Growing Up Babies

We've been having such fun times around here the past few months. So much fun that we haven't had time to take pictures!! Or that's my excuse, anyway. These little ones of ours are growing up so fast. Dave and I have a hard time keeping up with them. But it is such a blessing to get to watch them grow and mature.

Julia's our sweet, tender-hearted cheerleader. She is constantly telling us "Good Job!" or "Good Work!" Our favorite is when we pull into our driveway and she cheers, "Good job, Daddy! You got your babies home safe!!"

She is Dax's Little Mommy. Often telling him "No, Dax!" or "You'll get in trouble, buddy!" When he's hurt or just been reprimanded, we'll hear her in with him "Aw, buddy. You not feel good? You sad? It okay. I help you. It okay, buddy."


We hear lots of repeated snippets of things we say. One of my least shining moments came when I was trying to get the DVD player to work. I was having no luck after several tries and was just going to tell Julia we couldn't watch when I heard her say, "Damn it!" Dave came in from the kitchen and asked her, "What did you say?" And she said, "To the TV, Daddy. Damn it!" Oops. That's her Mama's fault. (It's a phrase that goes way back in our family. Back to when I was about Julia's age. I can't tell you how much I wish I could tell my Grandpa Steele that story. He would be laughing so hard.)

She is a voracious TV watcher. She loves it and would plop herself down on the couch and not move until bedtime if I let the TV be on that much. Her current top requests are "the buggies" (Miss Spider), "the princess movie" (Little Mermaid), "the zebra movie" (Madagascar) and "the fish movie" (Finding Nemo). She loves to play games on my iPod and already knows as much about how to navigate around on it as I do.


One of her favorite things to do is take pictures. She'll grab my camera and click away. We end up with a lot of pictures of toes and headless people.



Dressing up as a princess is one of her favorite things to do. She will often pick out an outfit and wear it all day long. One of these days I'll have to paint her toenails.

She is still a Daddy's Girl. We have long conversations during the day that go like this:
Julia: Daddy working? Daddy working hard?
Me: Yes. Daddy's working.
Julia: Daddy working in office?
Me: Yes. Daddy's working at his office.
Julia: I go work at office with Daddy?
That gets repeated many, many times in some variation during the day.

We also have an odd routine that happens when we put her to bed. She needs multiple reassurances that "Mommy come get me when I wake up?" Often times she'll cry out an hour into naptime just to double check that "Mommy come get me when I wake up?"

She is doing a wonderful job with potty training. She is so persistent and proud of herself.

One of her favorite things is to run around naked. She gets great joy in both the action and the announcement: "I NAKED!!"


And Dax? He is All Boy. Dave nicknamed him "Bulldog" because when he wants to do something, he hunkers down and gets it done no matter who or what is in his way. He's just as stubborn about NOT doing something he doesn't want to do. Plus, he drools. A lot :) He is so active. No sitting around watching TV for this boy (unless there's a snack involved). If he is awake, chances are that he is moving!


He's fearless when it comes to acts of physical prowess and I nearly always return to a room to find him on top of some piece of furniture. But he's shy around strangers and doesn't like loud, active crowds. He prefers hanging out with men over women with the exception of his Mommy.


He pesters his sister to distraction and is always right in the middle of what she is doing ... unless she wants him there. If she goes somewhere on her own, he wanders around looking lost until she returns. He's been enjoying her potty training as well, trying on princess panties and begging for M&Ms. They really are best friends.


He loves his blue blankie and any type of ball. He has to have both in his bed to sleep. Recently he has fallen in love with books. He will now sit still for an entire picture book and often times more than one. He loves to sit and flip through the pages. His favorites are books with animals, especially dogs.

He is in both a clingy and independent phase that is driving us a little nuts. He can't figure out if he wants to cuddle or run off and do his own thing. Often this results in a whiny little boy that is upset that whatever is happening right now is not what he wanted at all. Even if he asked for it.


His feet look enormous to me. They really aren't that big (size 5 or 6), but I guess compared to his tiny baby feet they are huge.



Good grief these babies are growing up fast!! I can't believe how quickly time is flying. Whew!

On a different note, and to make the post even longer, we had pictures made for our church directory. We spent enough to get the CD with full-sized images which means we can do prints for other family members that don't get one. If you want, you can go to our Flickr page with the pictures and then e-mail us which one(s) you want and what size.