Nine Months Old!!!!

Sasha turned nine months old yesterday! I don't know why it feels like such a big deal to me every month when she turns a month older, but it is. I guess it is because it marks how long she has been away from her birth mother and then how long she has been with us since we adopted her when she was just a few days past five months old. I am so grateful to have her that I am ecstatic and humbled at the same time. I wonder if her birth mother thinks about her more often on the 16th of every month (when she had and then abandoned her) or of she just thinks about her the same every day. If there was a way we could let her know that Sasha is okay I would do it in a second. I don't believe that it was a choice for her, I'm sure she had to give Sasha up for a really good reason. I know Lang Son is a very poor area so that is probably it. Anyway, I was also realizing that if she was thinking about her every month on the 16th, it actually is always going to be a different day than the 16th is here because of the time change. I hope she can sense that Sasha is doing well. I hope so.
I went to a doctor appointment with Sasha today. It was her second appointment at our doctor's office. She really didn't need an appointment with the doctor since she really only needed shots, but I really wanted to see a doctor. Sasha was 26 inches and 13 pounds and 7 ounces at her last appointment about eight weeks ago. That is about 50 percentile for height and in about the 5 percentile for weight. Sasha eats A LOT, but is really slender. I know that she is Vietnamese and shouldn't be judged by a chart used mostly for Caucasian babies, but if she was at the bottom of the chart for both her height and weight I would have felt better than low on weight. The doctor did say she was thin last time and recommended her eating fatty foods like avocados and cheese. I give her a lot of those as well as a lot of other food. She is a pretty active little baby which could account for burning up some of the calories. Well, now she weighs 15 pounds and one ounce and is 27 inches long. That means she is a little above the 50th percentile for her height and UNDER the fifth for her weight. I had to stop myself from not crying for the next few minutes. I know that just may be her body type due to genetics, but I really wanted her to plump up a little. Her arms are so thin! The doctor recommended mixing powdered formula with her food and again the cheese and avocados. She got her immunizations (I made my husband hold her this time because I was feeling a little sad) and then we had to get her blood drawn. Again Ray held her to get her blood drawn. He asked ahead of time for the person who was the most experiences with babies. He said the lady did a good job, but they had to take several vials for all of the tests. It is just things like HIV, HEP B....they had wanted us to have it drawn a couple of months ago but I just couldn't do it when she was so little. Sasha is taking a nap now and I'm sure will take a little longer nap than usual. Poor thing! Her next appointment is six weeks from now. My next thing is to schedule her nine month pictures. I included a picture of portraits we had taken at our local JCPENNEY's store. We had these done for Brayden and Brookelyn as well. Brayden's is in black and white and was done when he was two, Brookelyns was taken when she was eleven days old and is also in black and white. I did Sasha's when she was six months old and had it done in color. I think we'll put hers between the other two on the wall. Right now it is sitting on the mantle over our fireplace. It looks really cute even though she only smiled a tiny bit. I wanted to capture her young since we have so few pictures of her before five months old.