"I Can See the Fingerprints of God When I Look at You" {9 Months}

Carly has officially been outside of my tummy longer than she has been inside!  It's strange to think that I've known about and loved her for a year and a half already.  The second leg of the 18 months has been one thousand times better than the first! ;)  She is a miracle and a blessing...definitely Heaven sent and I don't think Brian and I could love her more.  She's, according to the doctor, "practically perfect in every way."  It's so neat to think that my body has sustained her life for so long, and even more amazing to know that God has knit her from something too tiny to be seen by the human eye to the beautiful little girl she is becoming right before our eyes. 

Let me show you a glimpse of what Carly is up to these days.

• She's always, always loved playing in the mirror, but this month she has figured out that she's not just looking at another baby, but that she's looking herself!  She likes to wave her arms, give herself a "kiss," smile and even cry while looking in the mirror.  Sometimes we will think she is upset and she will turn around and essentially, say, "I'm fine" and then look back into the mirror and flash a sad face.  I think she is just experimenting.  We moved my $10 Target mirror from our bedroom into the living room that she always has a mirror to play with!
• She LOVES being mobile!  This month as really been the best as far as her being happy goes.  She will play for a good half hour, sometimes longer, all by herself!  She likes to know we are in the room, and preferrably on the floor, but she often times doesn't interact with us a whole lot.  Of course we do plenty of playing together, but it's so wonderful that she can finally be content on her own!
• Her new favorite food as become cheerios and she can down a quarter cup in no time at all.  She only eats a few foods pureed these days and often times feeds herself.  She can essentially eat anything but nuts and honey at this point.  Oh, and of course no straight cow's milk yet, either, although she has had a spoon of cereal a few times when Brian or I is eating one.  
• She touches and explore everything.
• She can play the piano by herself and often asks to be placed on the bench.
• She enjoys playing in the bathroom and will crawl to one of the two bathrooms often throughout the day and bang on the door (since we have them closed to protect her).
• We decided not to do sign language with her expect when asking for more food.  She took the "more" sign as clapping, so now she will clap for more food; which is better than the banging on her tray which she was previously doing.
• She says "mama" and "dada" all day long without really attaching meaning to it.  When asked where one of us is, she can answer the question by looking at us.
• She understands A LOT of what we say.  An example is that every morning I ask her to crawl over to my night stand and bring me my glasses.  She does just that and will bring them over to me and drop them on my chest.  I shower her with thanksgiving and she gives me the biggest smile!  She is SO proud of herself that it's become a game throughout the day.  She will take my glasses off, wait for me to ask for them back, and deliberately drop them in my lap and wait with anticipation for me to put them back on my face and thank her for being so kind!  It's pretty sweet!
• She responds so well to positive encouragement, and I could give you many examples of her not wanting to do something, finally giving in and because I praise her for it will continue to do it.  She loves the term, "big girl!"  
• She is in the beginning stages of feeding herself with a spoon.  I often give her the spoon and help guide it to her mouth.  Oh my it makes her so happy!
• She is on the verge of standing up all by herself and frequently has both hands and feet flat on the floor, but doesn't have the balance to come up to the standing position quite yet.
• Plus she can do any and all things previously mentioned in past posts.  There's really too much to tell!

Carly has fallen into an overall child-directed schedule, which as many of you know, was not my plan until I threw my hands in the air about 3 months ago and gave up the parent-directed scheduling.  She thrives on deciding when she will eat and nap and although the times vary each day, it is relatively consistent.  I can't believe it's taken 9 months to get on a good schedule and truth be told its still not predictable. About 3-4 times per week she will actually take a nap longer than a half hour (YIPEE), but the other 3-4 days she just takes two, half hour naps.  Here is the rough outline of her day-to-day:

5-6am: Wake up,nurse & come and sleep with mommy
7-8am: Wake up for the day (since the sun comes up earlier, she tends to wake up closer to 7)
9am: Breakfast (oatmeal, cream of wheat, pumpkin, cheerios, etc)
11-11:30am: Nap
12ish: Nurse
2ish: Lunch (too many options to mention, but often still pureed veggies like sweet potatoes or peas)
3:30-4ish: Nap
430-5: Nurse
5:30: Snack (cheerios, cheese, puffs, bread...)
6:30: Dinner (she eats what we are eating most nights)
8: Get ready for bed
8:30-Sleeping

Pretty good if you ask me!  I am so thankful for the days she spends an hour napping...in part because it allows me to get stuff done but also because she's just happier!  In that schedule is also a nice mix of playing, reading, cooking, errands, play dates, walks, jogs, music time, and snuggling!

We have once again gone to the doctor for a wellness check up and one shot (which she did very well with).  Hold onto your pants...because Carly weighs a whopping.........15 pounds, 10 ounces!!! *note the sarcasm*  She is the daintiest baby between the history of both of our families, but she checked out wonderfully.  The doctor said she had the prettiest blue eyes he'd every seen and the nurse chimed in saying, yes, she is a photographers dream come true!  So funny!  They both affirmed that it's good to be dainty as a girl, and said she remains in that 20th percentile.  She has also grown to 27 inches from head to toe.  Long and lean...I hope she gets to be long and lean for the rest of her life! Statistics predict she will be 5'6'' as an adult...but we all know those are often times a bunch of bologna.

I love that we've been able to take such great photos of her month to month.  This month shows that not only does she refuse to lay on her back, but she also won't lay on her tummy!  I tried setting her down and she immediately wanted to crawl right off! Good thing daddy was home to help me with the pics this month!

Carly, you are the most amazing and beautiful person I have ever laid eyes on!  Thank you for loving us so much and letting us love on you!