Happy New Year!

Since we didn't send out Christmas cards or a Christmas letter this year (I feel like a bad mom not sending out a xmas card for Julia's first Christmas), I felt I should send something out recapping 2008...

What a year! As 2008 started I had no idea what was in store for us. Andrew and I had a baby on the way and we were full of anticipation. When Julia was born, it felt like we were living someone else's life. As Andrew and I muddled our way through the early stages of parenthood, we learned a lot about ourselves and our new family. I learned, going back to work after being home on maternity leave for only seven weeks, that I was already so in love with our baby girl. I watched Andrew turn into an amazing father, taking care of Julia and working from home, as I went back to work.

The majority of the year was spent experiencing many of Julia's firsts and working A LOT. In July, we went to the beack for our annual trip with my in-laws. What a wonderful experience seeing the beach through Julia's eyes! She especially loved watching the ocean and the seagulls. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I joined the ranks of those that have been laid off. Gotta love the economy right now. Fortunately, I have some connections and will try to continue doing dyslexia evaluations privately as well as doing some contract work here and there. Ultimately, I know that God has a reason for everything and I just have to have faith.

Looking back over the year, I truly feel blessed. I have a wonderful husband and daughter. Julia is such a blessing in our lives. Each day she amazes us with something new. I have my health and a lot of people around me who love and support me.

I wish for each of you a happy and safe 2009.

Merry Christmas

Hoping you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year's!

What a Ham!

Santa Baby

This past week we took Julia to have her first picture taken with Santa. I was not at all anticipating her taking a picture alone with Santa. I assumed she would fuss if we handed her off to a strange man and walked away, so Andrew and I had a plan that we would take a family picture with Santa and then Andrew would take a picture of Julia and me with our camera. So after standing in line for awhile, we finally got up to Santa and sat Julia in his lap so we could settle outselves in for the picture. When Julia didn't start fussing, we slowly backed away and tried to get a decent picture of her with Santa. It's hard to get a good picture of a baby with Santa, but I think we did alright...

Getting a little tired of Santa...

All I Want for Christmas is...

my two front teeth! Julia now has a second tooth coming in on the bottom. Boy, when they start coming in, they come in quick. Once I can get a good shot of her new pearly whites, I'll post a pic.

I hope everyone had a relaxing Thanksgiving. It's amazing being home for those extra couple of days, Julia seems to be doing so much more. She has become a proficient waver! It's quite cute- she gets her whole upper body into it. She is also saying ,"Da" and looks at Andrew and says, "Hi"when she waves sometimes. We're working on blowing kisses and getting her to say, "Ho, ho, ho!" So far, she does one "ho," occasionally two.

Have a good week! Here are some pics I took of our growing girl this past week...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey, who's that cute baby in there?

Like my new hat? I'm ready for the cold!

Are you talkin' to me?

First Tooth- No Fooling!

It's definitely true... Julia has her first tooth coming in. It started poking through yesterday and by this morning I could see a little tip of a tooth. Our baby girl is growing up way too fast.

Happy Turkey Day!

9 months old

Julia had her 9 month check-up last Friday. She now weighs 17 lb 7 oz, and is 28 3/4 inches long. She continues to ride right along that 25%tile line for weight and around the 90%tile for length. We also found out that she should have a couple teeth coming in in the next couple of weeks! Julia's doctor showed us the transluscent outlines of her teeth along her bottom gums. That was pretty exciting. After all these months of a toothless baby girl, it will be interesting to see her with some teeth. Stay tuned...

We also had the "joy" of taking Julia to get blood drawn to test for anemia. Andrew and I both thought initially that it would be a heel prick. Nope! I had to sit with her in my lap in the big chair grown people usually sit in to have blood drawn, they tied the rubber band around her arm to find her vein in her elbow, and drew two tubes of blood! It was a little scary. I couldn't believe they took blood that way from babies. Julia was good, but had tears streaming down her face the entire time as I held her down and still for the nurses. Andreww usually gets to be the one wwith her when she gets shots, but I felt like I needed to go through that with her as well. I'd hate for her to grow up remembering her mommy sitting in the corner with tears in her eyes as her baby was being given shots. The two nurses who were at the lab were wonderful with Julia and were quite gentle and sweet to our baby girl.

Julia continues to amaze us everyday. Recently, it seems she is doing so many new things. She is waving , talking up a storm with what seems like strings of babbles, holding her bottle herself, recognizing people's names, and being an all-around wiggle worm. She has decided she finally really likes rolling around and turns herself around on her tummy 360 degrees. Before we know it, she'll be crawling around. What a precious baby girl!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween everyone!

Pumpkin Patch

A week before Halloween I took Julia to a pumpkin patch set up at a church across the street from my work. I got some cute pics of her, but had a hard time getting her to look up at me. She was quite fascinated with pulling the grass up, a leaf she found, and looking at people walking around and the cars driving by... lots of competition for her attention. Here are some cute pics I took of her.

Halloween is coming

I decided to try on Julia's Halloween costume this past weekend to be sure it would fit her and so I knew how to get it on her. Halloween costumes for babies are not the easiest to get them into! Someone needs to make them more like onesies... Anyways, Julia will be Tigger for her first Halloween. It was an obvious choice given my love for Tigger. Here's a sneak peek... (I took these with my cell phone)

More Baby Love...

A couple of weekends ago, one of my best friends (Lizze) came down to Austin for the weekend. Her sister (Katherine) was also in town, so we all got together for lunch one day. Katherine has a baby, Jayden, about two months older than Julia. Boy did Julia and Jayden hit it off well (see picture below)! Julia is into giving kisses these days, although she is selective as to who and when she gives them. It's pretty cute!!

Goodnight Moon

Julia loves looking at books! I swear she looks from left to right on the pages. She seems to enjoy our nightly storytime before bed, touching the pages, and sometimes even tasting them. Here are some cute pics I took one night. I love how she's holding the book.

Sweet Potatoes!!

Julia had her 6-month appointment this past Friday. She continues to grow like crazy. What she lacks in weight, she makes up for in height. Julia now weighs 14lb 14oz and is 26 1/4 inches long. She's in the 25th
percentile for weight, but in the 90th for length and her head is in the 98th percentile... that's courtesy of her daddy!! Thankfully, she doesn't look like she has a big head, but if she did we'd love her just the same!



We also started fruits and veggies this weekend. We decided to start with some sweet potatoes. Initially her reaction was more like this first picture, but once she got the hang of it she seemed to like it and enjoyed sticking out her tongue for the camera...

Retraction

So, we found out a couple of days ago, Julia does not in fact have two teeth. Turns out they were cysts on her gums, that are perfectly normal. Who knew?! I found out a lot of times babies will get these cysts before their teeth come in. I keep waiting to look in her mouth and see a tooth soon. She constantly has her fingers and, at times, a fist in her mouth biting on it.

Swaddle Free

As of this weekend, Julia is no longer sleeping swaddled. Andrew and I have tried to make this a gradual change because she has slept completely swaddled since she was born. First, we took one arm out, then the other. Last night was the first night not being all wrapped up, and Julia did really well. Here's her in her "big girl" pjs all ready for bed.

Another One...

I think Julia has a second tooth coming in. Teething is no fun! She sleeps good at night still (thankfully), but her nap during the day has recently disappeared. Argh! Just when we got a routine down, the past three days her naps have been hard to come by. I finally got her to sleep this afternoo by letting her sleep in my arms- right now I'm typing one-handed with her in my arms.

Today, Julia decided to help me feed her. She's getting used to her

rice cereal.

First tooth!

Holy cow! Our baby girl has her first tooth coming in!! My mom noticed

a white spot on her lower gums yesterday and mentioned it to me. Sure enough, once I stuck my finger in her mouth I felt a little hard tooth coming out. I cannot believe it! At Julia's 4 month appointment, the doctor didn't see anything that would indicate a tooth coming in. Its crazy!

Julia has also started rolling from her tummy to her back, although she is not too keen on being on her tummy. Once again, it happened at my parents' house... my mom had her on her tummy on the couch and was astonished when she kicked her leg and rolled herself to her back.

Stay tuned for more...

Little Houdini

When I went to get Julia up this morning, I found that she had turned herself 45 degrees, while still completely swaddled. Don't know how she did it!

What a way to wake up- to a cute baby's lovable smile! She's so happy when she wakes up.

Four Months Old!

Julia has her four-month appointment Friday. All is good! She weighs 12lb 9oz and is 25in long. We also got the go ahead to start her on some rice cereal- yummy! Here's a picture of that fun adventure from Friday...

Also, Julia has become an expert thumb sucker, just like her mother used to be when she was little. Before this pic, Julia would suck on her thumb with her hand spead out across her face.

And, here's another cute pic of Julia

with her hair styled into a mohawk. Babies are so much fun!

Baby Love

A couple weekends ago Andrew's friends, Chris and Shannon, came down for Chris's birthday and they brought their youngest, Ben, with them. We had so much fun! Here's a cute pic that was taken of Ben and Julia together. What a cute pair!

Special Day

This past weekend, Julia was baptized. She did so well and we were fortunate enough to have friends and family celebrate with us. Here are some pics-

As you can tell, she was pooped! She fell asleep about halfway through.

It seems like overnight Julia is doing so much! She is laughing now, talking up a storm, discovered her feet and hands, and just yesterday she started trying to hoist her leg to roll over. It's amazing! Before you know it, she'll be crawling... stay tuned...