March 31 - Cuteness

Jules and I had a great weekend. J.D. went to Tampa for a garden show so we had some great mommy/Julia bonding time. On Saturday, we spent the afternoon with Jill and Julia playing and Sunday we went on a few long walks with the pooches and played around the house and in the yard. Except for a HUGE storm Saturday night, the weather was beautiful..sunny, clear with a nice breeze.

Yesterday, Jules had another doctors appointment to check her ears and they are looking better. We have another appointment in 3 weeks to check their progress again. Keep your fingers crossed that they are clear!

March 26 - On the Move (for real this time!)

She's on the move!!! I got a call from school today and she started crawling. J.D. and I rushed over to try to get a video. J.D. got there before me and saw her in action. She kind of crawled when I was there and I recorded what I could, so I'll definitely post it this weekend.

I know life as we know it is about to change dramatically...J.D. are super excited about this new development!! (I tried to tell the dogs that their days of napping around the house without being bothered are over...they will find out soon enough!)

March 25 - Health Check

We took the bean to the doctor this morning to check her ears (she just finished a round of antibiotics for dual ear infections) and the good news is her left ear (which was really infected last time) is healed. Unfortunately, the right ear still has a little puss. We're going back next week to see if it gets better on its own without antibiotics. If not..we have 3 more antibiotics to try before we are referred to an ENT for tubes. Let's hope she doesn't need tubes! We want our little bean happy and healthy (and sleeping through the night).

And our little chunker is 17lb 10oz!!!!

March 24 - On The Move...Almost

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in posts..it has been a crazy couple of weeks. First off, Aunt Becky and Uncle Scott are finally back in the states after almost 2 years in Bangladesh, woo hoo! They were able to come in town last week for just over a day and it was great seeing them. Julia loved playing with Aunt B and was very interested in Uncle Scott's beard. Becky and I made some new homemade foods for Jules (mango applesauce, apricot/pear oatmeal and butternut squash pasta) and went on lots of long walks (over 7 miles one day alone..the dogs were very tired but everyone enjoyed the beautiful spring weather). I wish they could have stayed longer but I am so glad they were able to make Gainesville a spot on their road trip.

This past weekend, Jules had her first ever trip to Toys R Us and went on a shopping trip with mommy, Jill and Julia. We also went to an arts festival in town, which although quite small, was still fun! In other news, we think she is very close to crawling. She gets up on all fours, rocks
back and forth and moves her legs but hasn't figured out how to use her arms at the same time. She also continues to love walking...we walk her all around the house now and she couldn't be happier. In general, her activity level has gone through the roof in the last week or so. It is rare that she will let us just hold her...she is looking around trying to get into stuff and her new favorite thing to do in her room is sit in the rocking chair and play with her afgan. In preparation of 'baby on the move' we rearranged the kitchen. Also-J.D. installed shelves above the island and we moved all the pots and pans up (there is no way she can reach them). Hard to believe that at this time last year I was just announcing the work that I was pregnant..and now we are about to have
a crawling baby in the house!

Oh-we are also starting mom and tot swim lessons at the YMCA in May (signed up last week). We are doing it with Jill and Julia and I am SO EXCITED!!! It isn't a newborn survival class, the age range is 6-36mon, so it should be fun. She loves her nightly bath and we practice kicks almost every day (flutter, butterfly and breaststroke). So I hope she takes to the water!! (we also do cheers, yes, as in cheerleading cheers every day..she loves them..I'm hoping to sign her up for pop warner or whatever they have for little girls as soon as she is old enough!)

March 17 - Who Needs Sleep?

We had a packed house last weekend when Uncles Brian, Craig, cousin Teagan and Lenya (the pooch) all came to Gainesville for a visit. Brian and Teagan went to the beach Saturday while Craig ran around town with J.D., Julia and I on errands. We also got in a lot of playing time with Julia, she LOVES Craig! (and his glasses..she kept trying to rip them off his face). Saturday night Craig and J.D. cooked an amazing dinner (grilled steaks, hotdogs, salad, onion soup) and in classic Miami style, we ate around 10:30pm. It was delish guys, thanks!! In other
interesting weekend news, Guinness ate a bag of brownie mix. He is quite stealth..he somehow got the bag out of a glass pan (set back from the edge of the counter) without disturbing the pan itself, nor the cooking oil bottle right next to it. (and for those of you who might be thinking why we blame Guinness for this latest escapade, out of the 3 dogs in the house, he was the only one with chocolate powder ALL OVER the fur on his head)

Jules had a fabulous weekend with all the guests. She loved playing with everyone and loved meeting a new dog. She is seriously the most fun baby from 7am-7pm every day...and then it is nighttime. Between teething and sickness (she seems to always have a cold or ear infection), the poor little bean is up constantly. I think I've noted on here the few times she has actually slept through the night. At seven months, I definitely thought she'd be sleeping better by now. It has been very rough for the little bean and mommy. I think she is also going through a growth spurt (she gained 10oz in less than 2 weeks!!). Recently, she goes to bed around 7:30pm and then is up at 1am, 3am, 5am and 7am. Last night J.D. woke up with her around 2am and she downed 6oz like it was nothing. The best news is she then slept until 6:30am...let's hope this is a new streak!

March 13 - Early Summer

The last two weeks have been quite hectic for our family. The stomach made its way from Julia to me to J.D., and even poor Guinness threw up one night (but that was a result of the old man eating scotch tape...). Anyway, we piled everyone into the Honda last Wednesday afternoon and headed to Tampa. I flew out first thing Thursday morning and had a great trip to Vegas. The work portion went well and I had a fabulous time with the girls. I missed Julia, J.D. and the pooches but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy sleeping 8+ hours 2 nights in a row..I felt like I was in heaven!!

Although J.D. suffered through midnight
feedings while I was out, he had a fabulous time with the bean. Check out his blog posting for his take on the weekend: http://www.yamokosk.net/2009/03/hanging-with-my-little-girl.html .

In other health related news, the bean has dual ear infections yet again and is cutting more teeth. She does pretty well during the day but is not a happy camper at night. Our poor little munchkin. So...between spring forward, adjusting from the ET/PT/ET time changes and a 5 hour delay on Sunday (that resulted in me getting in after midnight) I've been one tired mommy this week!

In fun news, Uncles Brian, Craig and Craig's niece Teagan are coming in town this weekend for a visit and we are experiencing beautiful weather right now. 85 and sunny during the day and around 65 at night (in other words...typical northeast summer weather and typical FL spring weather). It isn't too hot or humid yet so we've been hanging out in the front yard before Julia's bathtime. She LOVES picking blades of grass and playing with leaves! (I can't resist posting the below photo...I just love those leg rolls and the flower on her booty!)

March 2 - Little Princess

Before Julia came down with the stomach bug yesterday, she had a great morning playing dress-up in her princess crown and skirt that Nonni got her. She looked so cute we kept her in the skirt until she started ripping the flower buds off the hem (the little bean is quite industrious these days..she tries to grab/destroy anything she can get her little mitts on and eat it). She also had a great time playing with her first cabbage patch friend, Jewell Doris.

In terms of the stomach bug, I thought we turned a corner (for the better) yesterday afternoon. She ate at 6pm, 7pm, 2am and 7
am with no problems, slept well (other than the 2am feeding, she slept from 7:30pm-7am) and her bowel movements (good sign of dehydration) were normal. Since she hadn't throw up in almost 18h, we took her to daycare. Unfortunately, around 11am, she threw up on her teacher Mandy. So, our poor little bean is not 100% yet. J.D. picked her up and they will probably go to the doctor this afternoon, then tomorrow I will work from home and take care of her. The silver lining is that although she is definitely sick, she is quite happy and in a great mood.

March 1 - Stomach Bug

Our little bean has been sick since around noon today. The poor thing has some sort of stomach bug (shouldn't be the flu since she got her flu shot a few weeks ago). J.D. has to finish a paper that is due at 3am tomorrow morning so I've been taking care of the munchkin solo. I've definitely earned the 'mommy' title today...let's just say between Julia and I...we've had six baths/showers and 8 outfit changes. Keep your fingers and toes crossed that she is able to get a few hours of sleep tonight without throwing up.

(and special thanks to Jill for having pedialyte that we could borrow, I really appreciate it!)