quite a bit of nasal congestion that has spread down to her chest, and she has the beginnings of an ear infection. Not yay. Dr. Velez prescribed some antibiotics to clear up the ear infection, and it's safe to say that Charlotte does.not.like. I have managed to get her to take her medicine by putting it in her morning bottle, which she sucks down without questioning its contents, and in her evening serving of fruit, about which she is a little more discerning. Last night I put the medicine in her pears, and she looked at me the whole time like, "I'm eating it, but I'm not fooled and I don't like it." Once the medicine was gone, she returned to her pear-eating with her usual gusto.

Anyway. So Charlotte's doing well developmentally, but she's feeling rather poorly. The last week or so has been a particular challenge for because I am NOT used to having a fussy baby. (This is where my friend Tara tells me, "Now you know what it's like for the rest of us." Moms with fussy kids--I salute you. Really.) We've also spent the rest of the week visiting with my Aunt Pam, who arrived on Wednesday afternoon. I got a really cute video of Charlotte scooting across the carpet in my mom's living room, but I can't figure out how to get it to play on my computer...as soon as I do, I'll put it up! I can't believe how much stuff she can do now!

Tomorrow we head off for Charlotte's first trip to the beach! Yay! I'll try to post pictures and stuff.