Julia is 9 months old!

So she's now been out of me as long as she was in me. It's crazy to think that this time last year I was so large and ready for school to end so I could prepare for her arrival. Now she's crawling and climbing, putting her two cents in conversations and helping me burn calories keeping up with her adventuring. She's a healthy and vibrant little girl who's personality is shining! She's outgoing, a social butterfly and loves attention of any kind from anyone - strangers, other kids, adults and of course Mommy and Daddy.

Playing with her BFF Lilly

What She's Doing Now:

                                                                                                               

crawling and oh boy is she fast!

climbing stairs

pulling up on anything and standing

can stand alone for a few seconds

can walk with walker and parent assistance

cruising and going from couch to ottoman

loves climbing through her tunnels

a very curious and observant girl

says multiple consonants and vowels

explores and adventures

makes choices between toys

starting to understand no - stops and thinks before proceeding

says "oma" and "dada"

bangs objects together

goes after things when you hide them

alternates between one and two naps a day

sleeps 11-12 hours a daypicks up food and feeds herselves (sometimes pincer grip)

eating table food of all kinds - not a picky eater at all

3 bottles a day, 2 snacks and 3 meals

Helping mommy plant fllowers....she loves getting dirty.

Walking solo with her walker

One of her favorite things - chasing balls through her tunnel

Cruisin....

Her first Time Climbing Stairs

Photo Shoots, Haiti, Headaches and Baby Hugs

I haven't been on the blogging train this week. I've been spending extra time on trying to work on getting some photography stuff together. I have three photo shoots next week to build my portfolio. Hopefully, I will get some great shots from a 3 month old, 4 year old, 4 month old and 2 week old. I have fabrics, blankets, backdrops, batteries and my camera! Ready for this. We'll see how I really like having multiple clients and not being able to take pics of my muse all the time. Julia is such a great baby. She's into the posing thing now and not freaking out when I get the lens out. She's like "bring it on" and I'll give you a show.

On another note, there was an earthquake in Haiti this week. It was a 7.0 on the Richter scale...heartbreaking. They are estimating 200,000 dead. In a country that had nothing but poverty they now really have nothing. Just seeing pictures makes me realize how fortunate and truly blessed I am. It's so easy to forget how fortunate I am but then something like that really brings me back to realizing it's GREAT to be me. I have a wonderful husband (although I do have to remind him to be wonderful sometime:-0), a beautiful and bright daughter, a wonderful home, great friends, no financial worries and no worries really beyond making sure Julia naps and getting chiropractor visits.

My back and headaches have been getting worse though. I've been going to the chiropractor and my IT band has contracted which pulls my hip and knee to the left which causes more pain. I'm still having the three day headaches (of which Ihave one now) but I refuse to let it slow me down. It has slowed me down however. I can't quite keep up with everything like I was...or maybe it's because Julia now takes more time. She's eating solids which takes and extra 30 minutes and I swear I do laundry EVERYDAY!!! Burpcloths and bibs - you really can't ever have enough!! Plus she is TRYING to be mobile so she'll be playing by herself and then you'll hear "RAAAAAAAAAAA". She's so frustrated that she can't move forward. I have to help her so independent play has went to the side for a while.

Sweet Julia is hugging now. She's really holding on when you pick her up and she throws her arms around what she can of your neck. She is such a sweet and loving baby. I feel bad sometimes putting her to bed b/c I know she just wants to stay up and love on us, play with us but she needs her beauty sleep.

Julia's First Family Dinner

Last night Julia sat at the table (atleast upright) for the first time. Sure there have been nights where she has been at the table while we ate but she was in my arms or laying down. I don't count that. Last night she sat in her Bumbo and watched us and if she was analyzing what we were doing. I have read that it's good for babies to watch you eat. Helps them connect to eating real food and using utensils when the time comes. She seemed to enjoy it. There was no fuss, no restlessness...only intrigue. I can only wonder what was going through her head as Jarred and I ate our Parmesean chicken and veggies.

"That's not a bottle going in that bottle hole on their face..."

I'll never know but I do know it was a wonderful feeling to sit as a family at the dinner table and share a meal at the end of the day. It was nice to sit with my husband and discuss our day while our baby girl was a part of it.

Julia's Kiss From An Angel Sends Us to the Opthamologist

Since Julia was born she has had a tiny white dot on the pupil of her eye – I say it’s where an angel kissed her. It has never seemed to bother her and her eye never does anything out of the ordinary (water, get lazy) so it hasn’t worried me too much. Of course I worried, I googled what they originally suspected it was only to tell myself that I could make myself worry over nothing. Since becoming a mother I have become more laid back and not so quick to freak out over things. Yesterday was the big day – her ophthalmologist appointment.
Dr. Donahue explained that Julia has a cataract – aren’t old people supposed to get those? Plus I took my prenatal vitamins religiously so why does my daughter have an eye defect??? Well, the cataract is nothing to worry about. At least he says so. I am trying not to go Google crazy. However, while there he discovered Julia is extremely far sighted in BOTH eyes. Yes babies are born with horrible vision and it gradually improves but apparently my baby girl’s is a bit worse than the average baby. He assured me that it could correct itself (as it does in 99% of babies) but to watch for lazy/cross eyes because her eyes could cross when she’s 1 or 2. This is apparently the main cause and since no one ever takes their babies to the ophthalmologist, it isn’t discovered early enough to stop it. So I guess her dot is more like a birth mark – a kiss from an angel. If it wasn’t for that harmless cataract, Julia’s eyes may have crossed in a couple years and her eyes damaged permanently. I am trying not to worry about it as there is nothing we can do about it to correct it this early. His Rx – play with her and continue to stimulate her. I can do that!
She has a four month check up in March so I hope he tells us her vision has since improved. You have a baby and you want them to have every advantage possible. You want them to play sports, learn an instrument, and become a dancer….then when you find out that they might be at a disadvantage a part of you breaks a little bit. However, Julia is already demonstrating that she is a motivated and happy baby. I have no reason to believe that this will stop our little lady from doing whatever it is she wants to do.