Just some random pictures!











Thought I would add some more recent pics of Julia and of course one of Lacey to show you she's as spoiled as ever. Poor Lacey, she's really running out of places to hide now. Julia climbed up the step and into the kitchen last night and since Lacey can't hear anymore she was quite surprised to have Julia come up behind her! Lacey came to the step and stared at me in the living room as if to say "are you kidding me??!!" Haha.

The pics of Julia are just a few that we've taken of her here lately playing and standing up, obviously. She was really enjoying that cookie, that can buy Mama at least 20 minutes of not wondering where she's headed next and even time to do a little housework which unfortunately is on our agenda today. She's growing and doing something new every day. Sadly her latest new thing is spitting her food back out after nearly every bite....not sure where this is coming from but she thinks it's the best game. Hopefully it's just a phase that we can get through quickly. yah sure. lol

Anyway. That's pretty much it from Texas today. The temps have finally dropped below 100 (THANK GOD) so we should be getting out a bit more. We've got a birthday party to go to on Sunday at one of the local parks so that should be fun. Hope all is well with each of you.

First time Swimming

Well for the first time we got a chance to see what Julia thought of the pool. Seeing as she has started really enjoying bath time we thought it was time. She was a little nervous at first and held on tight to Mama but we got her used to the water moving around her and she started to loosen up. She did a little better with Dad and by the time we got her into a float.....she was off! She LOVED it! She was splashing and kicking and had that float going all over the pool. We naturally forgot our camera, so the photos and the day at the pool in general were all courtesy of Ms. Michelle. Thanks again Mark and Michelle for a great afternoon!!

Just an update. :)

Sorry, no new photos really to add, but had to tell you all that Julia is definitely pulling herself up on the furniture now!! She did it that one time with Chris and Kylee and I think it actually startled her, so she stuck to working on her crawling and sitting up and getting better at that for awhile. This weekend she was really trying and trying to pull herself up, but couldn't quite get it. Guess the incentive wasn't right. Lacey tried to hide on the couch tonight and Little Miss Julia was determined to touch that dog tonight! So she hauled herself up there, using Daddy's leg as support. Then later pulled herself up to me in the recliner! So I think we're in trouble, time to clear the tables! LOL

Poor Lacey. She's running out of places to hide and still be in the same room with us. This hasn't been the easiest adjustment for her, she took it in stride though and went to lie on the cool kitchen floor instead.

I'm amazed every day at Julia's progress. She was really chattering away a lot today too. Not much that I could understand, but she's starting to understand me more and that's a start. She had a ball and a toy fish from the tub earlier today and I asked her where her fish was....she reached for the fish! She's beginning to try to say more too...just a little but ya gotta start somewhere. She says "pooh" (what a shock right?? my child learning to say Pooh right away??" and ball, and she's almost got "bear" down as well. She's definitely got "Mama" and "Dad" down....she got those ones right away, but it's so cute to see her face light up and say "hi dad" when he gets home from work. Makes his day, he was born to be a dad. And she's got the cutest way of saying "mama" when she's happy now, at least it not always when she's crying for me anymore! And it sounds just wonderful coming from her.

She still loves her musical toys. Especially that soft cube that currently plays classical music. She will tug and tug on it til it starts to play and then sit up and rock to the music...we have got to get it on video for you all. I promise SOON before she stops doing it. And I guess she must like it when I sing to her, we were going to sleep a couple of weeks ago (yes one of the nights she got in bed with me) and I was singing to her, every time I stopped, she would tap my arm (more like hit) and it finally sunk in....that's what she does with her crib toy....she was trying to turn me back on!!! It was really too, too funny.

Well, it's late here and I'm sure that's not going to change Julia's wake up time, so I better wrap this up tonight. Love to everyone and can't wait to see everyone in Maine in October!

Just being cute

These are some photos that we've snapped of Julia in her element.....showing off! LOL... She loves to make Chris laugh (or anybody really) but she's not always sure what she's done that is so funny so just in case she'll repeat what she was just doing to see if that's why you're laughing... and that's her trying out Chris' sunglasses. Too cute!

She has certainly enjoyed all the company that has been in and out over the last month, and she is doing new things every day....for instance, she pulled herself to a standing position for the 1st time the other day for Chris and Kylee, of course I missed it, I had stepped out to pay the rent. Oh well, I'm sure she'll do it again soon, I think she was as surprised as Chris and Kylee that she did it!

We're finding some movies and dvd's that she seems to like, we knew about the Muppets and Sesame Street and we tried a Veggie Tales DVD last night and that was a hit. So pretty much anything with lots of music! She's still enjoying her jumper, though she's going to out grow it soon at the rate she's going. As is it's set on the highest setting for height. Oh well, guess it's good that she enjoys it while she can.

And yes, that is her and Daddy's favorite position. :)

Birthday Pictures

These are the pictures from Julia's actual birthday, opening her presents from Grandpa and Granny Stephens and from Uncle Joel and Aunt Kim. Couldn't get a smile, she was much too focused on what she was finding in those boxes!!

Thanks again everyone, she had a wonderful birthday.

Party Pictures

We celebrated Julia's 1st Birthday with a big cookout on Sunday July 30th. Which also happened to be my friend Candy's birthday too, so of course we had a little surprise planned for her as well. Julia's b-day is actually August 1st, so we did her family presents that night. I load those on a separate post as long as the blogger lets me. It's been very tempermental lately on letting me load photos, that's why there have been so few.

Her party was a big success and even though we asked for no gifts of course a few people just couldn't resist. So she has a new friend "Bambi" from Ms. Michelle and her family that she just loves to hug and give kisses to, and a tiara and wand from Ms. Jessica that was so perfect for her birthday, and a ladybug memo board for her room that is just adorable from Ms. Candy...thank you ladies, between family, and our Air Force family this child wants for nothing and she is just the happiest exploring new things and yet doesn't forget her favorites either. She's so funny.

She would not touch her cake with her hands, no messes with this child. When we tried to show her that she could, she looked at me like I had lost my mind. She did enjoy some cake but only when Kylee would feed her with the spoon. How funny. Kylee and Chris came down for her birthday and are having a great time spoiling her and just watching her play, and of course Julia is enjoying that!

Julia is growing and changing so quickly! She had her one year appointment on her birthday and weighed 20.4lbs and was 31 3/4" tall!! She barely cried even through the shots, only when they were actually sticking her and then stopped immediately and went on with life as usual. It's almost scary sometimes how good she is. She plays more on her own now that she's crawling and is happy as long as Mama doesn't go too far away.

I'll post some pics from her party and then do a separate post of her actual birthday with pics of her opening her presents from the Ohio grands and Uncle Joel and Aunt Kim. Thank you to everyone for being such a support to us and for being as excited as we are to have this little person in our lives.