Friday, May 30, 2008

Julia Petulia is 6 months old!

Julia was 6 months old yesterday and she had a big day to celebrate. We sang Happy Birthday about 10 times because she loves to hear her momma sing songs. And I promise....she is the only one who likes to hear it! Big girl...almost sitting up on her own, but not quite. She still needs a little support from her Boppy.
All of us went to eat dinner at the Farmfest sponsor appreciation banquet. Julia was the star of the show and had a bottle for dinner while the rest of us enjoyed catfish, hushpuppies, fries and slaw. Shawnie and Lance sat with us and I talked her into going for a walk after we got a belly full of fried food.


Julia gets to try real food today after her doctor's appointment for the first time! I bought some fresh green beans and carrots at the grocery store today and will cook them and mush them up in the blender for her dinner. I had to consult my friend Becca, Sol's Mom, to ask her about cooking our own baby foods. My original plan was to start with green beans, but she suggested a sweeter vegetable like carrots or sweet potatoes. Good idea!

Julia requested her first meeting with the mayor of Wynne, Paul Nichols, to discuss some current events taking place in the city that she will be living in. She had a lot to say and I think the look on her face lets you know if she was satisfied with the results of thier meeting! I think we were able to schedule the meeting so easily since we have known this mayor for well over 30 years.

After the stroll, we went home and Julia got her very first guitar lesson from her dad. He told her to watch him first and then she got to try. She was a very good student and learned how to strum. He told her that they would work on some chords next time.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Mistaken Identity

A lady who was visiting a patient in the hospital stopped by my office today to look at a picture of Julia that is on my desk. Here is how the conversation went........
The lady: "What a pretty girl!"
Me: "Oh, thank you....she is our little sweetheart!"
The lady: "Is she your daughter or granddaughter?"

Oh my God, she did NOT! We were always worried about this happening to John. Who would have thought I would have gotten it first!!!! John nearly fell out of his chair laughing when I told him about it.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Julia's First Vacation

OK, so it was just a night in Memphis. But, we had such a good time and Julia was such a trooper that we think that NYC will be next!
Julia playing in her Exersaucer before we left Sunday. She likes it for about 20 minutes and then gets really frustrated.
We went to the National Metal Museum first. Julia got to visit her first museum and she really liked the art. She asked a lot of very intelligent questions about everything she saw.
Then we went outside and hung out by the Mississippi River.
The garden at the Metal museum was our favorite part.
Then, we went to visit Emmy. Emmy has a very cool basement playroom that her Mom set up for her.
This is Julia is her cute ruffle bottom bathing suit getting ready for her very first swim.
The look on her face says it all. She was not so sure at first, but once she got used to the cold water, she LOVED it! We shared the pool with a soccer team so it was really loud in the pool area. I think she is going to love the pool as much as she loves her bath. Her favorite place was in her Dad's arms after the swim.

Not so sure about the sushi that mom and dad ate Sunday night at Stix! Yummy!

Julia was so happy that we brought her bed for the motel room. We actually had to wake her up at 9 the next morning because John and I were ready to go.

This is what the back of the Blazer looked like when we got home Monday night after shopping all day. We ended up buying a desk at Pier 1 for the computer. We could not fit one more thing in the back!

Julia got a new highchair and had cereal in it when we got home. I washed the Baby papason and am going to return it to my friend who let us borrow it. It was a little bit sad to move to the highchair and retire the babyseat. It has been sitting on my bar for almost 6 months now!

It was great to have an extra day off! Looking forward to our next Memphis vacation!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Good Times

John's brother Bill and his wife Sharon came to visit us Wednesday and left this morning. They live in Summerville, South Carolina and Bill just retired from his position at the State Farm headquarters. He and John have not kept in touch over the years very well and so we were happy to have them. They hope to be able to travel more now that Bill is retired and I hope to see them more often. Sharon was a big help with Julia and it was good for Julia to have people around the house! She decided that she really liked them both and when she was in the mood, she would give them both big smiles pretty readily! She spent a lot of time napping Thursday and woke up at around 6:30 am. She was already down for a nap at 9:30 and woke up at noon. She was down again at around 2:30 and slept until 5. She even took another nap around 7:30 and I had to wake her up around 8:30 pm! Wow....she must be going through a growth spurt.

This was today at lunch.....you can see why I want to drive all the way home at lunch these days! Julia is definitely the bright spot of my day! She is starting to grab everything in sight. I had her in my lap at lunch and was trying to read the newspaper. She wanted to eat it instead. She also got very close to pulling my tea off the bar twice!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

A Turning Point

Julia has been improving by leaps and bounds lately on her social skills. She has let my mom lay her down for a nap TWICE now! She is doing much better about not bursting into tears when other people hold her and talk to her. I am hoping this was just a phase! This week will be the ultimate test with John's brother and his wife coming to stay with us. John and I have been busy cleaning and getting the house ready for company. I always vow never to get to the point where I have to spend so much time prepping for company. It feels so good to have a clean house and organized closets.
Julia has been busy rolling over and getting very frustrated about being stuck on her tummy. She wants to sit up and she even tries to sit while taking her bottle. She looks pretty funny sitting up with her head straight back looking at the ceiling with a bottle in her mouth! My favorite time is when she wakes up in the mornings...around 7:30 these days. She sings and makes "tarzanish" sounds while laying in her bed. She very patiently stays in her bed after her nights sleep and her naps until someone comes to get her. I don't think she has ever cried while waiting on us to get her. Another reason for us to keep her in our room in her pack n play. How would we ever hear her and know she was awake and ready to get up?????

Monday, May 19, 2008

A Beautiful Sunday!

The new ride that was supposed to be John's. He says that he still wants to drive his truck and that we could use the RV, as he calls it, for trips and when he needs to take Julia somewhere during the day. A special occasions vehicle......


John bought me a tree for Mother's Day and we planted it Sunday afternoon. We bought our land and built our house thinking that we would be there forever. If all goes well, we will. We thought it would be fun to watch the tree grow and help us to remember our first year as Julia's parents.

Sunday afternoon, we went over to visit Tara at her Mom and Dad's house. She is having to go through everything and decide what to keep after her Mom died two years ago. Her Dad recently got married and has moved to Batesville. I cannot imagine having to decide what to keep and what to let go! They got a lot accomplished and are tackling it one room at a time. This picture is of Julia taking a nap on Mrs. Teri's bedroom floor. I was so happy to have this picture because I have tons of stories about Emmy and Sol's Yia Yia that I cannot wait to tell Julia. Julia did get in some play time with Sol while we were there. This is her signature lip out pose that is absolutely irresisible. She has been doing this since she was born. I always thought this was a learned behavior, but she has proven me wrong! Sol has such a sweet disposition and I cannot believe they are getting so big! I remember sitting in this living room last year when Becca was pregnant, Emmy was a tiny baby, and I was glowing with that just found out stage!

Relay for Life

Friday night, the hospital had a team in Cross County's Relay for Life event to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I took Julia and remembered last year when I was there and had just found out that I was pregnant. It was still a secret and I remember wondering what this year's Relay would be like with my 5 month old! Julia was a trooper and actually let other people hold her. She got to hear her Dad's band play in public, somewhere other than in our basement!

This is Jenna, a friend at work, who is about to give birth to sweet baby Lauren....any day now!
This is Nana, my co-worker and Mom's good friend. Nana was my neighbor growing up and her house was like a second home to me! Julia and I stayed at Relay for Life until about 10:30. She curled up in her blanket and went to sleep after her bottle. I think she would have been fine to lay on my shoulder and sleep all night. We also went to Leann and Jake's house for a minute for a going away party for Katie and Brent. Too many of my friends are moving lately! They are moving their family to Heber Springs.

Stuff

Mom came over to visit Julia Friday night. She ended up doing more cleaning than anything, which was a huge help. John's brother and his wife are coming to stay with us for a couple of nights this week. It has inspired us to get some things done! I never really understood why my friends with kids always said it was so hard to get things like housework and laundry accomplished with a baby. Well, now I get it!
Julia got to get in her swing for the first time Friday! I love this picture because you can see Sue's (our rescued dog's) snout in the far left getting a sniff of Julia. She really liked the swing!

Julia still likes her toes and they taste really good with rice cereal on them! She has created a method to eating her cereal at night. It goes something like this....take a bite, suck her 2 fingers, take them out of her mouth, take a bite, suck her 2 fingers, take them out of her mouth.....and on and on! Every now and then she throws a toe in there for good measure.
Julia wants to put any and everything in her mouth. Her least favorite things to put in her mouth are the 2 toys we bought her that are specifically for that purpose. She really prefers her dress, which ends up soaking wet and her all time favorite, her 2 fingers. She is learning to "get things" with her hands. Today at lunch, she almost pulled my plate off the bar and into the floor. We are having to put things out of her reach.


Tuesday, May 13, 2008

A New Ride

John got a new to him ride today. We bought a 99 Blazer with about 97,000 miles on it. It was a Colony Shop vehicle and was used to travel from store to store until they recently went out of business. John bought his current truck new in 1993 and it has about 230,000 miles on it. It still drives really good, but it was beginning to fall apart. It's funny that he still doesn't want to get rid of it so we will probably just keep it. I think it is worth around $400.00...ha! We try to do like Dave Ramsey advises on money matters and pay for things with cash. We were able to do this and lets just hope it lasts at least a couple of years. Knowing John, he will probably still be driving it when Julia is 10!
Julia and I went for a good walk again today and ran into Kristen and Dana on the way. They walked with us and are seeing first hand Julia's strolling habits. She likes the first mile and a half and gets really cranky during the last mile. I have theorized that it is because the sun is hitting her in the face during the last mile, but today it was cloudy and she still cried at the same spot. Yesterday and today, Kristen picked her up and carried her for the last mile or so. She seems happy and content to be carried....who wouldn't? I wouldn't mind being carried myself by that point! I have had to carry her by myself which is quite the bicep and cardio workout while pushing the stroller too! Anyway, just another Julia quirk.
This sounds really silly, but she is learning to play too. We play a game where I lay beside her where we are facing eachother and she puts her hand close to my mouth. I make a noise and act like I am gobbling her hand. She smiles and laughs EVERY time. I make her put her hand in the same spot before I respond, so she is learning to do things over and over again to get a laugh. I am amazed at how absolutely brilliant she is. I am also amazed at how many times I will do something silly just to see that sweet little smile. I must have done that trick about 100 times today!

A Sweet First Mother's Day

Sunday was such a sweet day at my house! I woke up smiling. We took it easy, went for a stroll, and went to visit my Mom. I brought her a plant that will come back every year as a reminder of her first year as a grandmother. John and I had frosted mini wheats for lunch. He made up for it when he cooked my favorite meal on the grill which was salmon, veges, and a sweet potato. Yum! I try not to disgust any of my readers with mushy, husband details, but this one was worthy. Sunday night, I gave John a hug and told him thank you for my delicious dinner and since I never said it before, thanked him for my baby. His response was, "No, thank YOU. I never imagined how sweet she could be." This is coming from the same man who was adamantly against having a baby since the day that I met him. I am so glad that he changed his mind. He adores his baby girl and she brings us both so much JOY!

Shawnie sent the sweetest card to help me celebrate my First Mother's Day and Sarah gave me one too. Tara sent me the cutest mothers day card with Emmy's picture on it. I wish I could be half as thoughtful as they are! A lot of my friends and family sent well wishes for a happy mothers day. It was a very happy day for me and one that I will not soon forget.
I think it might be time to take down the pink ribbon that has been by my door since the day we came home with Julia. It is getting a little bit dusty!


This is the wind up sushi that Emmy Ruth (Tara) sent to Julia. Tara and I have joking for a long time about our daughters being the youngest to ever eat sushi. We both want to make sure that they love it early so that we will always have an excuse to get together and eat sushi.

Friday, May 9, 2008

A Weird Week...


This picture is one of John's masterpieces.....it is really beautiful out here in the country when everything is so green!


Yep, pictures! I got my camera back Wednesday after the guy that we thought may have had something to do with the reason that it was missing, showed up on my doorstep and handed it back. He picked up the wrong one and his nephew deleted all my pictures. He has been out of town for a while which is why it took exactly one week for him to return it. I will leave the rest to your imagination! I was so happy to have it back and couldn't believe my luck! John and I went to celebrate at Colby's after Mrs. Pat gave me a Colby's gift card this week for doing the Woodruff Electric health screenings. I always enjoy spending time with her and the very nice people at Woodruff.

John finished his first semester of college this week. He was almost like a kid when he finished his last final! We are anxiously awaiting grades that will be posted next week.

We are trying out alltell's internet service at home since Hughes Net has caused us such a headache. We have been without internet for a week at home, and it is time that we do something! Of course, as soon as we get Alltell hooked up, the phone ring and the Hughes Net service men are coming over to fix that internet service. Guess we will compare the two and decide from there. John needs it for his Computer Fundamentals internet class for Summer I.

We test drove a 1999 blazer today for John to drive. It would be like new for him....only 97,000 miles! His truck is a 1993 Nissan with 230,000 miles on it. He insists that he really likes his truck and doesn't need anything new. He is kind of going back and forth about this Blazer. I think we should buy it, but I am going to let him make the final decision. He is stuck at home with Julia all day unless we swap vehicles. His truck is not safe for her car seat because there is only a front seat, so we haven't put one in there yet. It would be nice for them to be able to go places during the day.....like maybe the grocery store! HA!

My parents and Sarah came over Thursday night to visit Julia. She is still having trouble sharing her environment with others. She cried alot while they were here, but one second later, she can turn around and throw out a huge smile. She is an interesting case! We did get to go on a stroll yesterday afternoon too. I was not quite ready to give them up, so I decided to try again. She did great......and I guess that was because she slept the whole way!

This girl loves her bed! She gets fussy at night while I am giving her a nighttime bottle and when I lay her down, she smiles really big! She rolls over on her side, puts her two fingers in her mouth and pretty much goes right to sleep.

This is Julia at Colby's sucking on her shoe. I told her not to do this in public, but she insists. She would be much happier if we would just take off her shoe and let her get to her toes. We try to save those picturesque moments for the privacy of our own home.John went to Wal Mart and was supposed to be buying dog food. Instead, he came home with a teething ring and another stuffed teething toy. Julia likes to hold the ring but hasn't quite figured it out just yet. Everyday, John exposed Julia to some type of music that he plays or listens to with her. This week, she got to spend a lot of time listening to him play his mandolin. I hope that she gets his love for music and his talents. If not, it won't be because she wasn't exposed!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Poor Granny.....

After looking forward to our stroll all day, Julia and I ventured out yesterday afternoon for a long leisurely walk. She started crying about 2 minutes into it, and didn't stop until we finished, even after I cut it short. I even had to stop at the park and hold her for a few minutes to calm her down! Everyone that we pass that is outside just looks at us with pity. I decided that I was either going to call off the strolls or wait until later and let her try to get a nap in. Those kind of walks aren't good for either of our mental health statuses!
After our walk, John and I had to come to my office to take his macroeconomics final exam because our internet is out at home. It was a two hour test and we had 45 seconds to spare when we finished! I say we because I help him all that I can. We think we aced it and are so proud! He says that macro has been one of those classes that has caused him to be in a constant state of panic all semester! I remember those days and remember how good it feels to be finished with a class like that. My Mom came to our house and kept Julia while we were testing. Usually, Mom sugarcoats the report that she gives and says that Julia was fine, but she didn't sugarcoat last night too much. Julia obviously cried a lot and refused to take her bottle both times Mom tried to feed her. We think she is happier in her own home, but it proved not to help much last night! Of course, when we got home, I picked her up and she laid her head on my shoulder and grinned at mom. She is such the Momma and Daddy's girl! We have to help her get out of this because noone wants to be around a crying baby....no matter how cute they are!
Worrys me, but I guess she is just expressing herself the way that she knows how. In the meantime though......poor Granny!

Monday, May 5, 2008

I Would Love to Share Some Pictures......

I would love to post some pictures but my digital camera was stolen last week. Right out of my own house. Three local guys came to fix my satellite internet and decided to swipe my camera. John and I looked EVERYWHERE and have second guessed ourselves about a million times. Finally, I decided we needed to let it go and not spend anymore energy on worrying about it. However, I am so irritated!

We had a great, slow weekend. The weather was great. Julia and I went for a stroll Saturday and Sunday. Sunday was much warmer than Saturday and I think I dressed Julia way too warm. The sun was in her eyes and she cried the entire 2.5 miles. People just look and stare at us with this helpless look on their face. I just smile and wave. Finally, when we only had about a half mile left, a lady stopped me and wanted me to come in and ask me a sewing question. I figured Julia would appreciate the break, so I picked her up out of her stroller and took her in. She screamed so loud the entire time we were in there that I couldn't ever hear the woman telling me measurements or anything else! I decided to take all of her clothes off because maybe she was too hot. I ended up carrying her in her diaper and pushing the stroller for the remaining trip. We were quite the site......wish I had my camera so that I could have captured it.

Julia is such a sweetheart. She puts anything and everything in her mouth. Her toes are still her favorite thing to put in her mouth, so we take her footed pajamas off often so that she can get to them. She is an awesome sleeper at night and usually goes to bed around 9:30 and wakes up somewhere between 8 and 9. Her naps during the day are not always so predictable. Yesterday, I think she took about 5 10-15 minute naps. She eats her rice cereal at night and has a bottle during the day. We will start her on regular food when she is 6 months.....wow, only about 3 weeks away! She is not an aggressive eater and could quite possibly, do without food for a while. She must take after her Dad with her eating habits! She is such a joy and I am not sure what we ever did without her!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

The Sweetest Sound and Rolling Over....

John told me that Julia rolled from her tummy to her back and then back again Tuesday while they were at home playing. I had to see it for myself and so yesterday, I put her on her tummy and she, very methodically, put her leg out for some leverage and rolled over. It was a very smooth manuever and she seemed to know exactly what she was doing. I didn't see her roll from her back to her tummy, so I will have to take John's word for it for now. It's funny how there are all of these milestones and I have felt so much pressure to make sure that Julia is where she is "supposed" to be. She is right on time with this new trick! Of course when we pulled out the video camera to capture this magical moment again on camera, she threw a huge hissy fit, screamed her little lungs out, and refused to perform!
My new favorite are the sounds that she is making. She sings while she is in her carseat and there is not a sweeter sound!
Yesterday, John had to go register for his summer classes. He is taking 2 classes each 5 week summer term and will have a full load. This is his last week of classes and final week is next week. I never though my husband would be finishing his first semester of college. It has been great for all of us, but Julia gets the best part! She gets to stay at home with her Dad all day. The second summer term, he is going to have to take one day class that will last 2 hours 4 days a week. We will have to get creative and start thinking about what to do with Julia for these few hours. I knew he would eventually have to take some day classes and I am not looking forward to it. Hopefully, we can work out something that will make us all happy.