Peek-a-Boo!

Julia loves when we play "Peek-a-boo" with her.  Here's a cute video of Ethan playing with Julia...

Easter

Easter.  What a wonderful day it was today celebrating the resurrection of our Lord!  At church, our Pastor John MacArthur preached an amazing sermon.  Also, the choir and special music was incredible.  I'm so thankful for such a wonderful church.

Ethan's brother and family joined us for the service.  It was so nice to have them there with us.  I took a few pictures with them holding Julia in her adorable Easter dress before I took Julia to the nursery.

Uncle Jared and Aunt Lisa holding Julia

Ava holding Julia

There is a little boy at church who has the exact same birthday as Julia!  His mother and I see each other every now and then and refer to our babies as "birthday buddies."  Aren't they so adorable together?!

Ethan's mom hosted Easter dinner at her home.  It was a wonderful day.

Teta with her Grandkids

Awwww.  :)

The Trepepis

Uncle Jared

I love my sweet girl!!!

Funny Sleep Positions

Ever since we brought Julia home from the hospital, she keeps us laughing with her many sleep positions.  Recently, she discovered her thumb and we often find her sucking on her thumb in her sleep.  Her most recent position is she likes to stick her legs up on the side of the crib or bassinet.  I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of her sleeping...  Enjoy.  :)

6 days old

6 days old

1 week

1 week

1 week

2 weeks

3 weeks

16 weeks - she went through a phase where she wanted her face to be right up against the side.

19 weeks - right after she discovered her thumb

21 weeks

23 weeks - she loves having her feet up on the side.  I don't know how this can be comfortable!

23 weeks - she likes her little dolly and the blanket.  Her cousin, Ava, gave her the blanket.  I'll often find her holding onto the blanket in her sleep or playing with it when she wakes up.

23 weeks - Julia just started rolling over onto her stomach a few days ago.  I came in after her nap to find her up like this.

Spring is Here!

Wow, I love the weather.  Spring is here and the weather is so beautiful.  Yesterday Ethan, Julia, and I went to the park before dinner.  When we got to the park, we were surprised because it was actually a little bit chilly.  Nevertheless, Julia loved it!  :)  She was kicking her legs in excitement almost the whole time.  It seems like she really enjoys the outdoors (and also loved the attention she was getting from Mommy & Daddy...).  I will have to take her to the park more often.

My good friend, Angie, had her baby.  His name is Joshua.  He's such a cute little boy!  It was amazing holding a newborn baby again.  How quickly I have forgotten how small Julia was.  When I was holding him, I was thinking to myself, "I can't even remember Julia being so small!"  Yet, Julia was even smaller...  Anyway, it was fun meeting him.  Congrats, Angie!

Ethan surprised me a few weeks ago.  He told me, "I have an idea for dinner but I want it to be a surprise."  In the car I closed my eyes so it would be a total surprise.  When I opened my eyes, we were at Jared & Lisa's house (Ethan's brother and sister-in-law).  It was Wednesday night - America Idol night!  Yay!  I love watching American Idol, but since we don't have t.v., I just watch YouTube to get my American Idol fix...  So, I was super excited when I found out we would get to watch it live.  Ethan had ordered pizza, so we ate pizza and watched the show with Jared's family.  Fun times!  Jared & Lisa have been kind enough to extend the invitation to watch it each week since then.  :)

Uncle Jared

Aunt Lisa and cousin Ava

Ava & Julia.  So cute!

Julia is becoming more "mobile."  When she woke me up in the morning to eat, here she was sideways in her bassinet!  I guess it's probably time for her to not sleep in the bassinet anymore (she sleeps in the crib during the day but I prefer to have her in the bassinet next to our bed at night...)  Excuse her scary eyes (the flash was bright).

When I layed in her crib for a nap, she was not sideway.  Funny girl!  Atleast in her crib she has room to lay sideways.

Catching Up...

It's been awhile since I've updated our blog.  So, I have several pictures to post from the past couple weeks.  First of all, at the beginning of March, my parents (and brother, Phil) came down for the Shepherd's Conference.  So, it was a blast to have all 3 of them stay with us the night before the conference started.  Then, Phil and my dad stayed in a hotel with some of the guys from their church who came down for the conference so I got my mom all to myself for a few days.  Mom got to attend Julia's 4 month pediatrician check-up, so that was fun!

I have really enjoyed the times that I have been able to spend with my parents this year...  After several years of them living overseas, it's such a joy to be driving distance from them and to get to spend so much quality time together...  Anyway, mom thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Julia.  :)

Lolo and Lola enjoying their granddaughter

Grandma loving on Julia

There's just something so cute about babies' feet!

On March 19, I was able to throw a small shower for my dear friend, Angie.  She already has two little girls and now has a boy on the way, so Joanna and I decided that Angie needed to have a shower so that she could get some boy stuff.  :)  It is always so nice to have some kind of "excuse" to get all of us together.  Mary, Danielle, and Joanna were able to come.  We ate a brunch, spent time praying for Angie (and baby Joshua), then opened presents, and ended the time by decorating boy onesies...  :)

I made a "diaper cake" for Angie.  I had never made one before so that was really fun new craft for me!

Mary was the first to arrive, so she got to hold Julia.  :)

Danielle, Julia, and Mary

Sisters (and Julia)

Joanna and Angie (and one of the onesies Joanna decorated)

All the onesies we decorated - it was a lot of fun!  They turned out so cute.

Last weekend Ethan, Julia, and I visited our friends, Mike & Jill.  They own a boat and it is docked in San Diego.  We arrived Friday night in time for a sushi dinner.  :)  Then, we went back to their boat and enjoyed sitting around chatting.  The next day we relaxed and then went out for lunch before Ethan and I headed back home.  It was a quick trip but fun and we hope to do it again soon.  Thanks Mike & Jill for a fun weekend!

Their daughter, Sailor, was so excited about Julia!  She wanted to play with her and hold her.  It was adorable.

Sailor "holding" Julia  :)

Sailor, wanting to peak at Julia any second she could.  :)

Below are a few miscelaneous pictures & videos of our daughter.  She is so much fun!  She interacts with us much more each day. 

She laughed/giggled for the first time about a week ago.  Ethan was there, so it was so fun to experience a "first" with him.  :)  I had her on the changing table and was blowing "bubbles" at her with my lips.  Then, you could see her concentrating really hard and then she copied me!  I got all excited and then in response she laughed.  This went on for a few minutes - me blowing bubbles at her, her copying me, and then she would laugh.  It was so adorable.  :)

Julia is 12 pounds now.  :)  Here are her stats from her 4 month check-up earlier this month:

Height  24 1/4 inches  (51st percentile)
Head    15 3/4 cm      (25th percentile)
Weight  11 lb 5 oz     (9th percentile)

So, as you can see, she is getting taller but is staying on the thin side.  :)  But, the pediatrician says everything is fine and she is gaining weight appropriately.  I'm so thankful to the Lord for such a sweet and healthy baby girl.  She has brought us so much joy!

She recently discovered her thumb.  Often when I go to peek on her during a nap, she'll have her thumb in her mouth like this.  :)

My happy girl

She is getting so close to rolling over from her back to her stomach...

Again, there's just something so cute about babies' feet...

My friend, Joanna, recently babysat Julia so I could go to the dentist.  These are 2 of her 3 sweet kids - Vineetha and Vijay.  They are so cute with Julia.

The other day we went to lunch with our good friends Michael and Caroline.  They came over to our house afterward.  Below is a video of Caroline making Julia laugh.  :)

Here's one more video of Julia.  It makes me laugh everytime I watch it because it's so typical.  Whenever I see Julia doing something cute, I get my digital camera out to video her.  However, the moment she sees the camera she stops doing what she's doing...  Oh well.  :)