Inside. Outside. Upside down.

This should have been posted one whole week ago. But it wasn't. I suck. I'm sorry.
Better late than never, though. Right? Right?
The post as it was saved that day:


Big Week for the Camy Bean! :)
On Wednesday our precious girl hit 9 months old. Nine months. How is that even possible?
The following day (yesterday) was her Inside-Outside day.

39 weeks and 1 day.

That's how long it took her to grow and develop into the little angel we love today.
That's how long I carried her in my belly. Feeling her kick and wiggle and roll. Feeling her stretch and hiccup. Wondering every day who she would look like, what she would be like, how she would grace our lives with her love and charm. Worrying before every OB appointment and always hoping and praying (and receiving, Thank God) good news about her development. Shopping and buying and washing and folding and painting and preparing and assembling... readying our world for her.

39 weeks and 1 day.

{as of yesterday} That's how long she's been brightening our lives with her smiles and giggles. Cracking us up with her expressions and discoveries. Amazing us by the way and rate at which she learns. Keeping us on our toes. Inspiring us to be more. To be better. For her. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful, charming, healthy little girl. We have loved so much every step of this journey so far. She is such a little joy.

All of the pain and hardship and worry of that first 39 weeks and 1 day have more than been made up for by the second 39 weeks and 1 day. Camryn, our little love, our princess, our goober, our bean - what fun we've had!
I loved it when I knew she was safely tucked away, growing on the inside.
But I have and will always cherish every moment with her here on the outside.

A few 9 month stats and updates:
Weight: 19lbs 3 oz. 50th percentile. She has slowly dropped down from being in the 95th percentile, but from what I understand that's totally normal for this stage.
Height: 29 inches. She has grown 1 inch for every month of her life so far. How amazing! Can you imagine if we always grew at that rate, our whole lives? Crazy, huh?
Sleep: Not as good as it once was, but still not bad. She has been going to bed later, usually between 830-930), stirring a few times throughout the night, and waking gradually earlier and earlier, the earliest being 7am. But I am not going to complain because I know too many mamas who are dealing with some serious sleep issues - so I will count our blessings that we do get decent sleep in our home! Thank goodness. Cuz this mama can't function without a decent chunk of sleep! Naps are all over the place, sometimes as short as 30 minutes or as long as 2 hours - but always unpredictable and not on any kind of schedule. She sleeps when she needs it, and that's okay with me.
Eating: We are still breastfeeding which I am very thankful for. My initial goal was 6 months, then 9 months and at this point I am not going to set another goal. I am just going to take it day by day. She has become a very distracted eater, which has meant meals have more closely resembled wrestling matches than the soothing, bonding moments we once had. I have learned to stop forcing the issue, though (which meant trying to relatch her when she pulled away after 2 minutes of eating just to check out the scenery). If she wants to be done, she can be done. I figure she won't let herself starve, right? I've also started waiting for her to actually act hungry before nursing her, rather than offering a meal every 3ish hours. Sometimes that means she only nurses/takes her pumped bottle 4x a day, sometimes 6. Either way, I've really enjoyed this truly baby-led approach. Why didn't I abandon the clock sooner?
As for solids, baby girl is just cruising right along!!! She is SUCH a great eater! We now give her 3 solid meals a day, and a few snacks at random. There has not been a single food I can think of that she turned away. I can't even begin to list everything she's had at this point, but I can say without a doubt that her favorites are blueberry waffles, cheese, or green beans!
Milestones: We're crawling. We're pulling to stand. We're just starting to cruise along the furniture. We are opening and closing drawers and cabinet doors. Waving hello and good-bye. Clapping and "scrub-scrub"bing our hands together, and occasionally she pretends to rub in lotion when she sees me moisturizing. She signs all done by shaking her hands out in front of her. She plays peek-a-boo with blankets or hats or anything else she can use to cover her face. She knows how to slide open my phone. She's a genius, I tell you. Genius.

I can't believe we are 3 quarters of the way to her first birthday.
It blows my mind that we are already here.

Photos coming soon. Promise.