Florida Trip 11/2008

Julia and I decided to go to Florida while Daddy went hunting. We went with my friend Dawn and her son Logan who is 3 1/2. We stayed at her dad's condo which was about half an hour from Orlando. We had a wonderful time! Julia did great on the plane. On the way down she was so excited that she didn't sleep the whole way down. Just played, looked at the people around us, walked the aisle a couple of times. As soon as we landed she was out. On the way back it was the opposite. She fell asleep right before we took off, she slept for about an hour. While we were down there we went to Downtown Disney, Cypress Gardens, and Sea World. At Cypress Gardens Julia took her first amusement ride, a little train and the carousel horses. She thought it was pretty cool. She really enjoyed Sea World. She is so into fishes! She was really into the figures of Mickey, and Minnie at Downtown Disney. While we were there she had a hard time napping, the walls were very thin and you could hear everything. One afternoon the kids were talking to each other through the walls. It was so funny. If one was quite the other one would call for them. She also woke up very early, 6AM!!!! I was so tired by the end of the day, I had to go to bed early. Overall we had a great time.

Potty Time Already?????

So Julia has decided that she wants to use the potty. Gosh I think it's early but if she wants to then go right ahead. It all started the Saturday before Halloween, 10-25. She kept saying "pee pee". So I got her and put her on the big potty. She sat there for a minute, then wanted to get off. She was running around with her diaper off and started again "pee pee". So I picked her up again and put her on the big potty, nothing. Same thing "pee pee", and she dripped a little on the carpet. So I ran and got her little potty. Sat her on it and she went. I was so proud. Since then we have not pushed her to go but if she says the magic words we take her. For awhile it was happening everyday, and now it's slowed down a bit. But she tells everyone "I pee".

Growing Up

Julia is growing up so fast. And I just wanted to update you on a few things (I'll have another post with pictures and things we did over the summer).

Julia has taken off with talking. These are the words that she says:
Daddy
Mama
Papa
Ouch (her favorite)
Hi
Bye
Butt
Don't
Up
Kaka (however you spell that word)
Gena (Nena)

She also uses a little bit of her baby sign language. I try to teach her a new sign every few days. These are the signs that she really knows and uses:
More
All done
Book
Love

So last night was the best. She said Mama Mama and then did the sign for love. It was all by herself, she told me that she loved me. I thought it was so great, I had this awesome feeling inside!

15 Month Check Up

Julia is growing so fast. We had her 15 month check up yesterday. She is 22 pounds 11 oz and 30 inches long. She grew 1 1/2 inches in 3 months, since her 12 month check up. That's a lot!!! For both weight and height she is right on the 50% mark, average. She is right on track for everything else too. She thinks she can do more than her little body is capable of, because she watches us. She tries to do everything we do. Her biggest thing right now is trying to get on the couch. Her favorite food is still anything that is a noodle.

Mom!!!

I just have to share a quick story that happened last night (I know I've been slacking with posts. I do have a long draft going, which I hope to finish today). Anyway, last night I was making dinner and Julia runs over to me, "Mom, Mom". I look at her and she has this "oh no" look on her face. She managed to get a little ring case (you know the ones that you get from the jewelry store when you buy a ring), she opened it and closed her finger in it. It was just so cute how she ran over to me for help. It was a total mom moment.

Growing Up Fast

Julia is always on the go from the minute she wakes up to the time she goes to sleep. She NEVER stops!!! So needless to say that it's been hard for me to post. Here are a few things that she has been doing...I'll post pics soon.

Mom and Dad
You would think our little girl would be walking around calling out Mommy and Daddy. But nope our little girl calls us Mom and Dad. Clear as day when she calls us it's Mom, Mom or Dad, Dad. Mostly it's Dad. Especially in the morning. I'm going to have to get it on tape to show Julia when she is older.


Putting things in and out
Keeping Julia busy these days is her taking things in and out of something. She has a purse that she puts things in and out of. She has learned to put her toys back "inside" her toybox. She has also learned to put her dirty diaper in the garbage. She pulls the draws open, takes all the stuff out of it and then closes the drawer. She loves to close doors. She has a little house outside and she loves to close and open that door. It was so funny last night Scott and I were cooking dinner and she was playing. All of a sudden we hear Dad, Dad. She went into her bedroom and closed the door. Scott went and opened the door. She comes walking out and then did the same thing over and over again. Another thing that she enjoys is her stacking cups. She has not stacked them on top of each other yet. But she has gotten the hang of stacking them inside of each other.

Understands everything
It amazes me that she understands so much. Today I gave her a blanket and told her to go put it in her bedroom. She took the blanket and walked to her room and put it inside. I will tell her we can't go outside until you have your shoes on. So she will go and find her shoes and give them to me so I can put them on her. We just talk to her normal (no baby talk), and it just seems to be working out just fine.

Love to hug and kiss
Julia is a GREAT hugger. She will hug you and even sqeeze a little. And she will just come up to you out of the blue and give you kisses. It's awesome.

Hits and Bites
One thing that I'm trying to get her to stop is her hitting and biting. The biting only seems to happen with me and my mother in law. And it seems to be only when she is tired. I just keep enforcing that she has to be nice and when she bites I tell her "no biting" in a very stern voice.

Spring is in the air

Our little Julia is defiantly an outdoors type of girl. Now that the weather has broken all she wants to do is go outside. She will even grab her coat and go to the door. And once outside it's a bear to get her back in. But I guess who could blame her.

She is now drinking whole milk and no more formula. I thought that I should gradually introduce whole milk by mixing formula with it, but the pediatrician recommended to just do it cold turkey. Julia took to it fine without a hiccup. Of course I'm not giving her the milk with all the added hormones. So she is getting either organic milk or milk from Kroger (the milk farms that Kroger purchases their milk from does not give their cows the added hormones). The controversy is that cows are now being given hormones so they produce more milk and get larger faster. This hormone is being traced back into our milk supply which is putting young girls into puberty earlier.

Julia is learning so much. She loves books. She will take her word books and just curl up in your lap for the longest time. She is now learning what sounds animals make. She is starting to woof like a dog, moo like a cow, make fish lips and monkey noises!!!

Julia and Daddy went to the store and they came back with flowers for me. How cute is my daughter bringing the flowers to me!!!

She now take my hand and pulls me to what she wants me to see or what she wants. It is so cute and she is very adamant about me coming with her.

Funny story that she is going to kill me when she is older for telling everyone. I just got home from work and Scott and I were playing with Julia and talking. When all of a sudden Julia lifted up her leg and let out a little fart. It was so funny, I was laughing all day just thinking about what she did. Toot-Toot!!!

Congratulations to Gena Marie on her First Communion. She was our princess for the day, all dressed up so pretty with her hair done.

These pics are for you Stevie. Sorry it took me so long.

1Year Well Visit

Julia had her 1 year well visit. This is where the pediatrician checks her out and makes sure she is healthy, and developing on schedule. This is also the time for her vaccinations. Her check up went very well and Julia is on the right track for development. Of course she did not like her shots, 3 total, ouch!!! She weighs 20 lbs 4 oz, and is 28 1/2 inches long. She sure has come a long way in 1 year, with her birth weight being 7lbs 11 oz and 19 inches long!!!

Julia's First Birthday Party

Julia's first birthday party was a cupcake theme. We had it on Saturday the 19, just a day after her actual birthday. There was a little over 70 people at the party, 17 kids under 8!!! We had it at Nona and Grandpa's house since their house could accommodate everyone. Everything went so good, I would actually say perfect. The weather was awesome with no rain. I set up an area for the kids to play inside and a ball pit outside, we also had the neighbors play set and my parents have a paddle boat that some took out.

It was hilarious on how she went for her cake. At first she wasn't sure what to do so I gave her a little taste with my finger and then put her finger in it for her to try. After that she just decided forget her hands she's just going to go for it with her mouth. So she just kept bringing her mouth to the cake. So very cute. Then she got her hands in it a bit more and then the cake was all over her face. And at one point she brought the cake up to her mouth. I'm so glad that she was able to get into it, it was so funny just watching her go for it.

Julia got so many nice presents, everyone was soo generous!!! She got a lot of clothes, some toys, a lot of big outdoor toys: a cozy coupe car, a picnic table, a slide, a sandbox and a water table, and she got lots of money.



Thanks Everyone for making our daughter's first birthday so much fun!!!

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Happy First Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to our little Angel!! We can't believe that our baby is already one. This year has gone by so fast for us. This year has been amazing. We have learned so much and have never laughed so much. Julia is the joy of our lives!!!

We sure did have a busy day. We woke up early and started celebrating right away. We have been really conservative with Julia's diet, all nutrition food, and basically up until now still baby food. But today was different it was her birthday. So Daddy made us pancakes and sausage....yep pancakes with syrup! Julia enjoyed them very much. She was smacking her lips together as she was eating. After she woke up from her first nap we went to the zoo. It was a beautiful day today, in the 70's and sunny. Julia was so excited to be at the zoo. She didn't know what to look at first and was pointing and waving at everyone. She did not sit back in her stroller at all, she just sat straight up...not wanting to miss a thing. Besides her bottle for lunch she had french fries and I threw in a little nutrition with some yogurt. By the end of our little adventure to the zoo Julia was so exhausted her eyes looked so heavy. She crashed as soon as she got in her car seat. After her second nap we took another adventure out to Chuck E Cheese's. We played and had pizza, jello, and some cottage cheese. Before we left for Chuck E Cheese's Julia was toddling around the house and bent over to pick up a book (lately this is her thing to get a book and bring it to us and have us read it to her...so cute). Well, as she was bent over picking up the book she must have lost her balance and her face hit the wood floor. Of course she cried, I wanted to cry for her, I mean it could not have felt very good. So I picked her up and we went outside. As we got outside I noticed blood on my shirt. Yep, blood. Julia got her first bloody nose. My poor baby. Another new thing that is new for Julia now that she is a year old is that we were able to change her car seat from rear facing to forward facing. She has always loved car rides but now is seems to really like it. She can now see us and when we look back at her she is just all smiles!!!

Needless to say we had a great day. All day I kept remembering what we were doing at this time last year and at some points I got all choked up remembering back. Julia was born at 2:35pm, so I set my cell phone alarm to go off at that time so we could really wish Julia a Happy Birthday!!! I still can't believe that my baby is not a baby anymore but a toddler....awhhh she will always be my little baby!!! Happy Birthday to my little cupcake!!!

Here are some pictures from our day!!

Steps - Backwards and Sideways

Most of you know that Julia has been walking since the end of Feburary. And at times she is almost running. For the past couple of days she has been taking steps backwards and sideways. It's so cute when she goes sideways because it seems like she knows she is doing something different. I love her little steps!!

Teething

My poor baby has been teething really bad the past week. But I think they finally broke through. Julia has not really showed to many signs of teething with her other 6 teeth but for the past couple of weeks I have noticed 2 upper teeth trying to break through and the past week she has been so cranky, and whiny. One minute she is all happy, laughing and playing and the next minute she is crying so hard. She was wanting to be held all the time too. And of course I did, I just felt so bad. She let me take a breif peek at her teeth and I think they did break through. Her mood has definatly changed and she is back to her normal loving self!!! My cousin and I were laughing and joking and he said couldn't babies come out with a full set of teeth. Now that is a funny image!!

Let's Catch Up

I've been having more problems with my computer downloading my photos. I just took my camera to Meijer's and had them downloaded onto a CD. Not sure if I had to many pics on my camera to download (over 300) or just that my computer is getting old and needs to be cleaned out. Anyway, we have been very busy with Julia. She gets into EVERYTHING. She is walking so good now and does not crawl at all. I miss the crawling! Well, I can't hold her back from growing up. She has such a personality and is so fun to be around, its additive. She is so social, loves people and people love her. Whenever we go out (which is almost everyday) and she sees people she is always waving at them with a great big smile. She gets quite the reaction out of people too. Everyone always stops and waves back, says hi, and compliments on how cute she is. She always gets so many compliments. And she sucks it up.

ST. PATTY'S DAY
For St. Patrick's day we played dress up with all of the green I had saved over the years. I had hats, bows, tons of beads, noise makers. She had a ball dresses up with did it a couple of times.


















VISIT WITH THE EASTER BUNNY
We visited the Easter Bunny at Macomb Mall. The line was not to bad but since we got there at 11 and the Easter Bunny did not arrive until 11 there was a little back up. When we first put Julia on the Easter Bunny's lap she just looked and him and didn't seem to mind. Then after a few minutes she started to cry. We got a very cute pic, but no smiles.

EASTER
We all had a great Easter, Julia's first. We started the day over Scott's parents house with all of his brothers and sister and all the kids. Then we headed to my parents house where we had my sister and brother-in-law to be, along with my cousin Paolo and Sherene and Lucy and Dante. We had a fabulous dinner!!! Julia got to enjoy some too!! She had cannelloni, soup, peas and a little bit of whip cream.

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SICK
I jinked us. I was saying the other day that I think we are going to make it to Julia's first birthday without her getting sick, then I knocked on wood. Well, needless to say she ended up with a cold. Her poor little nose was runny and she had a little cough. After that was over about a week later she ended up with a fever. That morning she tossed up some of her breakfast. I really didn't think much of it, babies do that. Then we went to my parents house and right when we were going to leave my Mom said to check her temperature when we got home because she felt warm. We got home and I checked her temp., 99. Not to bad but a little high. I gave her a little Motrin. Then when I was putting her down for bed and giving her a bottle. She ended up pooping (yeah I know you really want to hear this right), so I changed her and sat back down in the chair to finish. Then all of a sudden she threw up, poor baby all over herself and me. So Scott came in and helped clean her up. She ended up sleeping through the night. The next day her temp. was up to 103 at one point. But it came down with the Motrin. She was not a happy girl that day. The next day she seemed better, no temp. I just hated to see her sick. Scott just wanted to suck all the bad out of her (don't you wish we could do that)!!!

Baby Sign Language

Julia started using her baby signs. The first sign she used was "all done". Which she uses all of the time. She tells me she is all done with eating, with changing her diaper and any other situation that she is finished with. It's hilarious. She has also used the sign for milk and more!!! It's so cool to see her using the signs. Its a great was for her to communicate without getting frustrated.

WIGS
So our niece Gena has these Hannah Montana wigs, a blonde one and a brunette one. My MIL ended up putting them on Julia to see what she would look like with hair. It is the funniest thing. And once you put the wigs on her she doesn't seem to mind to much. Her are the pics of Julia with blonde hair and brunette hair.

















METRO PARENTS COVER KIDS CONTEST
We entered Julia in a contest to be on the cover of a magazine. Over 1000 kids entered the contest. I don't know what the results are. We had such a fun time doing it. It was at Oakland Mall and we had to go on stage with about 10 other kids. Someone came around and the kids said their name and their age. Obviously I spoke for Julia. Everyone was supposed to dress casual. The judges are supposed to base the contest on the kids personality, but I don't know how they could do this because they were not even listening to the kids. They are also supposed to judge on a photographer that was taken after the interview. Here is a commemorative photo that was taken (this is not the photo she is/was judged on).

OTHER PICS

Caught in the act

Playing in the kitchen

She is not always happy

Playing with Alexander

Multiple Postings for Julia.....finally!!!!

It's been over a month since my last posting. Things have been so busy that I just have not had the time to post, plus a few….well a lot of computer problems have not helped. So this is going to be a long one with multiple entries........ enjoy (especially Jennifer and Kelley, hee hee).

Super Bowl
Julia had a great Super Bowl. My sister and her fiancé put on a great party!!! And we also stopped at Aunt Debbie's and Uncle Fred's for a bit on the way home since it's so close. Julia won her first square, $25!!! It will go right into her bank. Way to go Julia.












Julia's First Sled Ride
This winter we have really been hit with snow and cold temperatures. But I knew I wanted to get Julia outside and take her for a sled ride. Being in the house all the time you think of creative things to do. So one night Julia and I were bored. I had an empty diaper box and for some reason I thought about pulling her around the house in it. Well, she absolutely had so much fun. She was laughing and smiling. The faster I pulled her the harder she laughed. So I knew a sled ride was a must this winter!!! We did get her out and she loved it. She laughed and just enjoyed being outside (she has always loved it outside, when she was really little she would cry and cry, take her outside and instantly stop). Scott also had her make a baby snow angel, and had her crawling in the snow. Here are a few pics from that day:

Valentine's Day
Valentine's day is a special day for us. Not that we go all out with gifts or anything. It's very special to Scott and I because it was the day Scott proposed to me....4 years ago. We got Julia a really big bear and she just hugs and kisses it. In a previous post I said how we say awhh and she lays her head on a blanket or pillow. She does that with the bear. It's so hard not to say awhhh. So now when we want her to do it we tell her, "Julia do awhhhh", and she does it!!! But really how cute is she......

First trip away from home
We finally took Julia to Aunt Lisa and Uncle Donnie's cabin in Grayling. Not that the drive up there or back was good (Julia was a complete angel along with her cousins Gabe and Gena, just car problems - yes car problems on a vehicle 1 1/2 old). But anyway... We went up there with Lisa, Donnie and of course Major and Leta. Frankie, Gabe, Gena, and Scott's friend Mike. She had so much fun with everyone there. She is such a people person. When we first got there we showed her all of the deer heads on the walls. At first she was unsure but got used to it very quickly. When you told her to go say hi to the deer she would crawl right over to them and just wave. Now this is amazing to me. Lisa was helping Julia walk around the cabin and she took her pacifier and put it in her little pocket. She showed her that she put it in her pocket and then kept walking around. A bit later she asked Julia "where is your paci". And Julia went right into her pocket and pulled it out. The rest of the trip if you asked her where her paci was she went right for her pocket......even when there was no pocket she still thought about it (she would reach for her side and check to see if the pocket and the paci were there and always checking on her left side where the pocket was). She has been saying ma ma a lot lately but I know now that she knows that I'm Ma Ma. I was washing dishes or something and Julia was on Gabe's lap. She kept saying ma ma ma ma. Then finally she said MA MA, and was looking at me. She wanted my attention. So of course I went to her and gave her a big hug and kiss. What a moment that was!!!! This trip really made me realize how much this baby understands. It amazes me.

Other Milestones
She has mastered the whole indian thing, waves by herself when she wants to say hi or bye to someone, loves to cuddle. She will be playing and just comes over to you and just gives a big hug and kiss then goes back to playing. I LOVE that!!! She eats crackers, all different kinds of fruit, pasta, pastina. She laughs and giggles all the time. I think she knows she is funny. She makes funny faces or makes a funny noise and she laughs and smiles while she is doing this. She makes this great funny faces where she takes her bottom lip and keeps smacking it above her top lip….so funny. She also makes a faces which we call her mad face, where she crinkles up her nose…this one is hilarious. When you tell her to make her funny or mad faces she does. She dances all the time! All of a sudden one day she just started dancing. She just rocks back and forth when ever she hears music or when you sing to her. So cute!!! She has also learned how to climb up stairs unassisted. She started to do a few steps at Rob and Kristi’s Super Bowl party. But she did a full set of stairs at my MIL house where Scott just followed behind her.

Julia is walking at 10 Months!!!!
Tuesday February 26 is the official day that Julia started walking. For the past month she has been taking 4-6 steps here and there. But this Tuesday she was just walking all over. Her socks got dirty so I took them off and since it was almost time for bed I just didn't put any back on. Well, she must have really felt comfortable without those socks because that's when she just took off. So awesome that I got it on tape too!!! She looks so funny because she is so little. She gets so excited about walking. Watch out Tigger!!! We went to Stride Rite and got her a good pair of shoes now that she is walking all over the places.


Our little angel makes Scott and I so happy. She makes us laugh all the time and we are soooo lucky to have her in our lives!!!!