First Costume Party.

We went to Lakin's first birthday yesterday and being so close to Halloween it was a costume party. Here are some pics of our little pixie and some of her friends. Here she is granting all of Gavin's wishes! Or more likely our little flirt was trying to get his attention, I think it worked. LOL. I think she likes to dress up, she kept the floral wreath on almost the whole time and made quite a beautiful little pixie. Of course that's just my opinion but I think you'll agree. Aunt Alexa thanks for the costume and wand. We only added the floral tiara and a new set of wings. :)

Getting to know everyone!

Here are few shots of Julia throughout our trip to Maine. She really enjoyed showing Aunt Kim and Riley her pictures from China. Great Grammy Kinney was still recovering from her surgery the week before so I think Julia was a little bit intimidated, but she more than made up for it the morning we left. We stopped by Gram's to say good-bye and she got some of the best "bye-bye kisses" that I've ever seen Julia give anyone! They made quite a game of it. Of course then the camera was packed.

Julia seems to have a fascination with animals. She adored Cleo and Cleo tolerated all the love quite well. She's such a sweet dog.

Aunt Alexa Julia is showing off her "Children's Place" outfit for ya! Actually she was just showing how good she's getting at standing up. Her legs get stronger every day and her confidence is building. She's going to take off on us anytime now.

The last shot is of her and Daddy kicking back in Tulsa, getting some down time before we headed back to Texas. We knew Grammy Hall would want to see this one.

Visiting the Pumpkin Patch

Finally getting around to posting these. While we were in Maine we couldn't help but stop out to Stewart Farm and visit the Pumpkin Patch. We took Brendan with us and let him pick out a pumkin since Julia really didn't get it but she was happy to be outside, despite the wind and the fact that for us it was a little chilly. At least we managed to get a few pictures and it was a nice fall day.

Dedication Sunday!



Sorry it's taken so long to post new pictures. I've been exhausted since getting home and Julia has been giving me zero time on the pc! Here are a few shots from Julia's dedication and visting Great Grandma's after. It meant so much to know that our church family still supports us so many miles away. And even more that my family came out to show their support as well. Love you all!

Riley and Julia spent lots of time together with him lugging her around. She's sure missing him since we've been home and so is Mama, what a break for my arms! Julia definitely discovered the joys of cousins and uncles on this trip! She did quite well with Aunt Kim, Aunt Sue and Kylee as well!! The uncles took the longest for her to warm up to but she finally did, I'm sure this week she's wondering where everyone is at and why we couldn't stay longer. Hopefully next time, though we of course have no idea when that will be. Julia handled the travel much better than Mama or Daddy did I think. We were completely worn out!

I'll post more pictures from the trip in the next few days, as soon as I get another few minutes on the computer.

Keeping Busy!

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted. It's been a bit busy here and then Ray and I were both sick with Strep last week, (Thank God Julia didn't get it!), and now tonight we are packing for our trip to Maine. All of that, along with playgroup, a quick trip to Tulsa to leave Lacey with the only friends I know that will spoil her more than she already is (thanks Carm!!) and we hit the road tomorrow for Dallas and fly out early Thursday morning. In the mean time, here are a few shots of Julia to keep you all happy til we get some of her with her cousins in Maine. The dog in the shot belongs to my friend Christi from our spouses group and Julia just loved Delilah, she's truly a beautiful dog and very sweet! And since we did have that quick trip to Tulsa it wouldn't be right not to put a picture of Whitney and Sydney holding Julia. They both clamored to take a turn and sure had a lot of fun entertaining her! It'll be nice when we get back from Maine to actually spend a day or so with them as opposed to a couple of hours. Looking forward to that too. :)

Julia's definitely keeping us busy. She's getting stronger every day and now has decided that she likes to climb. She can get onto the couch all by herself and I turned today to find her sitting on the end table just like she belonged there. I have the feeling we're going to have a few bruises, doesn't help that her skin bruises so easily too. She just has to get a little bump and she's instantly turning colors. Poor baby. She's definitely going to be hard to keep up with! More baby proofing is going to have happen when we get back from Maine! LOL. She's doing great though and is such a wonder to be around. People have started commenting how strange it is that she acts so much like Ray and I...too funny...they are referring to how she will take a few minutes to decide about a new person but once she decides then she is very open and happy around them. Guess I didn't realize Ray and I were like that. haha.

Anyways. I got no sleep last night so I really need to get some tonight because tomorrow is going to be very busy!! Wish us luck and those of you in Maine we'll see you very soon!!

Jaiden is with her family at last!!!

Many of you don't know this, but Kim and I became very good friends and email buddies while we journeyed to Julia and she to Jaiden. I might not have come through the experience sane without her. So I am ecstatic for her tonight as she finally is holding Jaiden in her arms, and Jaiden is right where she belongs with her Mom and Dad that have held her in their hearts for so long and now have her in their arms as well. She certainly looks at home there. :) I'll try to see if I can put a link up to her site , so you can see this beautiful little girl! She's so adorable!!!

I even learned how to do something new tonight!!!! Yay! If you look at the "Links" on the sidebar you'll see "meet Jaiden" click on that and you're at Kim's site!!

Love from around the world.












Truly this child is loved. She's still got birthday gifts coming in. Check her out going through the box from Aunt Tiny! Did we mention she loves tissue paper?? LOL Seriously though she had fun looking at all those new clothes too. Some really cute stuff there Aunt Tiny! Aunt Donna we got your package too. She loves that little stuffed bird. It's so soft!

And you all have just got to see her wooden shoes from Holland! Thank you, thank you Ms. Noelle! Someday one way or another we will get to visit again with you and Tom and Noor! Miss you all!

I just had to add the other picture of her hamming it up for the camera. She played with some friends yesterday and I think she picked up crawling on her knees from her little friend Cora, she's been sticking with the low-crawl til now. She was paying close attention apparently to how quickly little Cora was getting around. So I guess she decided to give it a try. She did it some last night and again this morning, but she'll drop back to her low crawl when she gets excited and in a hurry. More used to it I guess. She's so funny. She's also learned to really climb that step quickly to get into the kitchen. And once she hits the kitchen floor she will try to speed up if she thinks you're going to stop her. Daddy's out now buying a gate. haha.

We thank you all for your love, support and prayers for Julia. Life with her is beyond a joy. Even with the teething and not sleeping that we've gone through this past week. She finally slept through the night last night for the first time in a week. And is having a nap now, so hopefully those teeth are giving her a little bit of a break. Who knows maybe the rainy day (praise GOD some rain at last!) is helping too. I know it makes me want to curl up with a blanket. Other than her teeth, she is doing wonderful and even those don't slow her down too much. She still has such an open easy personality that we learn more about each day. Time to go check on her. :)

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.