February 23 - The Adorable J's

Hello peeps-I hope you all had a great weekend. Our little bean had her sixth month check up on Friday and she is a whooping 16lb 2oz and 27". As the doctor said 'she had quite a growth spurt in the last month.' [and if she keeps gaining at this rate, she will surpass her petite cousin Victoria (who is 15mon old!!) in the weight category in no time!)] I don't think I wrote a blog post on this, but Julia developed dual ear infections a few weeks ago and one ear cleared up with the first round of antibiotics.
Her other ear was more stubborn so we are on a second round of antibiotics and I'm happy to report that she actually likes the medicine she's on and her ears are feeling great. We also discovered during her checkup that she is teething!! She has 2 bottom teeth coming in. I will attempt to get a photo but they are so hard to see, she always has a finger in her mouth or her tongue covering them (side note-we were expecting a lot of drooling with the teething but she barely drools..it will be interesting to see if she turns into a drooler at some point).

In other fun news, Julia tried a few new foods this weekend. Prunes (she absolutely LOVED them), avocado (wasnt' her favorite) and a pear/apple/cinnamon combo (which she also loved). J.D. also utilized our baby food cookbook (a fab gift from Aunt Becky) to make some other fun new foods.

Jules also got to spend some quality time with her friend Julia this weekend (funny enough-she is also a 'Julia E'). They had a great time playing together on Saturday while Jill and I watched a movie and yesterday they hung out while we all had dinner together. JEK (that is how we differentiate them..JEK and JEY) is 10mon old and a super fast crawler. J.D. and I aren't used to a mobile baby and it was amazing how quickly she moved around the house. She was so cute, she loved the dog bowls, the pots and pans and pretty much anything and everything she could grab. We definitely need to work on baby proofing the house!

Oh-and the teething is fabulous EXCEPT Julia has been waking up every 2H in pain at night (it takes about an hour to calm her down and get her to sleep again so J.D. and I are quite exhausted). Poor little thing, we've tried tylenol and teething tablets to no avail. Our doctor recommended a powder and I'm hoping to pick some up today during lunch. If you have any other recommendations, please shoot me an email. Hopefully this is temporary!

February 17 - Be Mine

J.D. and I went to Baby Gator on Friday for Julia's first ever Valentine's Day party. It was so cute-almost all the babies were dressed up in pink and/or red and they had adorable crafts!! I loved everything..the headband, handprint & footprint artwork (which is hanging on our fridge), it was all so festive! Julia even got a valentine from her friend Jordan!! Julia's teachers (Pat & Mandy) also spoiled the parents by baking homemade pinapple upside down cake and raspberry tarts. It was a great afternoon to say the least. The best part was taking a break from work to spend time with the little bean.

Julia & Mandy
Julia & Pat
Julia's First Artwork

Julia helping mommy with Daddy's Valentine's card

February 13 - Perfect Ten

Our little bean slept ten hours straight last night-TEN hours!! I don't expect (but hope for) a repeat tonight, but I'll keep you all posted. Keep your fingers crossed!

February 11 - Little Helper

My fabulous hubby never ceases to amaze me. For another year in a row, he totally spoiled me for my b-day. Grandma Yamo came up this weekend and watched Julia one night so we could have a romantic dinner (it was totally a surprise, I thought we were going to try to do something tonight). Unfortunately, I
had a horrible cold that left me exhausted, but we still had a great time. It was only our second time out without the bean and while we missed her, we knew she was in good hands. Her favorite part of the weekend was helping me open a birthday gift-she loved the tissue paper and bows!!

So last night Jules tried another new food...bananas. She wasn't too excited about them and made the cutest faces when she was eating them. To date, sweet potatoes are still her favorite (I really thought she'd take to fruit more) but we'll see how her pallet develops in the coming months!

Julia has also 'found' a few things recently. Her wrists and her upper lip. I know, I know, it sounds funny. But she will move her hands around flexing her wrists and loves to throw things now. She also sucks in her upper lip (that is the only way I can describe it). It is really funny. She does it so fast it is hard to snap a photo.

Oh-and the sleeping 8 hours...that didn't last. She is back to up every 3. This little munchkin would rather play than sleep!

February 10 - Pebbles in the Flesh!

February 5 - Repeat!

Fab news...our little bean slept again last night. I'm so excited I could throw a party..but instead I'm just going to hit the hay early and enjoy the zzzz's while I can!!

(Here is out little bean after she woke up this morning..she is such a little sweetie!)

February 4 - The Great 8 (Second Edition)

Hello fabulous peeps. As many of you know, Julia slept pretty well from 2.5-3months but hasn't slept well since Thanksgiving. We initially attributed her 2H spurts to an ear infection, but once that cleared up, she still did not sleep for long stretches. Our next thought was that she wasn't eating enough..well, we increased her bottles during the day AND introduced solids and she still got up every 2H or so. We attempted to let her 'cry it out' but she would not go back to sleep (..we let her cry for quite a while). After reading up on baby habits, we determined that she was 'practicing' rolling over, sitting up, etc. in her sleep and waking herself up. After all these months of sleep deprivation, I convinced myself a full night sleep was eons away (we've heard stories about babies that woke up every few hours for a few years). Well, drum roll please....


Julia slept 8.5 hours last night!! Woo hoo! I cannot even express how happy I am today. Of course, I didn't get 8.5 hours of sleep since she went to bed at 7:30pm and I went a few hours later, but just sleeping a few hours longer than I have been is amazing! Cross your fingers that she continues to sleep well. And for those of you who have babies that sleep 12 hours a night (and have been doing so since they were just a few months old)..I hope you realize how lucky you are!! Hopefully your next baby(ies) sleep well too..I don't wish sleep deprivation on anyone. It didn't bother me for the first 5 months, but just recently I've 'hit the wall' and I'm really feeling it!