Family Pictures

Earlier last month, we took some family photos.  My former roommate, Emily, was our photographer.  The day before our photo shoot, Julia came down with a nasty cold.  The morning of, it was a cold day, and I was almost ready to cancel.  But, we decided to dress her warmly and just see how it went.  We could always end the shoot early if she was having a hard time.  Well, I'm so glad we went ahead because she was super happy.  First of all, I think the distraction of being outside was good.  Also, she got to wear her new shoes for the first time and she loves shoes!  So, she was super happy about that.  :)  Anyway, here are some of my favorites.

11 Months

Is it really possible that our little girl will be a year old in one month?  People always warn me how fast time will fly and how you "blink" and they're grown up... well, it's true!  Julia's not grown up or anything, but she sure has changed a lot and I feel like just yesterday she was just a tiny little newborn.  I really hope this time doesn't go too fast and that I will just keep enjoying her more and more.  She truly is a gift from the Lord!

I got back a week ago from Northern California where I was babysitting my brother's kids while he and Jaime were in Congo adopting a little boy.  Matteus is officially adopted (yay!) and Phil stayed in the country to finalize all his paperwork so that Matteus can come home to his new family.  I can't wait to meet him. 

I will post a picture of him soon along with my other nephew who should be born any day now (to my other brother and his wife, Jen).  Wow, I get two new nephews in about a week's time!  Pretty exciting.  Can't wait to meet both of them.

It was quite an experience for me to be in charge of 5 kids.  It gave me a deep appreciation for mothers out there with more than one child.  With one child, it can be hard to get things done around the house, but it is still possible, especially when she's napping or playing happily by herself.  With more kids, there is constant activity and many times where I need to step in to help solve problems...  It was hard to get anything done and the house was constantly getting messy...  I really cherished the evenings when all the kids were down for the night.  I found myself staying up really late, just to have time alone, even though I knew I would regret it the next day when I had to be up early for the kids...  :)  I bet that sounds familiar to many of you moms out there.  Anyway, I'm so glad I could be there for my brother and sister-in-law while they were gone.  It was fun to get to know my nieces and nephews better and it was really good for Julia to be around other kids.  She really enjoyed it.

The 5 kids I was in charge of for about a week... Adam, Annalee, Georgia, Ella, and my Julia

Annalee and Julia

Julia loved playing with their toys. However, it was not always appreciated by Adam when Julia would take apart his "train" or whatever he was making with the big Legos.

Georgia and Adam making a giant tower with Legos.  I remember building towers with my brother Mike when I was a kid!  So fun.

Julia likes being home with her daddy.  By the way, notice how in this picture Julia is pointing?  Julia loves pointing at things and saying, "duh!" 

Julia has 3 teeth.  If you look closely at this picture, you can see them.  All 3 came in in about 2 weeks.  There are two on the bottom and one on top. 

She is officially "crusing" now.  She's getting pretty sturdy on her feet and loves to pull herself up on anything she can.

Say what?

Ok, maybe it was because I was a teacher, but it still melts my heart everytime Julia opens up books as if she is reading them or looking at the pictures.  I hope she will love books!

My sweet girl, making a mess wherever she goes.

Doesn't she look a little chunky here?  She still has a little frame, but her belly is getting quite large.  She has a good appetite for such a little thing.

Julia said her first word today - "All done!"  She repeated it after me several times and did the sign with it.  The first time she said it, she said it so clearly that I was kind of shocked and wasn't sure if she had really said the word.  So I got my camera out to see if she would say it again and this is what I got.  You'll hear her say it 3 times, the second time being the clearest (too bad I was saying something at that moment so it is hard to hear). 

I love hearing her laugh...  Excuse her runny nose in the video; she is recovering from a yucky cold (her first cold, amazingly!)

 

Play Dates and More

It's been awhile since I have posted. Julia is growing way too fast!  She's 11 months in a week. 

She started pulling herself to a standing position and this has made it possible for her to explore more which she really enjoys. However, she does get more bumps and bruises, which is hard for mommy sometimes! I know it's just part of growing up, though...

She finally sprouted her first teeth (on the bottom). The top one is getting ready to come out, also.

The newest thing she does lately is point to everything and say, "duh." When I go to get her after her nap, the first thing she always does is to point to the fan and say, "duh" as if she's telling me to turn it off. :)

I've had a few fun playdates with friends lately:

My friend, Susan, came over to my house with her son, Andrew. He is about 1 month younger than Julia. It was so cute to see them together. Julia really enjoyed having him around, until he started making loud noise... She would cry every time he let out a loud grunt like a typcial boy. Ha, ha. She is quite sensitive to loud noises but I gotta toughen her up! 

 

Another cute picture of the duo

I went over to Angie's house recently. Joshua was taking a nap when I first got there, so the 3 girls played together. Julia was so cute and just loved watching what they were doing and playing with some new toys. Both girls were very gentle with her and were happy to share their toys.

 

Julia rode a "bike" for the first time. She did quite well. I pushed her and she stayed balanced, mostly, on her own. She even was able to reach the ground with her feet at one point and pushed herself a little bit. She really enjoyed it.

 

The 3 girls playing together

Julia meeting Joshua, just after he woke up from his nap.

I love how Julia's smiling at Joshua! So cute. :)

 

All 4 kids

 

Julia and I met my friend, Kristina, at Chick-Fil-A for breakfast one morning. This was right before we left. Can you tell it's close to nap time? Julia sucks her thumb when she's tired. But, what I think is cute is how she sucks her thumb with one hand and then uses her other hand to hide it.

 

Aunt Lisa, teaching Julia how to walk

Julia, curious about her Aunt's new little puppy, "Honey."

I am currently in Northern California, babysitting my cousins while my brother and his wife (Phil and Jaime) fly to Congo to adopt and pick up their son, Matteus. Check out their blog if you're interested in what's the latest with them: http://lifeatthelaytons.blogspot.com/

Julia loves her cousins. She smiles and giggles when they play with her. Here's a picture of Georgie dressing Julia in some dress up clothes.

Crazy Geogia :)

Aunt Jaime holding Julia

This is just as Phil and Jaime were leaving for the airport. Ella and Annalee were staying with some friends that night.

My parent's visit over Labor Day Weekend

My parents were able to spend Labor Day weekend with us.  It was such a treat to have them here.  They were our first overnight visitors.  :)  Julia warmed up to them quickly and enjoyed all the extra love and attention from her sweet grandparents.

Julia with her Lolo and Lola

So sweet

Grandpa with his granddaughter

My dad took a family picture for us on Sunday after church

We love giving our girl kisses (even though she tries to squirm out of them!)

Julia just started doing a few new things:

1) waving - she first waved at me when I was coming down the stairs and she was sitting down at the bottom of the stairs.  Later that day, Ethan and I were going on a walk and she started waving to strangers in the distance.  Very cute.  She doesn't wave often, but it's so fun when she does it.

2) signing "all done" - I've been trying to teach her a few signs.  She just started signing "all done" but doesn't always do it in the right context. 

3) teething - my pediatrician said it looks like her top teeth will come in first.  She has been showing signs of teething especially over the past few days and I'm pretty sure her top right tooth is getting ready to come out.  Poor thing.  Thankfully she's still sleeping well at night (which I'm so very grateful for!), but does have trouble at naps.

4) pulling herself to a standing position using our hands as support - she loves doing this and her legs are getting so much stronger.

Crawling everywhere

This was so cute - she was turing the pages on her own and feeling the "fur" on the puppy and other textures on the animals in the book.

"Reading" (Wow, she's amazing.  She can read upside down!)

My girl loves shoes... which I think is great until she sticks them in her mouth!

When Ethan gets home, she loves playing with his lanyard from work.

Playing in the recycling basket

One of my absolute favorite pictures.

Gotta love the grumpy face...

This is Julia's version of signing "all done/finished."  It almost looks like more of a wave.

Waving