Nine Months In, Nine Months Out

Julia, I can't believe it, but you have been out here in the world now for as long as you were in your Mommy's tummy.

In nine months you've gone from this:

To this:

To this:

With every day you grow into a funnier, happier, more complex, more amazing young lady.

You have some issues with sleeping, as in you don't really like to do so more than 4 hours at a time (which is a bit troubling at night) but when you're awake, you're mostly all smiles.

 You love to chase your brother and wake him up. But, you don't like it when he messes with you. That said, the foundation of a great friendship is there, and you guys love each other so much. Aidan asks you everyday "Julia, you want play with me? Okay!"

You figured out how to use your eyebrows and do so liberally.

You love to wave hello, and scoot around everywhere in your walker.

But, you're fast enough of a crawler now that the walker just slows you down. You are fast and determined to get where you're going.

You still love to clap and make silly noises. We even think you're trying to say the "J" in your name...it comes out like blowing raspberries...but that's still pretty dang good!

And, on top of all this, you can stand on your own...without assistance!

You do know your name, and respond to it readily, and with a smile.

You're quick with a smile, but also don't mind just contemplating your surroundings.

You also really like to see the world from different perspectives.

You LOVE the dogs' bowls and we constantly have to race you to their water bowl, which you so desperately want to splish splash in.

You're a sweetheart, and you're funny (and you know it), and you love to make people laugh.

And when you get happy, there's no stopping you. Check out this "avocado inspired happiness" from a few days ago, and see the many faces of a 9-month old you:

You have three teeth (all on the bottom), and your top two teeth have just about come through. They'll be here any day.

You officially weigh 18 pounds and are  27 and 3/4 inches tall.  That means you are the 50th percentile on weight and height. But, you are at the 100th percentile on awesomeness.

You are a super kid, Julia. And your Mommy and I (and your brother too) are so in love.

The 9-month period that you were growing in your Mommy's belly seems so long ago, and seems like it went by so quickly. But the 9 months that you've been here seem like an eternity; you are amazing and I don't remember life before you joined our growing family.

We love you for all that you are- no sleep and all- and you lighten our days with your beaming smile, your curiosity and your spirit.

The journey continues, and I'm so happy that we're all on it with you, you sweet girl.

Big Baby

So, here we are at week 14. You missed this week's you-to-fruit comparison, didn't you? Well, fret not. In week 14, you are approximately the size of a Lemon!

How cool is that? You know, your Mom LOVES lemons! She ate so many of them when she was a kid that she wore down the enamel on her teeth and, consequently, they didn't glow in black lights. But, that's all been fixed now. Yay for modern dentistry!

Some cool things in your development this week:

• You are "making urine"- that sounds just like your dear old Dad. I make urine quite frequently.
  
• You are breathing amniotic fluid. Okay, so that sounds a bit amphibious. But, eventually you'll breathe good old air.
  
• Your liver, kidneys and spleen are developing like crazy! You'll need all of those, fer sure!

And, this one's pretty cool. You are growing thin, downy, feathery hair all over your body for warmth. I know you may be worried that you'll look like me after I got my head shaved or Uncle Jeremy or some kind of Wookie, but don't worry.

This hair growth, called Lanugo, is only gonna stick around while you're in the womb. It's cold in there, apparently! They have some high tech images of what this Lanugo looks like:

See, you look more like Mark Twain than a Wookie. But, you're definitely in a part-mammal, part-amphibian stage in your life. Which means you could, theortically, star in Waterworld 2. (Don't worry, these jokes will be hilarious later in life).

But, the most interesting thing, to me, is that, apparently, you're above average already! The Bump says that at week 14, on average, the baby is 3.4 inches long.

A week ago yesterday, you clocked in at 4.o inches long, from rump to head! That makes you significantly larger than the average-sized baby! Almost 1/3 bigger than the average!

This revelation was greeted with a humorous exhange between your mother and I (very intelligently debating the difference in our respective sizes):

Aaron: "Our baby is way longer than the average length. The Bump says that at week 14, on average, the baby is 3.4 inches long. But our baby measured 4 inches long. LAST WEEK!"

Holly: "Really?"

Aaron: "Yeah, look at me!"

Holly: "Are we gonna have a big baby?"

Aaron: "Yeah, look at me!"

Holly: "Yeah, but look at me!"

Aaron: "So, look at me!"

Holly: "Yeah, but look at me!"

This went on ad nauseum until our batteries wore out. We haven't gotten any stats on percentiles or anything like that, yet. But, if this lemon information is any good, you might be a big baby!

Whether you'll be big or not, I still can't get over how much you've grown from the first time we saw you! You're a little person in there now; at first glance you were just a smudge with a heartbeat!