First Steps

Suffice it to say we had a lovely Christmas here with my family in Iowa and I intend on adding pictures and such of that later. For now, I wanted to post that I watched Juliana take her first steps tonight.

The past few days she has been showing off her new skills for her adoring extended maternal family members. She can get up and stand in the middle of the floor and had taken one tentative step here and there between pieces of furniture or family members. Tonight she got up and took six solid steps in a row completely on her own. Jonathan and I, her Aunt Amy and cousin Alyssa were all there to see and Juliana was quite pleased with all the clapping and cheering that ensued. I have no doubt that we'll be seeing some repeat performances.

It is rather fitting that Juliana started walking the day after Christmas, my family loves to recount that I took my first steps on Christmas eve (Juliana's birthday is nine days after mine.)

My baby is getting so big. Last year at this time we were still awaiting her arrival. To be more specific, at this time last year we were rather concerned about her arrival. I was hospitalized on Christmas morning and there were a lot of uncertainties. Now that baby that I was worried would be so tiny is a very tall, very sweet, blond baby that is turning into a little girl very very quickly.

Juliana 10 Month Update

At 10 months old Juliana Jayne...

-Has added "nigh nigh" and "baby" to her vocabulary list. I wouldn't say she is doing "sentences," but she has played a bit with stringing some words together like "baby... no... nigh nigh!"

-Is getting pretty good at standing unsupported. She usually won't stand on her own for much longer than 30 seconds or so, but she is very good at lowering herself back down to the ground.

-Is starting to be aware of strangers. She will no longer go to just anyone.

-Loves her stuffed penguin and penguins in general. If you know Jonathan and have seen his penguin collection you might assume it was a bit of brainwashing, but she LOVED her stuffed penguin from the moment she saw it. When she goes into Jonathan's office she is just mesmerized by all of Daddy's "penguin toys." She probably likes the contrast.

The picture at the top of this post was taken a couple weeks ago. I attempted to feed Juliana some yam puree, but she wasn't feeling too interested. I took her out of the high chair and went to clean Gabriella up from her lunch. When I finished I found Juliana underneath the table eating fistfulls/finger painting the floor with yams. She had been able to reach up to the tabletop to pilfer them. Evidently yams are much more exciting to eat underneath the table in secret.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

I've been a wee bit absent. It has been a busy couple of weeks with Jonathan trying to finish up with the semester, me trying to tie together loose ends at work (plus coordinating our family holiday craft night) and of course general preparations for our trip to Iowa.

This morning we woke up to... snow. Real snow that sticks to the ground and stays there. We've been telling Gabriella for weeks that she would see snow in Iowa so when she woke up to a full coating of the white stuff she thought it was time to go to Iowa! It has been snowing pretty steadily all day. This is a pretty big deal for the Portland valley. Last year we had a couple flurries, but nothing that stuck.

Hopefully these pictures of Gabriella enjoying the snow will make up for my limited blogging.

We have so much to be thankful for

Happy Thanksgiving

Monday

Bleh. We are all have horrible colds again. I'm still in my pajamas and having a hard time imagining how I'll accomplish my pre-Thanksgiving To-Do list. Since none of that is cute or fun in anyway whatsoever, I'll just post a couple pictures from last Monday when the weather was georgeous and we went on a long walk with Juliana's playgroup and then hung out at the park afterwards.

Prima Ballerina

Today only three of the six girls in Gabriella's ballet class showed up (presumably because of veterans day and because school was out.) I decided to snap up the opportunity to get some less cluttered pictures.... pun intended.

And some videos.... (You can see Juliana in the mirror if you look closely.)

Bath Buddies

Gabriella and Juliana enjoy taking a bath together. After their bath, they are both wrapped like a burrito and laid out next to each other on the bed. For whatever reason, they both find this hilarious. They lay side by side, looking at each other and they giggle back and forth. Sometimes these two just take my breath away a little bit.

Oh Dear

From Gabriella:

"Mom, you really need to have another baby sister. Then Juliana will have a friend. I can just go stay at Grace's house while you are at the hospital."

Juliana's 9 Month Update

At nine months old Juliana Jayne...

• Has lived as long on "the outside" as she lived on "the inside."

• Weighs 22lbs and is 29 1/4"! That puts her in the 90th percentile for weight, the 95th for height. I can't remember her head circumference, but that was 90th percentile as well. She is very proportional :)

• Is enjoying some finger foods. She has tried a variety of fruits and veggies and so far thinks they are all fine, but isn't the biggest fan of purees. She really loves bananas. We just hand her half a banana and she goes to town on it.We recently gave her Gerber puffs (which she loved.) We were glad that went well because wheat is a major allergen (one of the few allergens she will get to try before her first birthday.) The other day we gave her some teeny tiny pieces of soft chicken. She thought that was pretty exciting.

• Loves to be standing. She pulls up on everything!

• Cruises along the couch a bit.

• Pushes Gabriella's little white chairs around using them like a walker.

• Hates diaper changes.

• Has added "Uh-Oh" to her vocabulary. She especially likes to throw things on the floor and anounce "Uh-Oh!" and look at your endearingly until you retrieve it.

• Often "parrots" words back to us. I've noticed that she mimics Jonathan more than she mimics me.

Juliana's 9 month check up with Dr. Sarah went well today. Juliana is doing quite fabulously. She is quite the big girl (as mentioned above.) She is no longer reacting to any foods via breastmilk and her reflux seems to have improved. As far as the yucky colds/viruses that our house has been battling for awhile Juliana has probably faired the best. Dr. Sarah was impressed with Juliana developmentally as well. She may have even made a comment about "having two brilliant kids."

An Almost Candy Free Halloween...

Each year our church supplies the volunteers for the "Spooktacular" party/carnival at our local community center. This year it was on Monday and we went as a family. Jonathan ended up manning our "Spider Slide" game booth for the entire evening while I kept the girls entertained. Gabriella was able to enjoy some games, bracelet making and had her face painted for the first time. I have a few Spooktacular pictures up on Shutterfly for those curious as to what Jonathan looks like as a pirate.

On Friday I dressed up as Sarah Palin for work. I have to admit, it was pretty fun. However, Jonathan was more than a little creeped out. One of our club members also dressed as Palin, complete with an "I can see Russia from my house" pin. Interestingly, one of my co-workers is from Wasilla, Alaska. Her opinion of Palin as Mayor/Governor is not the most favorable... to put it nicely.

Friday evening we did Trick-or-Treating with the 2005 Playgroup. The entire event was pre-orchestrated with candy-free treat bags at about six stops. We walked together through the neighborhood and then enjoyed some soup together afterwards. Isn't that the best idea you have ever heard of? I am very thankful to Kirstin for organizing it and to Rene for opening up her home!

Isn't this "loot" way better than candy? Gabriella especially enjoyed the squishy lizards, the pink playdough, the honey stick and the stamps.

After soup was ever we headed for home and Gabriella mentioned that she didn't actually "knock on any doors" (the adult passing out the goodies at our stops mostly met us outside.) So, we went ahead and let her trick-or-treat at a few houses on our block. We let Gabriella keep a pack of Starburst (they are peanut/dairy safe) and Jonathan and I enjoyed a few treats ourselves.

Shutterfly

I finally got around to uploading September and October pictures onto Shutterfly. You can check them out here... http://whisler.shutterfly.com/

Monster March

Each year our neighborhood business association hosts a "Monster March." Hundreds of children and adults gather at the elementary school and parade through the neighborhood and back to the school. Gabriella was pretty excited about it and both girls enjoyed seeing all of the children (and adults!) in costume. I didn't take any pictures during the actual parade. These are from the walk home.

The gorgeous river bluff was just calling out for some picture taking...

We skipped the parade treats and when we got home we made some "coffee mug chocolate cake." I read the reviews on the recipe site and followed the advice of adding a little baking soda for extra fluff and a tish more oil to keep it moist. I also substituted almond milk to make it safe for Gabriella. It wasn't the best chocolate cake I've ever had in my life, but it was a fun quick project/treat for Gabriella and the texture was actually pretty decent.

Pumpkins

I can't tell you how long it has been since I've carved a pumpkin. I mean, literally, I can't tell you. I'm not sure if I have done one since we've been married or not. I can't remember. We've painted a few and we used wire to make swirly decorations on one once. We've always at least bought some even if only to sit them by the doorstep au natural. This year I decided that Gabriella was old enough to help in the dreaded scooping and scraping and thus it was time that we do a couple good old fashioned carved pumpkins. Jonathan took on the large pumpkin and Gabriella and I took the smaller one. I took the top off and showed Gabriella the insides. "I am NOT sticking my hand in there," she immediately announced. So, I was left with the entire job of cleaning out the pumpkin while Gabriella watched with a look of disgust. Once that was done Gabriella was quite glad to use a washable marker to draw the face on our pumpkin. The only glitch in her design was that Gabriella likes to use a single tiny dot in the middle of her eyes so I helped her "attach" the smaller circle to the larger one to make the eyes carvable.

Her end design looks a lot like this pumpkin she drew earlier this week. (I love this drawing.):

Once Gabriella was finished with her artistry I was able to carve out the shapes she had drawn in about five minutes. Meanwhile, Jonathan was just starting to transfer the intricate "Happy Halloween"/Tree design he had chosen. He was so intent on his project that worked through supper. Gabriella and I heartlessly ate our delicious pizza right under his nose.

(The awesome pizza crust recipe I used is here. I'll have to play with making it with at least some whole wheat flour, but man it is tasty. Crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. There was plenty dough to make Gabriella her own cheese-less pizza and a few bread sticks.)

Jonathan finally finished his pumpkin long after Gabriella was in bed. We lit them up and put them on the porch. Isn't the face Gabriella made super cute? It is hard to see in this picture, but Jonathan's says "Happy Halloween" across the top.

Here they are in the daylight. (Plus a "teaser" picture of Gabriella in her peacock costume! We did the "Monster March" parade today. I'll try to have those pictures up tomorrow.

This will be quite the week. We had the Monster March today and we still have three more costume events this week! Stay tuned for lots of pictures.

Fall Photos

To atone for my lack of pumpkin patch pictures I decided to attempt a mini photo shoot with the girls and our pumpkins on the back deck. I put the girls in the outfits they wore to the pumpkin patch, but to my extreme frustration I couldn't find Juliana's pumpkin hat! I don't know where on earth it could be. Surely we didn't lose it?! I mean, you would think I would notice a bright orange hat falling off my child's head. I had to settle for the cupcake hat. Anyhow, neither of the girls were really in the mood for pictures and they graciously gave me about 10 minutes of their cooperation before defecting to the play house.

"I am soooo done with this hat."




See the cute pumpkin bows I made for Gabriella?

...And on to the playhouse. I don't even have words for this face. Anyone want to caption this?

Yes, those are my toes. I'm holding the door closed so Juliana doesn't swing it open and fall on her face (again.)

Juliana is quite happy about her ability to pull up to standing on everything and anything. She has even started to do some cruising. She made it the length of the couch once, but we won't talk about Juliana and her crusing because we all know what cruising leads to...

The pumpkins were transformed into masterfully carved works of art tonight (or something like that.) I'll post pictures of them later!

Standing Tall

Juliana decided that while we were all a bit distracted it would be a good weekend to learn to pull herself all the way up to standing. Of course, with this new skill comes the responsibility of learning which items in the house are not good for pulling up on. The chairs to play table, for example have felt pads on the feet so Gabriella doesn't scratch up the floor. These are not so great for pulling up on, but if you are careful you can get a few good steps pushing the chair across the floor before you wipe out.

Oh and another milestone... Juliana's hair is finally long enough for clippies! I got out all of my bow/hair clip making stuff and made her a few new ones. I had some scraps of that rubber grippy shelf liner and I glued a tiny piece inside of her clips. It holds the clip in her wispy fluff like magic! They don't budge even a milimeter. I still have tiny clippies that were Gabriella's, but I used magnets to hold those and that doesn't work quite as well for Juliana's hair so I may convert them for Jules. I also made the fantastic pumpkin bows that Gabriella wore to the pumpkin patch. I'll have to post a closer picture of those later.

'Roid Rage

I can't tell you how glad I am that Gabriella is finished with the oral steroids. They made her miserable. Actually, it would be more correct to say that they made us ALL miserable. Gabriella has a great little personality. She is usually very enjoyable to be around. On steroids she is hyperactive and even agressive. It is a pretty big personality shift. It doesn't help that albuterol (her breathing treatments) also makes her feel a bit jittery. She got so tired and not be able to sleep until she just dropped. Yesterday I ended up just holding her and rocking her until she finally passed out. Honestly, Jonathan and I spent most of our weekend just taking a deep breath, reminding ourselves how sick she was and trying to divert her attention. She got to watch the movie "Enchanted" twice and she got to eat jello.

Today she still needs breathing treatments, but she is definately on the mend. She'll have a check in with Dr.Sarah in a few days.

Not being able to breathe= No Fun

Once again we find ourselves all sick sick sick.

I seem to be fairing the best in our family so far, but I don't feel great by any means. I didn't go to work today so I could take care of all these other sickos I live with.

Juliana isn't her normal super happy self, but she seems better today.

Jonathan is downstairs passed out. He feels awful.

Gabriella was so sick yesterday that she got up from her long nap only to announce she was too tired to play and go back downstairs to put herself back in bed. She has been running a fever even with Tylenol. We've been giving her nebulizer treatments, but she has still been running short of breath in between them. She'll have to pause in the middle of the word to catch her breath. We took her to the doctor this morning (our usual ped wasn't in) and he said it was likely pneumonia. We know she is susceptible to it. She is on oral steroids and we'll start antibiotics tomorrow morning if she is still running a fever. Poor thing.

Did I mention I hate cold and flu season?

Teething + Colds = No fun!

The other night Juliana was being particularly chompy so we checked her mouth and sure enough one of her top front teeth was completely through and the other is on the cusp of breaking through. That girl is a speed teether!

Yesterday Juliana was mildly cranky and she took two looong naps. She had a very mild temperature and runny nose, which could be teething, but I was starting to suspect a cold. After I took Juliana's temp Gabriella asked me to play doctor with her. I took Gabriella's temp and was suprised to see she was at 100.01. This morning both girls are pretty congested and Juliana is flat out miserable.

Did I mention I hate cold and flu season?

3 Years of Sauvie Island

Today we made our third trek to the beautiful Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch. This year we brought along a new family member (OK, so technically Juliana was there last year, but this year she was able to enjoy the view.) We also brought our friends Kaycieann and Travis. I was pretty excited about taking three million pictures as this was my first year to bring my canon rebel. I realized the night before that I needed to charge the battery... and I forgot. I remembered right before it was time to leave and I put the battery on the charger. My camera died not long after we got to the patch. I was able to get it to turn it on and shoot off a few super quick pictures on auto in the actual pumpkin field, but I only came home with a few decent pictures. Foo. (We did actually have a great time. Kaycie and Travis are two of Gabriella's favorite people and are always lots of fun.)

Anyhow, sob stories aside, I thought you might like to take a look at the last few years of Sauvie Island Fun.

2006

*Gabriella is 13.5 months.

2007

*Gabriella is 2. I am 6 months pregnant with Juliana.

2008

*Gabriella is 3. Juliana is 8 months.
Yes, Gabriella finally outgrew that sweater.

Aren't Kaycie and Travis super cute? They are getting married next summer.