Eleven Months Old and Her First Christmas

Yesterday Julia hit the 11 month mark, just 31 days away from her first birthday!! In the last month, she's experienced a lot:

• She now sports two teeth - both bottom incisors, of course. They are sharp. Ow.
• Julia received her H1N1 shot. The significance of this was that she now knows what's about to happen when they swab her thigh with rubbing alcohol and gets right upset about it. Never the less, she gets over it pretty quickly and with no ill effects.
• She also had her second significant illness - the croup, which is a royal pain in the kiester when you have to give breathing treatments to help with the coughing at night.
• As you can see from the photo above, she is very adept at standing up, even on things that aren't the most stable, which leads to her balancing on her own two feet - the precursor to walking! She does 'cruise' a bit along the couch, coffee table, or in her crib, so we don't think it will be long before she tries to take a step on her own.
• She now is a little shadow, following us all around the house with maddening crawling speed; sometimes it's on all fours, and other times it's with her one foot in an almost walking pose.
• Eating - she has recently expressed a real interest in what we're eating, so with a few exceptions, she gets to at least try it. To date she's tried: bagels and lox, pizza (especially pepperoni and sausage), fried plantains, gryos, turkey, pulled pork, pancakes, gingerbread waffles, French toast, bacon, french fries, tandoori bread, cheese balls, Cheetos, sweet red peppers, lemon wedges, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, dried cranberries . . .there's more, but that's been in the last week or so!
  
• Julia seemed to enjoy the holidays - lights were very cool, wrapping paper was fun, and 'Jingle Bells' seems to one of her favorites. She got into opening presents pretty quickly, but mostly to play with the ribbons and paper! She scored some pretty cool gifts - learning toys, stuffed animals, books, and clothes! YAY!

Now for the final few weeks until Julia turns one . . .what will she do?

For those of you on FaceBook, friend Steven or I to see more photos of Christmas (or ask one of us to e-mail you a link, if you aren't on FB)!
See you next month!!! And have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Ten Months Old and More Milestones

It was Julia's first Thanksgiving! You might be asking: what did she think of the food? Well, seeing as how she's a very finicky eater, still doing cereal with fruits or veggies mixed in and despises finger foods, I'd have to say her opinion was rather biased toward the negative. She did try some of her sister's home-made bread (passable), mashed potatoes (blech), stuffing (plooey), and baked squash (double blech). Other than that, it was just another visit to grandma and grandpa's . . . or was it?
Julia spent the two weeks prior to the Thanksgiving holiday sick with some kind of virus she couldn't get rid of - coincidentally, but not necessarily causitory, she had started going to her new daycare just three days before she became ill with what started as a stuffy nose, then progressed into daily fevers which lasted for a week and a half. Due to the fevers, she could not go to daycare and was out for two weeks total, with Thanksgiving at the tail of it. Being sick that long, she was in and out of the doctor's office several times, which ended with a trip to the lab the Monday before Thanksgiving for a urine and blood draw - this was Julia's first encounter with catheterization as well as having blood drawn, and not a nice little draw from the heel, either; this was a full-on, needle to the inner elbow extravaganza. Mommy and daddy were traumatized as much (if not more) than she was! The whole point, from the doctor's explanation, was to eliminate any possibilities for illness aside from garden variety virus. The very next day, her fever broke and she was on the mend - we were happy, but perplexed as to why it went for so long; the day after that, her results came back as all normal. So that's the good news. The bad news is that she had to go through all the testing and the sickness. Booooo!
The Thanksgiving trip to grandma and grandpa's (to continue the story) was a great time - since she's crawling now, she introduced herself to my parents' cat, Smokey, who learned very quickly that he was not fond of babies. Julia, on the other hand, discovered that she is very fond of kitties and chased that poor cat all over the areas of the house she was allowed to get to. Smokey figured out that she was somewhat limited and used that knowledge to tease her mercilessly by sitting juuuuuuuuuuust outside of her boundary areas and watching her while in full view.
Also at the grandparents', Julia took her first major fall, taking a dive off the bed while dragging along some pillows, placed to help fence her in, but which facilitated her fall by being covered in slippery material. It was quite a scare for her and all of us - her daddy was right there, but just couldn't get to her fast enough (that says something about her crawling speed!). In the end, after hours of observation and reading every scary thing we could find on the internet, Julia came through with hardly a bump. The lesson has been learned by the parentals, but she seems hellbent to try again.
And for the big announcement . . .drumroll, please! Julia's first tooth erupted on the 28th - her 10 month birthday!!!!!! The lower left incisor was noticed by me when we were out doing a little shopping Saturday. It's really hard to capture in pictures, so imagination will have to suffice - still, it's as cute as teeth get!

Nine Months and Super Milestones!!

Apologies for the delay - I had only planned to wait a few days after Julia's 9-month birthday to include data from her check-up and that turned into a week! But what an eventful week!!

Vital Statistics - Julia weighs in at 16 pounds 14 ounces and is 27 inches long. The physician's assistant called her a "peanut", but she is growing normally, even if she is a bit small.



New Tricks - These started the day after her checkup . . .

• On November 3rd, Julia officially crawled! She has been toying with it for the past several days, but finally took more than one "step" forward and now, after a few days, is very confidently moving across the floor (and into places she's not allowed, therefore getting into trouble)
• Then, on November 4th, she was hanging out in her crib for a moment and . . .pulled herself up into a stand! Now, she is pulling herself up using the couch, coffee table, Nordic Track (don't ask), and anything else she can find. She is also already doing one-handed stands (meaning that she is cockily letting go with one hand and turning her body around to look at things)
• Although not really a new trick, Julia is so well behaved in restaurants that she's sitting very well in the high chairs they have and amusing herself during dinner. We'd been reluctant to use the chairs before because they seemed so easy to slip out of (especially as little as she is) - well, why were we worried? She sits like a pro and proceeds to throw bread bits on the floor. At least the staff makes over her and we do clean up after ourselves, so no one has complained so far.
• Holding the bottle herself - not perfectly, mind you (as evidenced by the photo above), but she likes to do it herself (even if the carpet does get quite damp).

Julia is growing more hair, but still no teeth. She has a devilish side to her (hmmmm - wonder where she gets that?) and a bit of a stubborn streak, but it all revolves around discovery and exploration. She delights in taking off daddy's glasses and grabbing the paper to "read". She does love books (to read as well as eat) and enjoys bouncing in her Exesaucer.
More photos will be on the side which will include Halloween and some of her new skills.
Stay tuned for more next month!!

Eight Months - Such a Big Girl Now!

As Julia grows, we are amazed almost daily at what she does - she picks up new skills so easily and then acts like she's done them for months! She is also growing very much like a weed;
.just the other day I came home from work and could have sworn she grew and changed in her face Don't ask me what her measurements and weight are because I have no clue, but I can tell you it feels like she weighs a metric ton :-)
What she's doing:

• Laughing spontaneously at things she finds humorous, including but not limited to: zerberting being done to her neck and belly, daddy bobbing his head and making weird noises, mommy shaking her head and screeching, tickling, other people laughing, being "baby hat", and "getting" sissy.
• Rolling over and doing a strange Jane Fonda-esque pose a la aerobicising (or whatever Jane was doing in legwarmers in the 80's), holding her foot in the air. She's also big into her feet. And ours, which makes me crazy because I have a thing about my feet.
• Getting herself into a nearly-seated position, all by herself.
• Sitting up with some assistance and maintaining it for a bit. Eventually she does fall over, but we've made this as non-traumatic as possible.
• Getting up on her knees, then to her hands and knees. We're still not moving forward, but at least we're up - she can sort of go backwards and today we helped her move forward, much to her delight, but she needs to practice some more.
• One day two weeks ago she looked square at me and said "mama"but she has not done it since. She'll babble ma-ma-ma, ba-ba-ba, da-da-da, na-na-na and variations on those themes.
• Leaning towards what she wants while being held - this includes going to daddy, mommy and sissy.
• Grasping things using more refined fine motor skills - she's getting pretty good and picking things up, using pinching to grab things she wants, and manipulating things in her hands.
• Growing hair. It may not be as evident in her photos, but there is a healthy patch of hair coming in on her noggin. She gets "Alfalfa" hair in the morning or after her bath, which is adorable. It's still light brown with some reddish tints from what we can tell when she's in the sun, but we still don't know what it'll be.
• Starting to get upset when she realizes we are not in her immediate vicinity. Separation anxiety is starting to rear its head and she has begun to demonstrate favoritism towards us when she's in certain moods. For example, right this minute she's daddy's girl curled up on his chest taking a nap, but last night when she wasn't feeling well and she was tired, she was mommy's girl.
• Expanding her interest in toys and activities. Some things she was introduced to earlier may not have tripped her trigger, but now she is into them - like her caterpillar, Pooh and Piglett toys, blocks and exesaucer. She also likes books, but more for touching and turning the pages. She is a very tactile child and spends a lot of time touching and scratching at things. This includes our skin.
• Eating more solids. She's done great with cereal, but does not enjoy much else unless it's mixed into her cereal. She goes ape over cereal mixed with prunes (yeah, I know but she doesn't poop nearly as much as you might think) and does quite well with pears and squash in the same manner. This week, Steven says he'll try cereal with green beans or peas, since we tried beans on their own and it went over something like a lead balloon. She will try things is we put it on our fingers (or hold it) - like the caramel apple smoothie I had last night, some guacamole from one of our favorite local restaurants, and home made bread. Sometimes it goes over well (bread), sometimes it doesn't (smoothie and guacamole), but she tries it.

Now She's Seven Months Old - Growing So Fast!

Every day is an adventure with Julia and the time is whipping by so fast; it seems like yesterday when she turned six months and now all of the sudden it's seven. Since last we wrote, she has gotten taller, heavier and more expressive. She also can now not only roll back to front, but front to back and is scooting all over the place - next step is purposeful rolling and getting up on her hands and knees; she does one end and the other at different times, but we're anticipating the coordination of both really soon!
She definitely loves to laugh and we love to hear it! The video is a sample of just SOME of the amused (and amusing) sounds she makes - the one variation that is missing is the "pterodactyl" noise she makes by taking in air and making a noise at the same time - very funny and very cute; I'll try to get it, but she can be an elusive little beast when she sees the camera . . .
More photos have also been added, including the gratuitous naked baby photo. As you will see, she is now fully into cereal, but not so into sweet potatoes (didn't get that reaction, but it truly was a Kodak moment).

Hey! She's Six Months Old!!

Yesterday Julia turned six months - it just doesn't seem possible; heck it's only been a couple weeks since she was born, right?
Anyhoo, at six months, she is constantly changing and developing - just recently we have seen her:

• recognize the sound of her big sis as she came down the stairs and then giggle when she saw her
• reach for toys, grasp them, play with them, and ostensibly chew the dickens out of them
• respond to her name
• scoot all over her play mat and twist her body into crazy angles to reach for toys (or the carpet, which she loves to scratch at)
• laugh and laugh and laugh, which she has been doing now for about six weeks
• stand with support
• squeal and scream - both done as a way to get attention as well as to practice her vocal range. She babels and is seeming to use certain consonant and vowel sounds to express feelings or wants (ah-niy-niy-niy seems to mean she doesn't want what is happening while ah-mahm indicates a desire for mommy to feed her).

Every day is a joy with her - except for last week when she was going through her fist cold; not so much joy and we were very worried about the possibilities of worse things, but it turned out fine. She got through it, gave it to Kennedy, and aside from a lot of lost sleep, Steven and I have been fine.
So there you have it - half a year old! And at the last doctor's visit, 14 1/2 pounds (no wonder my arms get sore!!!)!

Please Vote for Julia!

Julia is in the Beautiful Babies Contest! Please take a moment to go to her site and vote - it’s quick & easy to register (Just 3 steps!) If she wins, she wins a cash prize and a professional photo shoot (look out Cindy Crawford!!!)! Voting is on now through Monday, August 4 Midnight EST. Click the link below to go directly to Julia’s photo!

http://beautifulbabies.trb.com/wgnamerica/babies_home_gallery,0,7517665,permalink.ugcphotogallery?u=AHGoddess


Of note, the "three easy steps" are pretty easy, but when you log in, come back to this blog and click on the link to have the voting site reset to Julia's picture, otherwise you'll be sitting there all day voting on other baby pictures - which may be fun for you, but if you're like me, you want to get the business done before playing around. :-)

THANK YOU!!!!!

Five Months Old!

Ok, we're a few days late here, but bear with us - Sunday was such a cool day it just had to be savored - the weather was great, we went to the park and experienced nature, and just enjoyed ourselves. As it turned out, Julia's five month birthday coincided with our anniversary weekend (Steven and I celebrated three years of marriage on the 25th!!) so a lot of our time was celebrating our time together as a couple and as a family with Kennedy, too!

At five months, Julia is rolling over quite adeptly (although she is still working on front to back), working on that lower right tooth, and laughing. She has also made peace with the "baby in the mirror", who until recently, was a threat; she now seems to understand that SHE is the baby in the mirror and flirts with herself. Speaking of flirting, she is quite good at that, too, acting all shy and sweet when she sees someone she likes (daddy, for instance, who she has wrapped around her pinkie). In other news, she is trying cereal, but I can't say she's a big fan of just yet . . .

Ladies and Gentlemen! Drumroll Please!

She's been trying to do this for the last week with some success (if the surface was uneven or someone was helping a bit), but as of today, little miss is rolling over like a pro! YAY!!

A Party for Great-Grandma

Last weekend we went to northern Ohio to visit with Steven's family and celebrate his Grandmother's 88th birthday. It was a big test for us to see if Julia would travel well and as it turned out, she slept the whole way there and back! Yeah for us! She behaved pretty well during the day, with the exception of when we were at dinner and she was a bit overwhelmed by all of the people and noise at the restaurant - that resulted in a rather fussy child, but later on, as you can see from the photo, she was calmer and cuddly, giving her great-grandma her own special present (a hug, not what might have been in her diaper).
In other news, Julia has been very active, exercising her legs and such, so much so that she apparently rolled over yesterday at her sitter's; we tried to recreate the experience at home, but Julia was either not in the mood or had done it by accident at Samia's (I'm going with option "b"). We are pretty sure that she'll be doing it for real before too long which means we'd better start baby-proofing soon!
Julia has also begun drooling and for a few days last week was very irritated, which she expressed by fussing and gnawing on her bottles (or me). Like it or not, we're pretty sure she's got a tooth developing - we felt something in her lower front gum. Maybe one of these days we'll have a toothy smile photo! Speaking of smile photos, you will see a new set in the sidebar; these are shots from last weekend, right before we left. She is smiling and laughing so much more - an absolute joy!
Let see, what else? Oh yeah - she's trying out a new attention getter: the "kissy" noise. At night when she wants changed and fed, many times instead of outright crying, she'll make a kissing or sucking noise (which is a much nicer way to be woken up, I'll tell you). The other night when we were eating dinner, she wanted to be picked up and when we didn't respond to her fussing right away, she resorted to making kissing noises - we have a short viseo that we may try to get on soon - it's interesting, though, because she uses her top lip instead of her bottom lip to nake the sound. It is adorable :-)

Three Months Old!

Our little one is growing up so fast! Just yesterday she hit the three-month milestone; it seems like she was just born last week and now she's doing weird, modified sit-ups so she can roll over, smiling unabashedly, solidly holding her head up, and nearly sleeping through the night (thank God). Alas, with progress comes loss - as she has developed her vocal range (and volume) we miss some of the simpler, sweet little sounds that she has shed in favor of more complex sounds. In like fashion, she has mostly outgrown her first round of clothes (0-3 months) and is solidly in the next level, so now some of our favorite little outfits just can't be worn because her little legs are just too long. Regardless, we are so proud of her - she's not only cute but strong to boot!

New Routines

Well, like it or not, Steven and I are now back at work - Steven had a four-week head start on getting into the groove of work, which means that Julia and I are on our second transition; for the first six weeks, Steven or I would take Kennedy to school, then come back home to do whatever Julia needed (which, thankfully, included taking naps when she did). The last four weeks has been a similar pattern with me getting up to make some tea, eat some breakfast, take Kennedy to school and then come home and crash with Julia for a few hours because she had kept me up a good chunk of the night. Yesterday was our first day of life with two working parents - Steven taking Julia to the sitter and me taking Kennedy to her dad's (since she's on break this week, which means another transition next week because as of today, we wouldn't have made the tardy bell - oops). We've got a few kinks to work out.
So, you may be asking: did Wendy cry? I'll be big about this - yes, I did. In fact, all last week was difficult for me because I knew I only had so many days left. Saturday and Sunday were particularly rough with me fighting off tears for much of the time while trying to be all cool and whatnot around the family; once I was home and putting youngsters to bed, the gloves were off, so to speak - waterworks galore. Monday's drive in was challenging as well, but I kept it cool - once I got home, though . . .well, I think we all needed cuddles.
Update on being a baby: Julia is sleeping much better, thanks to something called "gripe water" - handily found in any pharmacy, this liquid wonder has been around for over 100 years and boast the ability to sooth colicky infants. Century-old or not, this herbal infusion has been a godsend, as has the addition of probiotics to Julia's diet. Yes, she still farts like a mad fiend, but at least she's not doing her Jekyl and Hyde act on a daily basis with Daytime Baby being so angelic and sweet and Nighttime Baby being equally cute, but very loud and fussy.
Also in the news, smiling is very big and thanks to taking countless pictures, we FINALLY got one of her smiling (most shots were the immediate emotional phase after a smile - usually interest or confusion). She is a doll (this is a direct quote from Steven's grandma, who met her great-grandchild a week ago)!

She Ain't No April Fool

Ah - we must apologize for not posting recently. Believe it or not, having a newborn takes up a lot of time. Aside from the care-taking, we do spend a good chunk just staring at her - for good things, like wonderment at such a beautiful being and the daily changes in her appearance and capabilities, and for other things, like wondering what the hell we're still doing up at 4 a.m. and why what worked to calm her last night isn't working tonight.
There are more pictures . . .tons more, and I'll get those up here shortly. In the meantime, in observance of April Fool's Day, here's a guide to all things Julia:

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius ("When the Moon is in the Seventh House, and Jupiter aligns with Mars . . ." Yeah, now that's going to be in your head all day - MWAAA-HAA-HAA)
Chinese Zodiac: Ox (Just like Big Sis - how cool is that?)
Eye Color: Turning blue - kind of like the sea after a storm
Hair Color: Light brown, but after a bath or in the sunlight has blond-ish look with red highlights (hmmm - could we have a Ginger on our hands?)
Favorite Activities: Cuddling, eating, smiling, cooing, screaming, sleeping and farting (not necessarily in that order)
Enjoys: Being in her Baby Bjorn carrier while shopping, watching the ceiling fan, holding her head up, sleeping in weird positions, being naked, kisses, bath time, and looking adorable
Skills: Peeing all over herself and yet totally missing the diaper when being changed, collecting "neck cheese", and wrapping her daddy around her pinkie
Things She Doesn't Like: SHOTS, having to wait to eat for more than a nanosecond, gas and poop, when mommy gets shampoo in her eyes, and being put down when she wants to be cuddled (which is always)

Sister Love

As you can see, not only is Kennedy smitten with her "mini me", but Julia is equally taken with her big sis. Kennedy is enjoying taking care of Julia - she has taken on diaper changes and soothing her when she gets fussy. Julia smiles for her and seems to respond when she hears Kennedy come home at night - it is so sweet! The other night, Julia was lying on her back on Kennedy's bed - we were finishing homework and loading songs on her iPod, - anyway, Kennedy was talking to her and next thing I know Julia has turned her body to look at her big sis and gurgle at her. Won't be too long before the two of them are conspiring . . .