You Should Really Check This Out!

Tuesday night we were hanging out in the kids' room and Dave tried to get Dax to walk for the camera ...



(He does best with small objects in his hands. We think it tricks him into thinking he actually is cruising.)

And I would like to say that I cannot believe my baby will be ONE YEAR OLD in nine days!!!! He'll be facing forwards in the car and we'll be able to send all our bottles to the recycle bin (unless someone requests them ... we've got Soothies and Vent-Aires and Drop-Ins and a Nuby and possibly one or two other random brands) I don't think I'm ready for this yet ...

Guess Who Took Two Baby Steps Yesterday?!?

If you guessed Our Baby, you are right!!!

Last night as Dave got Dax ready to take his bath, he stood that wobbly boy on his pudgy feet and let go! Dax took two little steps towards Dave before falling forward!! I tried it with him this morning and he did the same thing! Looks like we've got ourselves a little almost-toddler!!

(and that makes me a little sad ... my baby's getting SO BIG!)

Another First

Julia called her Daddy at work today. Guess she was tired of watching Mommy make cookies and decided to see if he would come home and play. He did not.

Learning Fast (video)

An enormous video that only grandparents will probably have the patience to let load. But if you do, you'll see that DaxMan is getting around. He seems to alternate between the Inch Worm Crawl and Army Man Crawl. He's slow and doesn't always take the most direct route and tends to get distracted from his original goal, but he's movin'! (In fact, yesterday morning I left him asleep in the middle of our bed with pillows all around him while I ran to the kitchen to take my medicine. When I got back, he was just about to lunge himself off our king-sized bed! He's faster than I thought.)

Someone Is Figuring Things Out (video)

Guess Who Learned A New Trick (video)

(I did not start him out. He gets it rocking by himself.)

A Video And A Video Of A Video Being Watched

Video One: We filmed Julia saying a few of her words. Our favorite is "milk." She says it with that guttural, throat-clearing sound at the end every time.

Video Two: When we were showing Julia Video One (on my cell phone) she would follow the instructions of Mommy On The Screen and say each word. It was too cute not to capture on video using Dave's cell phone. Fortunately she kept doing it. Unfortunately, Dave ran out of room on his memory card.

Short Videos For Your Amusement

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Dax rolled over from back to front four times yesterday. And we have pictures of none. Poor second born child.

First Words

Last month at Julia's pediatrician appointment, the doctor seemed a little taken aback that Julia could walk as well as she could, but wasn't saying any words. I tried to explain that she understands what we're saying and carries on conversations with us, it's just that she only uses noises, not words. And recently several people have asked what words Julia knows and expressed the opinion that once she figured out how to talk, she'd start out with complete sentences! So I've been paying a little more attention to her "speech" this week and two things made Dave and I laugh:

1. When you ask Julia to "Say Echo" she breathes out really hard through her nose. We'll try to get that on film this weekend. The really funny thing is that often Echo makes the exact same sound when she sneezes. Julia can fake cough and fake dog sneeze!

2. Dave's had to work late this week trying to get a project finished up at work. He wasn't home on Tuesday to go through the bedtime routine with Julia so I did it. After I put Julia in bed, she spent an hour saying (really loudly) "DA DA! DA DA! DA DA!" over and over and over! So Dave came home on Wednesday and Thursday for a bit to put her to bed :) On Thursday when he opened the door, Julia was sitting in her green chair staring at the door. It opened and she broke into a BIG grin and said "DA DA!" crawled down and came over for her hug. Too cute! And the first time she's called one of us by "name."

A Labor Day List

1. We've also got Julia finger-fooding American cheese (which she loves to squish, hates to eat) and banana (which is too slippery, but fun). We strap her in the high chair, stick it in the kitchen, and give her bits of food while we fix our breakfast/lunch/dinner. In fact, we found out this weekend when we were in a hurry and tried to save some time, we've created a monster. If you try to feed her baby foods without letting her eat finger foods first, she throws a fit! She cries and screams and tries to throw herself sideways out of the chair. Silly girl.

2. I've been complaining about our bath towels for so long, I don't remember when I started. Poor David. But it turns out Labor Day weekend is a fantastic time to buy new bath things! I found some fabulous towels at Kohl's and we replaced all our bath towels, hand towels and washcloths for less than we would have paid for the bath towels regularly! They are so fluffy and beautiful. We bought all the same color (Provincial Blue), and they look great in both bathrooms. In our bathroom, the towels match our "newly dyed" bath mats nearly perfectly! Hee.

3. We maybe should have spent our time posting pictures. Oops. I have over two hundred on my computer. Most of them aren't worth posting, but I promise to get the others edited and posted this week. They may not have cute captions or tags, but they'll be up where you can see them and that's all that counts, right?

4. Julia's officially our little cruiser. She's getting quite skilled at travelling the length of the couch standing up. Echo and I sit at opposite ends of the couch so she divides her time between the two of us.

5. No new teeth for Julia. The two on the bottom keep growing and growing, but there don't seem to be any others eager to make an appearance.

6. I'm starting to feel a bit better (Yeah Second Trimester!). I'm still taking the Promethazine and I still crash around 6:30 or so every night. As long as I get all my chores done in the morning, I do okay. If I try to leave any for the afternoon, forget it! I'll be glad when I can start cooking again. I did manage to make it to the grocery store this weekend and even walked by the deli meats without feeling sick! Progress!!

Mad New Skillz or Look Who Learned A New Trick

Huh? Did I do something good?

Work it! Work it!

Whew!


(She's not crawling yet although it sort of looks like it from these pictures. But she pushed up on all fours for the first time today.)

Irked

"I've flipped myself over onto my tummy and can't get back so I'm going to SCREAM!"

Fun game at three o'clock in the afternoon (the first eight or ten times).

Three o'clock in the morning?

No, Baby.

Feeding Frenzy

We fed Julia rice cereal for the first time on Saturday. There's a video, but it's really long and I'm sick. So, you're stuck with pictures. And be glad you get those :)

Our breakfast table on May 5, 2007

Here comes the airplane!

Dad, I don't think I like this.

I'll hang onto your finger. Maybe that will help.

Yeah. This is good. I feel better now.

And a random picture from playtime the other day. It took Julia only thirty seconds to get tired of playing with "Other Baby in the Mirror" and less than that to get bored with the toys. But she entertained herself with her hands for a long time.

Julia's New Toy

Flipped

Julia flipped herself over yesterday.

This was her first time going from back to front.

It was a long day.

Starting around 11 am she just started screaming.

Sometime around 4 pm she fell asleep and I managed to get in a shower. (I need to change my schedule and take my shower during the morning nap rather than trying to get chores done.)

By the time I finished, she was yelling again. (Thank you, Echo, for barking at the squirrel in the neighbor's yard.)

At first I thought she might go back to sleep. (Her morning nap was shorter than usual and her afternoon nap had been nonexistent. She was tired.)

After about ten minutes, the screaming changed.

Because she had completely freaked herself out by flipping over!

Go Julia! (and please sleep today)

I Am Four Months Old Today ...

... and my mom usually finds me crammed into the corner of my crib when she comes to wake me up in the morning even though my dad checks me before he goes to bed each night and makes sure I'm in the middle of my crib.
... and I am wearing a SIZE THREE diaper.
... and I drink about 23 ounces of formula a day.
... and I am down to two naps during the day unless I am cranky and need an extra nap in the evening.
... and if I don't get my naps, oh my heavens, cover your ears!
... and I am wearing size SIX MONTH clothes.
... and I still love my activity gym.
... and I still sleep between 10 and 12 hours a night.
... and I babble and laugh so much.
... and I get so excited on my changing table that I SCREAM! and then wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Mama is finding it more and more challenging to change my diaper. This might be my first experience learning about "No!" very soon.
... and I am fascinated by my "Baby Einstein" videos.
... and I have found my thumb, but I still use a pacifier, too.
... and I suck both my left and right thumbs (although not at the same time).
... and my hair is starting to grow back. It is about as light a brown as it can be without being called blonde.
... and I smile so much. I get excited about nearly everything!
... and when I see a toy I want, I'm getting quite skilled at reaching out and grabbing it.
... and sometimes I can even get those toys I grab into my mouth on the first try.
... and at bottle time, when Mommy lays me on my back, I put my thumb in my mouth to show her how talented I am, but then I get mad because no matter how hard I suck on it, my thumb won't give me any formula.
... and I love to watch my Echo Dog.
... and I have started chewing on things.
... and I tell my daddy all about my day when he gets home from work.
... and my mommy had to buy special soap with no fragrances so I wouldn't scream at bathtime.
... and I'm much better at getting my thumb in my mouth when I'm laying down than when I'm sitting up.
... and at the doctor on Tuesday, I get more shots. :(

Love,
Julia

I'll Give Her A 9.7

Julia did her first nose dive off the couch today.

In a not entirely unrelated incident, Julia's mom had her first near heart attack today.

After much cuddling and many kisses, both have recovered and are doing well.

Found It!

Julia finally managed to suck on her thumb yesterday.

Julia's Steps for Thumb Sucking

1. Hold your arm straight out.
2. Focus in on your fist.
3. Wave it around a little to be sure it's connected.
4. Move your fist slowly toward your face.
5. Hit yourself right between the eyes.
6. Slide your fist down over your nose to your mouth.
7. You can try to shove your whole fist in your mouth.
8. Or, if you think about it, you can unclench your fist enough to only put your thumb in your mouth.
9. Suck (on fist or thumb) until Mommy sees you and gets the camera.
10. Pull your thumb out about 0.07 seconds before she takes a picture.
    

Eek

Julia and I are back from Mississippi and I have tons of pictures and stories to share. Unfortunately, I also have unpacking to do, meals to plan, groceries to shop, and a house to clean. So it will be a bit.

Julia did go to the doctor today. She did great. She weighs 14 pounds 3 ounces (90th percentile) and is 23.5 inches long (50th percentile). So she's still our little Princess Chub-Chub. I had to fill out some sort of childhood development survey and they said she was tracking at the four month level. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but am going to assume it's a slick way of telling us Julia is way smart. :) The doctor told us some skills to work on this next month and recommended that we start rice cereal a few days before her next visit. So our baby needs some spoons! :P

(The doctor also gave us some formula samples ... he's my new best friend!)