What do you mean my baby'll be 1 this month?

Where did a year go? And when did Julia become an actual (grumpy but loveable) person? I am listening to her belly laugh at Elisabeth and can't help but think that Julia is a perfect addition to this family. It's hard to fathom that a baby that isn't even a year yet, is totally her own person. She has mannerisms and attitudes that are completely her own and so different than what we'd experienced with Elisabeth. She's so moody and routine oriented. She naps at the same times every day, and even wakes up around the same time every night. She loves loves loves dolls, which Ebeth never gave a second thought too. I have loved getting to spend so much time with Julia and I know Evan appreciates the 6 months he got to be the stay at home daddy to her too. Well, here's a month by month of my almost one year old. *sniff* *sniff*

All buckled in for her car ride home. Already yellow with jaundice!
She was so tiny! She loved sleeping in that baby swing.
At 2 months, her cheeks are already starting to fill in.
She lived in slings the first 3 months of her life. The girl was a cranky baby!
Already showing contempt for us. :)
I love this pic.
Aw! Isn't she the saddest?!
Snow baby. 6 months.
Hanging out with her BFF Moxie the Cat.
8 months.
9 months and still sleeping in the bassinet in our room.
The girl LOVES bath time.
Ha! Classic Julala grumpy face!!

We heart parks.

To say we like parks is an understatement. And, the lovely thing is, we're surrounded by parks here! There's 3 within a 10 minute walking distance of us. We've checked out all three and liked them all. Poor Julia, though, doesn't have much to do when we go to parks since there's nothing for her to do except eat grass and woodchips (which she does with enthusiasm). But, she does love watching Ebeth climb all over everything, and if you give her crackers, she's good as gold.


Unlike Elisabeth at this age, Julia does not mind wearing hats and is so cute in them! This is her official summer hat!

I think this is for water, but I put Julia in it.



This girl needs an Oscar the Grouch shirt. Seriously.



I also wanted to let you in on how dinner time is going now that we're all together. Well, Julia is still the food tyrant. Except now, Evan gets to witness it instead of getting phone calls during dinner time of me complaining about Julia's eating habits.

So, Julia was SCREAMING because we all had slices of watermelon and she was being given mere chunks. So, we gave her her own slice. This was after she'd dumped her yogurt everywhere and smeared it in spite. Ah, the joy that is Julia.
Notice that she doesn't even lift her arms to the table when she's being fed. That's because she is a lazy, lazy baby.

Her favorite kitchen toy.
How I make any meal--with Ebeth helping and Julia pulling on my pant legs and whining.
Chillaxin' on Daddy after a wonderful meal.

Being a SAHM, well, it kinda sucks

Obviously this picture is a left over from when we were still in Pekin, but I haven't uploaded any new ones yet. Plus, I love Ebeth's face!

It's not that I don't like my girls, because I do 99.9% of the time. But, I have absolutely NO ADULT INTERACTION during the day. None. I don't know anyone! And there's only so many times I can start up conversations with the check out ladies at Wal-Mart or King Soopers. Let me give you a run down of what our typical day is like...

6:00AM--Julia is up for the day. Normally, this is proceeded by at least one if not two wake ups during the night. We eat breakfast with Evan before he leaves for the land of the Air Force.
7:00AM--Ebeth usually wakes up between now and 8:00. She is easy: kisses Julia, eats 2 bowls of cereal, and then scampers upstairs to watch her shows on the upstairs tv. I usually let her watch about 1.5 hours.
8:30AM--Julia's ready for a nap, since she's been up for 2.5 freaking hours. She'll sleep for around 2 hours, so I clean the ENORMOUS mess she's made from breakfast, tackle some part of the unpacking that hasn't been touched yet, do laundry, stare at facebook, and think about what the heck I'm going to do till 5:30 when Evan gets home.
12:00PM--Lunch. Ebeth has been so sweet about wanting to help in the kitchen. She helps plan what we eat for lunch while Julia crawls around the kitchen pulling on my pant legs and crying to be fed.
1:00PM--We go for a walk. Usually to a park, but sometimes just aimlessly because Julia loves loves loves being outside. And, we must sunscreen it up before we go anywhere because we are a lot closer to the sun.
3:00PM--Julia's ready for another nap. This one usually is less than an hour, so I just read or answer the millions of questions Elisabeth can ask in mere minutes.
4:00PM--Start texting Evan and asking him when he's coming home.
5:00PM--Start dinner. Julia will sense I'm in the kitchen preparing food, and follow me so she can cry at my feet. This is when I become Mom of the Year, and turn on Yo Gabba Gabba because it's the only thing that Julia will watch and be entertained. I also usually throw animal crackers on the floor at her to appease her as well.
5:30PM--Evan comes home and I shower him with kisses and toss him the baby.

Now, honestly, both girls are very good. Julia's a giant handful, but so cute. And Elisabeth is the best big sister. She has a captive audience with Julia, so she's always singing and dancing with her. The lastest thing is that Elisabeth puts Julia on her walking toy and they "learn to walk" together. It's so cute.

I'm just anxious to meet people and maybe get a job. I found a daycare center for Julia that I'm super interested in and have also applied for. Evan is always worried that I'm "settling" when I teach daycare, but I love working with those ages. Plus, I really want to work in the same place that Julia's at. She's never been in daycare and I feel it'll be easier for her and me if we're together. So, we'll see.

Time to attend to the crying baby next to me that I'm ignoring to finish this post! See, Mom of the Year.

Our last weeks at Pekin.

First, let me show you how absolutely muddy my child was at my parent's house. She was so happy. Me, not so much.




Mother's Day weekend, Jana, Kyle, me, Ebeth and Julia headed out early Saturday morning for Race for the Cure. This was Julia's first race, and she was psyched. It was chilly, but sunny and the mixture made it great racing weather. I'm always amazed at the amount of people who show up for the race. I try to capture the river of people as we're walking. This was the first year that Elisabeth actually questioned why we were racing, what breast cancer is, etc. She was very proud of us for participating.
Jana carried Elisabeth on her shoulders for a while.

Elisabeth asked for a dog to be painted on her face. The lady did an excellent job, but Ebeth was a little disappointed it was Blue from Blue's Clues. She was hoping for a dalmation.

After the race we went over to The Shoppes of Grand Prairie for their activities.
While there, we ran into one of Julia's buddies--Logan. Logan is 2 months younger than Julia, but only one inch and a couple pounds lighter.
Love.
Ebeth got to go on a horse ride. Julia was captivated watching Elisabeth ride.




Only two days before we left for Colorado, Elisabeth had her dance recital with Dianne's Dance World. She had a jazz dance, tap dance and was in the finale. She came into the dance classes mid year, and did a fantastic job of catching up to the other (older) girls!









Julia and the cat were bonding while watching Keith in the front yard. They are BFF.
They're the same height!




My cousin Jamie's eldest, Baylee, had her 3rd birthday party. The theme was Disney Princesses.
Grandma and Julia. Isn't Julia so happy? ha!