Cute pics from February

Lots has happened this month. For starters, Julia turned one. We had her one-year appointment, which went pretty well. Julia is growing like a weed! She is now almost 31 inches tall and weighs 20 lbs. The doctor was shocked by the number of words she was saying... she's our little talker! She is starting to put two words together when she talks, which is exciting.

Julia is developing well in every other way, except for her gross motor skills. The doctor was a little concerned that Julia isn't walking or even pulling up on things yet, so she referred us to a physical therapist for an evaluation. So, now I am in the process of researching physical therapists in the area and setting up an evaluation. Julia's doctor thankfully, didn't think there was anything "wrong" with Julia, but she just wanted us to get things checked out. She thought Julia had the leg strength. So, we'll see what happens. It is definitely weird being on the other side of things, having to get my child evaluated for something instead of being the one doing the evaluation. Andrew and I truly believe that Julia just isn't interested yet and is content crawling around, but want to be sure.

Other than that, we bought Julia a forward-facing "big girl" car seat. It seems crazy that she is big enough for it, but she was too tall to stay in her infant car seat.

Here are some cute pics from February I took that I wanted to share.

I love helping mommy with the laundry.

Loving on my monkey...

Smiling at Nannie (Lynn's mom) for a picture

Happy Birthday Julia!

I can't believe my baby is one! We ended up having a small celebration on Julia's birthday with her grandparents and then Saturday had a birthday party with some friends and family. It was fun, here are some pics...


This was as messy as I got! I'm not much for cake yet and I don't like to be messy (I tried to put some cake and icing on her tray to see if she would play with it, but no way).

Yay, I'm one!

Mommy and me at my party

Yuck, I don't like frosting!

I'm such a cutie! My daddy was holding at the back of my dress so mommy could try to take a picture of me, but I didn't want to be still that long.

Boy, am I pooped! What a birthday.

All in all, it was a great birthday for our little girl. We love you , Julia!

January

Well, January has come and gone. I can't believe in less than two weeks, my baby girl will be one. In many ways, it seems like only yesterday I held her in my arms for the first time in the hospital. This month has been filled with spending a lot of time at home with Andrew and Julia. It has been fun watching her change before my eyes...

Right around Christmas, Julia figured out how to crawl. Its cute. She is quite the army crawler! She gets one of her legs into it. Mid-January she started getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth.

She's also talking up a storm- adding more and more words to her vocabulary. I am amazed with some of the words she can say and how quickly she is picking things up!

Here are some cute pics from this month-

See my two front teeth!

Playing at home!

My new friend, Monkey, that my Nannie bought me.

What an angel!

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...