Let It Be

What's playing on my ipod? I was on the treadmill yesterday and had to listen to "Let It Be" THREE times! When it was over, I would immediately start it over. It didn't do much for the cardio beat that I needed, but wow....have you ever listened to the words?

When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me.
Speaking words of wisdom, Let It Be.
Let It Be, Let It Be, Let It Be, Let it Be
There will be an answer, Let It Be.

More love and less hate......that's what we need.

After that song, I was abruptly brought back to earth by, "If you ain't got no money, take your broke --- home. G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S"

8 Months Old!

Julia turned 8 months old yesterday! We have had a busy week so far. Monday night was book club and for the third time since the history of book club (3 1/2 years ago), I did not read the book. It was "Dinosaurs on the Roof," and was recommended in Oprah's magazine. It was hard to find and I just didn't make the effort to get my hands on it. I felt bad, but those who read it didn't seem to think much of it. We had a good time chatting about books in general though and I always enjoy the company that book club allows. Julia stayed with her grandparents which worked out good for everybody. I vow to do better this month and read, "Loving Frank" which is this month's pick.

Last night, Julia and I went to Jessica's house to bid her farewell. Yes, she is moving! I am losing count of all of my friends who are leaving Wynne. She landed an Assistant Principal's job at a school close to Fayetteville and is moving there with her two kids. Some other girls came over to help her pack and hang out and eat pizza. I am seeing a lot of Boone's Farm these days at different outings....is it making a comeback? They say it is the perfect summer drink....fruity and cheap???!!

Julia is so much fun these days. Today, she crawled 7 feet in about 3 minutes! My favorite part of the day is to come home from work. John says she can hear me open the door and hears my shoes on the hard wood. She smiles and screams so big when she sees me. Today, she even started crawling towards me. Is there anything in life better than that?

Jessica having some Boone's Farm to celebrate her move

This picture is a good illustration of how orange Julia's nose is these days AND visual proof that she does get dressed every now and then. I am reading that the orange nose is a result of all of the carrots that she has been eating.

Julia's hair is growing a lot lately. I love the perfect crown on the top of her head and thought I would capture it in a picture before her hair grows to hide it.

Julia's Weekend

We had a good, quiet weekend. There is one common theme to all of the pictures posted below....Julia never got dressed!

Last night, Julia officially crawled! She has been so close for a long time, but it the was the bright colors on the Pampers box that finally lured her. It took about 5 minutes and lot of cheering to get her to go 3 feet, but she definitely did it! Because crawling is such an exhausting process, she would lay flat on her belly and suck her fingers to "rest up" between every step. She has also managed to get from her belly to the sitting up position. John thinks he will be very busy this week installing lots of wooden gates around the house!

This is what she looks like after a meal. She has a lot of fun fingerpainting with the food on her highchair tray and all over her face and body. I let her do it for a while because I think she is just being creative and learning.


Julia's Grandparents came to visit two days in a row this weekend. Her little personality is quite addictive and I think people just plain and simple.....can't get enough! She is fascinated with our dogs and thank goodness, they let her be!

Julia reaches for everything so that she can put it in her mouth. This is just an example.

I finished some sewing projects this weekend that I needed to catch up on. This is a baby bag for Dr. Beth's new baby, Katie. I donated a promise to make a custom made bag to the Arts Council this year and she won it. She wanted to wait and see what she was having so that we could monogram it and she could pick out some fabric. I think it turned out great. So cute, in fact, that I made Julia one exactly like. A girl can never have too many monogrammed bags!

Some burp pads for a friend to give as gifts. One of the gifts she ordered was for Dr. Beth so I made her a burp pad to match her bag.

This is a towel wrap that someone ordered. I also spent a lot of time doing some custom drapes, but a picture won't do them justice. I will have to wait and take one when they are installed.

Slow Down, My Girl!

Whoa....Julia has been doing so many new things lately! It seems like all of this new stuff happened at once and all I can think about it all is wishing time would slow down a little! Here are some new things within the past 2 weeks:
- 2 new teeth
- pulling up and wanting to spend a lot of time standing
- clapping on cue
- crying when I leave her sight (This makes everything harder! Especially going back to work after lunch!)
- picking up small foods on her plate and eating them. I am still extremely conscious about what she is eating and so far, she likes the healthy stuff that I am forcing on her. She has not had any meat yet and is fine without it. She has 2 vegetables, rice cereal and a fruit for lunch and dinner. She has 4 bottles a day of formula. Tonight, I steamed some broccoli and broke it into small bites for her. She finds a way to get the bites into her mouth...usually by picking them up in her fist and sucking her hand in a way that gets the bite into her mouth. Pretty brilliant if you ask me. She hasn't mastered the pincer grip just yet, but is learning so fast how to make things happen.
- enjoying spending time with other people and being perfectly content letting others hold her. I was really worried about her social skills (or her lack thereof) early on, but she is doing great these days.

Of course, Julia still loves John the most. It is such a sweet bond and I have never seen 2 faces light up more when they see each other. John is finishing up his 3rd semester of school this next week. He has taken 4 summer courses...two each term. This is the maximum that a student is allowed because the content is crammed into 5 weeks. He is doing well, but is spending a lot of time writing papers and doing school work. He gets a much needed 3 week break after next week before he starts his fall semester. As soon as I get home, he starts on his school work and so I get to have my Julia time. She likes a nap around 5 and wakes up around 7 so this gives me some treadmill time. Yes, I am still hard at it! I do a 30 minute workout 6 days a week and try to burn at least 350 calories. I usually alternate between speed work (running a little) and walking fast at an incline. I look forward to the days of no running because my body resists every second of it. My work out time is such a good stress reliever and very good for my blood sugars. It's been three weeks now and I haven't slacked yet!

The First Baby to Ever Learn to Clap

Why is it so great when your own child learns a skill that every other child in the world has learned? Julia learned to clap this week and I am utterly amazed. She does it at appropriate times, too. When I say, "Yay, Julia," and clap, she follows suit. Here she is clapping with Aunt Jane who came to visit yesterday. She also started going from her tummy to the sitting up position. She is making great progress these days and I almost want her to slow down. She is growing up so fast! Everyday is still more fun that the last.

Julia loves to get on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. She only does this on the bed...I guess because she feels safer there. I think we are only hours away from crawling!

Sarah is babysitting Julia Monday through Thursday from 11:30-2 while John is at class. This is working out really well and Julia seems to be happy to see her.

Animal Tails, I mean Tales

Mom and Dad's "Supper Club" came by to visit Friday night. Of course, Julia is the star of the show and everyone sat around and watched her eat a cracker. Someone asked, "Do you wonder what she is thinking about all of us watching her?" My reply was, "Have you ever been to the zoo?" (Animal Tale #1) I think that must be how she feels!

This picture was taken immediately before the wasp swarm that happened on my deck. They attacked and successfully stung my Mom and Sarah. My Mom's ankle was severely swollen the next day. So, John's project for the rest of the weekend was to kill the wasp's nest that was under mine and Julia's favorite Adirondack chair. I can't tell you how many times we have sat in that chair and were never stung! (Animal Tale #2)

John, Julia and I had a blast at a backyard party for Neall, Jon David King, and Justin Patton's 30th birthdays. These people know how to throw a party! It was complete with band, lots of tents set up in the backyard, a few bottles of Snow Creek Berry, great crowd of fun people, and this delicious food that I had to capture on film (See below for animal tales #3 and 4). Everyone brought their kids from 5-7 and then we took Julia to my parent's house for a couple of hours while we attended the adult portion of the party. Julia did okay right up until the bitter end, about 10 minutes before we picked her up. When we walked in she was crying uncontrollably and hung on to me for dear life. I think we need to leave her more often so that she can get used to being somewhere else around bedtime. Thanks parents, for letting her hang out there!

Crawfish feast!

Yep, look closer........that is a pig's head!

Sweet Emmy at her Uncle Neall's birthday party!

Julia loving the little swing set that was in their back yard. For the third or fourth time in her life, Julia wore some shoes. They didn't last long though....I had taken them off after only a few minutes. Shoes just don't look right on her.

Animal tale #5 happened when we pulled up in the driveway after the party. The dogs were barking like mad because there were 6 or 7 cows parked in the front yard. Some were sitting and some were standing....just hanging out.

Sunday, Julia and I hung around the house and she helped me with the laundry. Shawnie came by to visit and we enjoyed a good quiet day at the house.

The last animal tale of the weekend happened when John was outside fixing my flat tire. He ran inside for a minute to grab something and came back to find this.......

Sue sitting in the driver's seat.

Time in the Upright Position

Julia is spending a lot of time in the upright position these days. She still needs a little support, but I think she enjoys seeing things from a different angle. Mom, Dad and Sarah came over last night and hung out during Julia's nightly routine. She wakes up from her second nap of the day around 6:30 or 7. Then she plays until around 8 which is her dinner time. Last night, she ate rice cereal, sweet potatoes, green beans, and bananas with apples and pears. She even had some apple juice that she drinks from a cup. She hasn't quite figured out the sippy cup yet. After her dinner, she takes a bath, and then we play and get dressed for bed. She is usually asleep by around 10.

After everyone left, Julia got her first electric guitar lesson with John. She has already mastered the acoustic guitar, so John thought it was time for her to move to the "real deal." (Keep in mind that most people are not allowed to touch his guitars.) However, Julia can slobber all over it and he thinks it is the cutest thing!

I think John was starting to miss his guitars because they are all downstairs and he won't go down there during the day with Julia. So this week, he brought his pignose amp upstairs along with his electric guitar so he could get his fix. I leaned this pen up against the amp so you can see the size of it. Our deal was that he would keep all of his music stuff downstairs, but this little noisemaker is the perfect, unobtrusive size for it's new spot in the living room.

Our Family Conversations

John left home last night to run a couple of errands. After he was gone for about thirty minutes, he called home and said, "What's Julia doing? Can you put the phone up to her ear so that she can hear me? What did she do when she heard me? Put it to her ear again and let me talk to her."
Then when he got home, the conversation goes something like this:

John: "I never thought it would be this way."
Joy: "What way?" (Even though I knew where this was going, it's just fun to hear him say it.)
John: "When I leave the house, I just want to rush right back so I don't miss anything."
Joy: "I know.....imagine how I must feel having to be gone ALL day."
John: "I really can't imagine."
Joy: "It's funny how things have changed so drastically around here. A friend of mine explained it really well when he said, 'When you have children, nothing else matters. It's like the whole mafia theme....FAMILY FIRST and nothing else.' You just really begin to focus all of your energy inward.
John: "I agree. But don't I matter too?"
Joy: "Yes, honey. You, me and Julia.....that's it."

Julia's Weekend

Julia had a very big weekend hanging around the house with her Mom and Dad. Here are some things that she did:

This is a position that she spends a lot of time in these days. She is so ready to crawl, but usually just rocks back and forth on her hands and knees. When I put her favorite toy in front of her just out of reach, she usually manages to take a few steps backwards instead of forward. Mobility is in our very near future, I think!
This is fancy feet in her jumpy thing that hangs in the doorway. We had to put in our french door opening because if she were in a single doorway, she would bounce off the walls. She LOVES this thing and looks like a little tap dancer when she is in it.

I thought this picture was funny because it looks like the other 12 pictures that I took of her in the jumpy. She moves so fast and bounces up and down like a wild woman and so I usually can only capture half of her body in the picture!

This is her giving me a big hug. She gives the best, tight hugs when she wakes up from her naps. I take full advantage!

She is starting to love our dogs and cat. This is her standing at the door looking out at ShyAnn. I am starting to think I will be spending a lot of time cleaning fingerprints off the glass.

We also got to meet Maggie yesterday. Maggie is Mary Margaret and Ben Meyer's new baby girl. She is so sweet and tiny. I hope that Maggie will be another good playmate for Julia when they come to Wynne for a visit.

Teeth!

Getting a picture to prove it is impossible, but Julia has 2 teeth on the bottom that have broken through! John says he is going to cook some ribs this weekend so she can gnaw on the bone......he's kidding I hope. She hasn't been fussy or run any fever that we know of. Amazing, this girl has the sweetest temperment! She continues to be so much fun and we are loving every minute of being her parents. One of my favorite moments of the day is when I get home from lunch or from work at the end of the day, I slowly poke my head around the corner to see Julia. She sits straight up, puts both arms out, and screams! She is almost as happy to see me as I am to see her! This is supposed to be a picture of Julia's teeth, but instead, I think it is a good shot of her juicy mouth!
John was in charge of dinner last night and he makes the most delicious grilled cheese I have ever eaten. He thinks it is the sprinkle of parmesan cheese that he puts on top that makes it so good, but I think it has more to do with the butter that he puts in the bottom of the skillet! This is one of my favorite summertime meals....grilled cheese with some tomato soup!

Back on the Bandwagon

After a wonderful weekend spent in and around the pool, I decided that it was time to get back on the bandwagon. Before Julia, I was a gym-aholic and needed my fix at least four or five days a week! My last day at the gym was when I was seven months pregnant and I think people were really starting to talk about me.....I looked pretty ridiculous. That was also the last day that I listened to my ipod. Sunday afternoon, I bought a treadmill at Wal-Mart that had gotten really good reviews online. I got to try it out last night, complete with my ipod and oh, I didn't realize how much I missed them BOTH! It was a very happy 35 minutes. Now, to be sure that my treadmill does not become a very expensive clothes hanger, feel free to ask me how the workouts are coming along next time you see me. I could use some accountability!

I love how Julia puts her arms out on the sides of her boat. She is such a girl of leisure!

My new toy!

What Julia Thought of Her First Firework Show

And We're Off!

John, Julia and I are headed off to Cherokee Village this weekend for Julia's first two night vacation! They have a boat parade and fireworks over the lake, so that is our plan. We hope to hang out by the pool and watch some movies. We were sitting on our deck one night this week at home and I asked John why we ever felt the need to leave? Most people leave to get away from the city life and to find some peace and quiet. We get to enjoy the quiet every day at our house! We decided that our purpose for a get away was to be away from the computer, sewing machine, dirty laundry and other distractions! We are looking forward to a break. Thank you so much, anonymous donor, for the weekend getaway!!!!!

Julia is such a JOY these days! I thought I would list some of the things she likes and dislikes:
First, dislikes:
1. Running blenders....John literally has to take her upstairs when I run the blender! She is terrified!
2. Spraying water hoses
3. The automatic car wash at Exon
4. The last .5 mile of our walk....still haven't figured this one out???
5. To have her naps/schedule messed up

Likes:
1. Sleeping....she grins from ear to ear when I lay her in her bed for a nap or at bedtime!
2. Fruit, especially pears
3. This crazy Fisher Price toy that sings nursery rhymes. She laughs at it when it is just laying on the floor where she can see it! This has been her favorite toy since she was born.
4. Her jumpy thing, the one that hangs from the door framing!
5. To touch things with texture....bamboo placemats, granite countertops, soft toys, plastic sacks, rugs, anything!
6. Water. She likes bathtime, the hot tub, the pool.
7. To be outside. If she is ever fussy, all I have to do is to take her outside and it seems to calm her!
8. To hear her Momma sing, the ABC song especially.
9. Anything her Daddy does or says. If he is anywhere near, her eyes are always on him!
10. She is really liking her JiJi, Aunt Sarah and Pappaw.