nine months: into everything, a sigh of relief and a photo shoot

(aka: the world is her toy box)

9 months with a baby goes SOOO much faster when they are outside your belly instead of inside your belly. Or maybe that's just because I was pregnant for 14 months? I'm pretty sure I'm in the Guinness book of world records somewhere. Mat and I were laughing last night at how quickly the time has flown by... all except for the first three months. And those were FOREVER. 

Anyways, its hard to believe that we are parents of a nine month old. Seriously...where's my tiny little 6lb 3oz baby who just fit in my arms? Who slept on my chest at night while I slept sitting up on the couch...because that's the only way any of us got any sleep? now she's a whopping 16lbs (20%) and 27 inches (35%). (Huge. Seriously huge.) 

So here's a look at life around the good house these days:

Food: finger food! smashed blueberries are her favorite and easiest to eat. Other new fav's include Yo Baby (and can I just say that the spit up smell from the blueberry flavor is the grossest thing ever?!), kiwi, rotini & black beans. The dogs are really loving finger food because she loves to share her goodies. 

Naps: two a day! and one is usually 1 1/2 - 2 hours. This, friends, is a HUGE accomplishment. I seriously don't know what to do with my time.

Teeth: nada. but we're close. at least the doctor said so. i'll believe it when i see a tooth. 

Movement: still not crawling, but definitely closer. she gets on her hands and knee's and starts to move her arms forward...and then lets her little knees slide out from under her. she'll get there. i'm not worried about it. Still pulling up on everything and starting to do a little cruising. She's just started pointing, giving high fives and kind of waving....all though it looks a little bit more like a salute or sorts...

Social: LOVES other babies...even pictures of other babies. she just gets so excited when she's around them. I make sure to get her around babies/kids as much as possible. It definitely breaks my heart a little when i see how excited she gets...she was supposed to have a little play mate at all times with her. 

She's into everything she can reach. She loves my closet and pulls out all of my shoes and loves to touch them, pick them up, drop them... you get the picture. She's obsessed with our iphones and threw her first tantrum yesterday when i took mine away. I think we are in for it;)

And now for some great news. A lot of you know that along with TTTS, the condition that caused us to lose Parker, came the concern for C to develop neurological complications while she was still inside of me. Specifically, there was concern that blood clots could have been transmitted during the ttts and they could have gone to her brain. Unfortunately it wasn't something they could see on a US or test for...it was a wait and see type of thing. So for the past 9 months we've been waiting to see if she hits her milestones. And can I just say that I understand the normal angst of watching for the milestones...but throw in the added pressure of watching for them to see if your child developed a neurological complication before she was born...holy moses. So I've definitely been playing the "is it normal?" game for the past nine months. Only a few of my close friends know how this worry has plagued my mind since her birth. I've seriously tried to release it and not worry about it...but even on good days it can eat at my peace. My sweet pediatrician totally gets it and is very patient with me... and my gazillion questions. As are two of my pediatrician friends... who i try like crazy not to pester with questions during social events. ;) 

So yes... the news. At our appointment today our doctor told us that things look great. She was VERY pleased with C's growth and development and that if there were complications from the TTTS we would have already seen delays. Can I just say that I feel like a HUGE weight has been lifted?! I really thought we were okay...but i just needed to hear the words. My prayer lately has been that I can stop worrying and just enjoy all of her stages and I definitely felt an answer to that prayer today.

So now... on to her 9 month photo shoot. I snapped these on a recent adventure with my friend Heather & her daughter to scout out some good locations for photo shoots. We found this adorable little neighborhood on a beautiful day and had a blast with our two little ladies. I'm including Heather's daughter in them because 1) she is so stinkin' cute 2) campbell is just crazy about her.