11 Months Old!

Wow....I cannot believe our sweet Julia is 11 months old today! Since it was her birthday, we celebrated in a big way with more Halloween festivities. We went to the Methodist Church's Trunk or Treat. Julia had a great time, but the best part of the night was eating her very first hot dog that Kristen gave her. Kristen will report that it was the best night of Julia's life because of her hot dog experience. She stuffed it in her mouth with both hands. Good stuff and so healthy too!

Witch Becca handing out treats.

Trunk or treat works by people opening their trunks and decorating them with Halloween goods. The kids come around and get candy, or in Becca and Neall's case, toothbrushes. This is Julia in the back of Becca and Neall's car. It cracks me up because you can see Julia's crazy mom's face in the corner trying to make her smile.

Julia won second place in the costume contest in her age group. Low and behold, the prize was the best ever....... A BALL!

This picture captures Julia's overall feeling about wearing the cow costume.....you must be kidding me with this. I tried to tell her that the BALL sippy cup that she won was so worth the pain of wearing the cow.

This is Julia's first art work that was hung on our refrigerator. I finally get why parents have a refrigerator full of these littles treasures. Julia made this at her sitter's house yesterday. Of course, it's her foot print made into a ghost. Melinda told John that she tried to get Julia to do both feet, but she wasn't having it. John and I were both so proud of her for accomplishing such a beautiful craft. How many of these beauties can we have framed?

The Weekend of the BALL!

Our sweet Julia loves a BALL. She especially loves pumpkins/BALLS, but will excitedly say BALL! to whatever she sees that resembles one....no matter what color....or how big or small. We had a tame weekend so we spent a lot of time looking for all kinds of balls. The icing on the cake was when we went to Wal Mart. I thought she was going to flip out at all the pumpkins/BALLS!

She is saying Bye Bye and waving, raises her arms to SO BIG, still makes the wild Indian sound quite frequently, and is getting pretty good at Pig Latin. The checker girl at Fred's asked me how old she was and I told her she was almost 11 months old. She then told me how smart she was and how many words she knew to be so young. We will probably be shopping at Fred's more often.

"Now THAT is one big ball!"

Things That I Loved Today.....

1. The fact that Julia, for the second day in a row, didn't cry when I left her at the sitter's!

2. That the hospital auxiliary (volunteers) made $1500 on their fundraiser $5.00 jewelery sale!

3. Julia smacking her lips when she took some bites of the chicken and dumplings that her JeeJee cooked for her.

4. The thought of taking Julia to the Parker Homestead Pioneer Village this weekend.

5. The fact that I may have made the best pot of chili that I have ever made tonight!

6. The fact that the hot tub has clean water in it, that I have a good book to read while enjoying it, and that there is a half empty bottle of wine leftover from book club that will go bad if someone doesn't enjoy it soon.....

7. That I screamed like a little girl this afternoon when I was admiring this guy's new truck today at work and opened the door to find an enormous rubber water moccasin.

8. Julia checking to make sure there was plenty of rinse-aid in the dishwasher tonight after dinner.

9. Julia's first craft project that she came home with from the sitters. How cute is that? I LOVE it that they made a craft today! I know that there will be a day when our house if full of Julia's art projects but I wanted to always remember the first one.

10. And the thing that I loved most today was seeing what John brought home from his trip from Wal-Mart. The conversation went something like this:

Me- What is that?

John- A Birthday present for Julia

Me- Is it for kids?

John- Yea...you can hook it to an MP3 player or to a real amplifier

Me- Oh, I am sure Julia will really enjoy that.

Several hours later......John was opening the package...

Me- What are you doing? I thought we were saving that for her birthday?

John, very serious and straight faced- What if it doesn't work?

Fun stuff!

So Big!

Tuesday was the first day in 8 weeks that Julia did not cry when I left her at Ms. Melinda's. It thrilled my soul not to have to leave her screaming! Melinda reports that she is happy at her house and plays well with others.

Julia notices most of the pumpkins that are in people's yards when we walk. She gets really excited and calls them a ball. She has also learned the word, "Meow" and calls Spooky by the sound she makes instead of by her name. You would think that since the meow word is so commonplace around our house that she would be just as fond of the word "Momma." However, my sweet Julia prefers daddy, meow and ball for now.

She has finally learned the "How Big is Julia?....So Big!" game. We only say it about a hundred times a day. She is also loving her "Pat the Bunny" book. .... I can see why it is a classic. Tonight, on the smell the flowers page. I put the book to my nose and smelled them. She did the same right after me, and put her face to the next page too! It amazes me that she is actually learning from us and soaking in so much of what we say and do.

This is blurry, but it's an action shot of Julia and one of her first "SO BIGS!"

Why toys when there are pizza boxes to scoot around?

Julia and Daddy popping wheelies in the Pampers box

Book club was fun at my house Monday night. Traveling Mercies brought some good discussion. This month, we are going to try a classic, Grapes of Wrath. John has been reading Steinbeck lately, and told me that Grapes of Wrath might have been better than East of Eden. I am looking forward to finding out for myself since there are not many books that could beat East of Eden in my mind!

Julia's First Buncan Party

Wednesday night, Julia had her first buncan party. Okay, it was just one guest, but oh.....so much fun! Emmy got to spend the night with us Wednesday night because her mom was in San Francisco for a work trip. Emmy stayed with Becca and Neall and I had to beg them to share her with me for one night. Life was a little different with another little one....just two of everything. Two suppers, baths, wake ups, two to get dressed, two to get in the car seats and two to drop off at the sitters. Thanks goodness for sweet Emmy. That girl is such a trooper....she just goes with the flow and is as happy as can be. All that and I was only 15 minutes late for work!

Two squeaky clean girls after their bath. I had to post this one because I knew Tara would crack up when she saw that the only picture I got of the two of them together was one with Emmy in her diaper and Julia looking like she is in a trance. Tara believes that diapers should be covered at all times....with no exceptions!

No Emmy, you can never leave!

This is Julia's favorite past times lately. She is fascinated by a book and turning the pages will keep her occupied for a long time. That and scooting around on anything she can find that will slide. Tonight, she scooted around on the pizza box for a good 20 minutes!

She has learned some new words lately. She says "ball" to anything that is anywhere near round. A pumpkin, a half eaten peach, a piece of potpourri....they are all balls. She is sleeping really well in her bed downstairs. Of course, "Daddy" is still her favorite word and her favorite person. She says his name a little differently than anything else she says....it's kind of high-pitched and sounds so sweet.

We had a quiet weekend around the house. John played some music Saturday night while Julia and I stayed at home. My parents came to visit. They also came Sunday and played with Julia while John and I cleaned house. Julia is terrified of loud, unexpected noises like the vacuum or blender. My parents had to take her outside so we could vacuum! Monday night, I am hosting book club at my house. It's always good to make me have a clean house!

The Amazing Race

We had a very busy weekend and I have decided to let the pictures tell the story.

Friday night, a friend of mine from work, her 5 year old daughter Emily, Julia and I drove to Little Rock to participate in the Race for the Cure. The hospital receives a grant from the Komen Foundation every year and I thought that it was the least we could do to be there and participate in the largest 5K race in the nation. We stayed at the Peabody and Julia got to see the world famous ducks marching!

Julia did okay being away from home with only one meltdown. It happened at about 11:00 pm Friday night when after an hour of trying to make her go to sleep in the bed with me, I had to call downstairs and request a crib. Julia was sitting up in bed clapping. The crib finally arrived and she was asleep within 2 minutes of being put in it! She has never slept with us and she assured me that night that it wouldn't be happening anytime soon. She is a girl who needs her space!

Julia studying the menu in the Peabody lounge.

Julia having some breakfast and getting ready for the race. We were at the back of the fifty thousand people (no, I am not exaggerating!) with the strollers and the wheelchairs.

We figured out pretty quickly that it would be slow moving. It took us 1.5 hours to move 1 mile! It was an amazing and very emotional experience. I will not forget the sight of so many survivors and their families anytime soon.

This is a picture of a pretty perfect Sunday morning. Julia was swinging and I sitting next to her reading a book......Traveling Mercies, it's our book club book this month. We were both so happy to be outside until I got hit in the head by a falling persimmon!

A weekend project....this is a t-shirt that I made for Jack's 4th birthday!

Sunday afternoon, John, Julia and I headed to Marianna to attend Jack and Trent Felton's 4th Birthday party. We had a blast and I loved seeing all my friends from Marianna. Julia loved bouncing on the side of the blow up jumpy thing!

After the party, we headed to Memphis to meet my cousin Scottie and her fiance, Jason,who were visiting from NYC and my Aunt Jane. We had dinner at Corky's and then went to Aunt Jane's to visit. This was my first time to meet Jason and we LOVED him. He is a great guy and Scottie seems so happy with him. We are thrilled at the mere thought of a June wedding in NYC!

Julia providing all the entertainment at Corky's!

I love how my Aunt Jane celebrates everybody's birthday at one time. No matter when your birthday is during the year, we celebrate it with cake a a present whenever we can all get together. The cake this year was divine!!!

Scottie, Jason, Aunt Jane, Julia and I looking at old pictures of Scottie. We laughed alot and it brought back so many happy memories!

My Little Atomic Fireball

Tonight, Julia had her first piece of candy. She plays a game that John has named, "Looking for Treasures," which involves what he believes to be her purposefully dropping food on the floor during meal time and then going to search for all the dropped pieces later. The next part of the game is that I do a finger sweep and pull out of her mouth whatever it is that she has found. Tonight, she found and ate a chewy atomic fireball (Yes, they make some chewy ones now!) Candy usually does not last long around here because John and I like to snack on it too much, but because those little bad boys are so painfully hot, we have had them around for a while. Julia got to share one that she found on the floor. She was so MAD when I finger swept it out of her mouth. I was prepared to wash her mouth out with cold water or whatever it took to ease her pain, but to my surprise, she continued singing and went on her merry way. Wow.

This picture explains why Julia will not be a cute little cow for Halloween.

Today was my Dad's birthday and this is Julia telling him happy birthday!

Speaking of talking, Julia has learned to identify some things and call them by their name. The first one is, "Daddy" and she says it when she sees him. She also says, "ball" alot....usually identifying anything that is round, like pumpkins. She says book too. Her favorite game, besides "Looking for Treasures," is to put books under her hands and crawl/slide around on the floor. They help her move faster and besides, it looks like a lot of fun! She is doing really well at Melinda's and she only cries now when I walk out the door and leave her. She is also still sleeping in her room at night. That is going really well because I can get a few things done (like sewing) while she is sleeping. Here was the conversation between John and I when I was packing up her pack n play which was her bed in our room....

John: "What are you doing?"

Me (already a little weepy about it): "I am putting up her bed since she is sleeping in her room now."

John: "Does that mean that she can never sleep in here again?"

Me: "Not necessarily."

John: "I'll miss it. Let's not put it up just yet."

So, it sits folded up in the corner of our room. But not yet packed away. Just in case.....

We got some pictures made a Kim Murphy's last week and they came in today. I have to admit that I am a sucker for some cute pictures. So once again, we will be on the Ramen noodle diet for a week or two to recover from the million dollars that I spent buying up the cute pictures.

The Pumpkin Patch

Friday night, John and I got a night out and went to Leann and Jake's baby shower for couples. We had a great time. Unfortunately, I got there without my camera. Sara and Barrett hosted a fun party and they have a great house for parties. Julia stayed at my Mom's and seemed to have a good time. When we went to pick her up, she reached out for John first. When he picked her up, she immediately reached for me. When I got her, she wanted John back. We swapped her back forth four times in the first three minutes of us seeing her!

I had to post this picture because of the story behind it. Thursday before I left for work, I asked John to take a picture of Julia because she had on a really cute outfit. I didn't think about it again until later that night, and I asked him if he remembered to get her picture. "I got one," he said. This is it.....

Thanks, honey.

Kristen and her friend invited us (ok, I really invited ourselves) to go to the pumpkin patch in Augusta with them Saturday morning. Our first stop was Colby's for breakfast and Julia got her first taste of sugar. She ate some pancakes that were drenched in syrup. She liked them so much that she nearly gagged herself by sticking the food so far down her throat!

I couldn't pick just one favorite picture of our fun day at the Pumpkin patch. We decided that this will be an annual event!

I think Julia's favorite part of the day was to see the animals that were there. She especially loved the chickens. This is a picture of the first pig that she has ever seen.

This was the last picture of the million that I took. She had definitely had enough.

So, until next year.......

Rocks and Other Discoveries

John and Julia don't get out much during the day, but today he called and said they were heading to the bank and wanted to see if it was okay to stop by. There is not a better surprise than to look up from my desk and see Julia in my doorway! After our visit, they were headed to the park to swing. My jealousy gets the best of me sometimes, but then I remember how lucky we are that at least one of gets to experience all of these wonders. John told me that she loved every minute of the swing at the park and was grinning the whole time.

After work, I got home and my family was here visiting Julia. They had her on the deck and my Mother had given her two rocks and taught her how to clank them together. It is amazing to me how she can watch other people do things and mimic what she sees. Then I got my turn and we went for our neighborhood stroll. I have learned to take some Cheerios and Rice Chex cereal to keep her occupied. She LOVES to be outside!

Julia and her musical instrument.....the two rocks. Not to mention those juicy legs. It takes everything I've got not to squeeze them constantly!

This tea bag was what was left when I was emptying the dishwasher and turned my back for about one minute. The little stinker had them out of the box and had one opened. Her entire face and mouth were brown....covered in tea grounds.