A Few Videos

A few fun videos of Juliet.

Climbing the stairs at Deda and Granddaddy's. She had no problem figuring it out. Glad we don't have any at our house! She liked walking up the steps even better. Holding her fingers, she would pick her foot up high and step up. If only she had balance!



Justin and Juliet having some homemade fun! By the end she was giggling like crazy. He stopped and took her out and she cried. He put her back in and she stopped crying immediately. I guess that means she likes it!

Little Camper

Much to Justin's joy (and mine), Juliet is a good camper! This weekend we went to Lake Lurleen State Park for our first camping trip as a family (Lucy included). I was a little anxious since Juliet had been teething all week, which resulted in multiple dirty diapers daily and crankiness. But she took a break from teething just in time! We chose Lake Lurleen because it is half way between CeCe and Pops and us. They met us there on Saturday to visit with Juliet.

Our friends Amy and Florence (6 weeks) went with us. Amy's hubby was out on business and wanted to get out in this beautiful weather, so we invited them to come along. Florence is also a great camper! Really, going camping with a baby, especially when baby is breastfed and a non-walker, is not bad at all! Amy provided a super dinner, girl scout style. We had ground beef patties and veggies wrapped in foil packets, laid in the red hot coals. The packets had onions, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, potatoes, winter squash, and tomatoes! With a little olive oil and the juices from the meat, it was perfect. They turned out wonderful! This meal is a keeper for camping trips!

Juliet loved watching the fire and even feel asleep easily, watching the flames dance. She slept very well. I had her in warm footie pajamas (with socks underneath), a fuzzy jacket and matching hat. She did pretty good about keeping the hat on. It did get chilly early, early in the morning, but she did just fine sleeping on Justin's chest, underneath a sub-zero sleeping bag. Juliet woke at her usual time between 6 and 6:30, ready to play, after eating of course. Justin got the fire started again and began to prepare breakfast. Florence had a nice night only to be awakened at 7:30 by the ROTC's air horn! It was orienteering day. The menu for breakfast was bacon, eggs and toast in the skillet, nothing better!! Espresso too.

CeCe and Pops arrived at 9:00. They played and played. Juliet got her first noisy toy. (We are now wondering if CeCe and Pops love us or not - just kidding). CeCe prepared a super lunch and by 4:00 it was check out time. Juliet was asleep before we even left the park!

We had a great time camping with Amy and Florence. Hopefully we can all go camping again before it gets too cold. My dad, Granddaddy, was super excited that Juliet was a good camper. I'm sure he is already planning a trip for the future! I hope she continues to like to camp. Justin and I both have great childhood memories of camping and fishing.

Showing off my teeth!

First Food!

I'll write more in Juliet's 9 month update, but the doc wanted us to start solid foods. So, Juliet's first food is banana! She likes it too. Here is video of the deed!

Happy Birthday Leigh!

Today is Leigh's birthday! We celebrated with Mama and Daddy this weekend in Birmingham at the Hot and Hot Fish Club. Oh, boy was it good!! I highly recommend it. The tomato salad was simply amazing. Of course tomatoes are my favorite food, but really, this was over the top. I wanted to buy the $35 cook book just for that recipe (which had 3 different sauces, which took 2 days to make). Leigh asked, "would you really make it?" Ummm, yes I think I would. It was divine. The better question is "do you have time to make it?" Ummm, no. For my main course I had the pork plate, that's what I'll call it. It had a much fancier name...Fudge Farm Pork Trio. The slender, rectangular plate held three cuts of pork with a complementing vegetable. First was Leg in Hoisin sauce (Asian) with wilted greens (aka cooked collards), second was Belly meat (not the actual stomach) with roasted brussel sprouts and apples and lastly Loin with mashed sweet potatoes. They were all excellent! My favorite cut was the loin, it was seasoned to perfection, but the belly meat with the apples and brussel sprouts had the best taste together. Oh, my, brussel sprouts and apples, delicious!! For dessert I had a chocolate souffle. The more I ate of it, the better and better it was. But we all had dessert envy over Leigh's pecan truffle. Yum-o! It sounds like a lot of food, but it wasn't really. I was not stuffed when I left, which is nice. The portions were great.

Juliet went too. I was a little worried about her behavior. She likes getting down now and likes to test out the volume of her vocal cords. I know our family wouldn't mind it one bit, but I can remember just a few years back when I would have. Justin and I go out for a nice dinner and we're lucky enough to sit next to a screaming kid. Great. She did well and only let out a few screams. She was restless, but only grabbed my steak knife twice. I wish I had a picture of Mama and Leigh's eyes when she did. The funniest thing that she did was when Mama was holding her. Mama took a sip of water and Juliet went straight to her mouth, like a little birdie, asking for ice. This little habit we started at home. And was unexpected when she went for it in public! Mama is definitely whooped, she gave her ice, just like she wanted. If it was us when we were little...no way!! Of course, Juliet hollers if you don't give it to her....ooops.

See the lady in the back!

It was so cold (seriously cold) in the restaurant, that the camera fogged up outside, but this was the best pic)

Getin' My Sew On

So I decided that I could make Juliet some cute outfits. I think I bought 6 patterns and borrowed one from a friend. I completed two. Grandma, Mama and Leigh have taught me what I know. I sewed some in high school, but wasn't really interested. Now I am and some times a phone call just doesn't work. So, when Mama is in town, I ask away.

This is the first outfit I made, yellow seersucker. Nothing says Southern Summer like seersucker. I turned out really great, but it is too big. She'll probably be able to wear it next summer! The bows are too big and ended up soaked (in her mouth all the time). And the bloomers I made too small...the pattern made them HUGE and I cut them down, so I'll have to remake those.

(the bloomers should peep out from behind)

Outfit #2:

This outfit was WAY above my skill level, but I figured it out. I love the ruffles!!!

Right now I am working on a touch and feel book for Juliet. Creating as I go. I'll post pics once it's finished. I'm hoping to sew some this winter for next summer. We'll see.

8 Months

A wee bit behind, but here's the update. Juliet breezed into her 8th month. I cannot believe how quickly she is developing. She's trying to walk and only born 8 months ago for Pete's sake! Babies are amazing!

Juliet now weighs 15 pounds. We are so proud of her weight gain. She is definitely filling out and is most evident in her cheeks. They are so cute and really show up when she's smiling. It makes her eyes curve into half moons. I love it! Justin loves "eating" her cheeks and she thinks it is so funny. She is still eating every three hours during the day like clock work. Sometimes it is difficult for her to keep on task. She gets so distracted! Public feedings are much more difficult due to this. She doesn't like her head covered and she likes to look at what is going on. Thankfully, feeding her doesn't take too long and we can slip off somewhere and fill her tummy. You think she's starving when I sit her in my lap. She is very impatient for me to get read for her to eat!

Juliet is becoming more and more vocal. She is continuing with "ba", "ma" and "da." And now they are a bit louder as she plays with her volume control. The other day she was sitting in the floor by her self babbling and all of a sudden is yelled "DA-DA!" Justin and I were both so proud. "Ba" is her favorite and repeats it over and over (see pic above). Thankfully we love hearing it; it never gets old. She has really discovered her nose and uses it often. She crinkles up her nose, sticks out her bottom jaw and breathes out of it loudly. It is so cute. She does it often, especially when she is excited. Sometimes she'll snort, so cute! (see pic below)

She is playing more on her own with toys. She likes handling toys a little bit more although they are still headed towards the mouth eventually. Ice is a favorite toy. We use it a lot at meal time. It is great for developing her hand skills. Even though ice is hard to handle, she is great and gets it to her mouth every time! Of course, she soaked by the time dinner is over, unless a bib is involved and she still gets wet. She also loves eating ice. We can chomp some up in our mouth and give it to her. She makes such a funny face and holds her finger up to her mouth like she's thinking. As soon as that piece is melted, she is ready for another!

Thankfully Juliet is off of her tummy and crawling on one knee and one foot. She is fast too! Now that she is off her tummy, her clothes are getting so dirty which is wonderful. She is also loving to walk with assistance. It is so funny because she walks loudly and not on her toes. Juliet is so proud of herself. Juliet has let go once to take and step and I caught her mid face plant. She has a signature move that really gets everyone tickled, she will spin in a circle. It is so funny. While sitting on her bottom, she will use her heals to push herself around. She will make a full circle at least once, if not twice. It seems to go with the excited snorting, which makes it even better! This month also brought her first fall...off our bed. It was so sad. She came away unhurt, but now we cannot leave her on the bed. She was sleeping so soundly moments before it happened. We had just taken pictures of her too, we heard the fall and lots of crying. She was more scared than anything else. Her head had a few red marks, but were gone by that evening.

We are trying a new technique for sleeping which is working better. Justin is going in to sooth her at night if she cries. If she smells me, she must eat. So far it is working well and Justin is able to get her back to sleep easily. Most nights she is only waking once. Napping is another issue. She does not like to sleep alone. Many times she'll fall asleep on my chest when I lay down with her. Sometimes I can put her down once she's asleep. Other times it wakes her up and she gets mad.

Juliet still loves to read and is still crazy about touch and feel books. She likes "The Very Busy Spider" and the web the spider spins is raised. I showed her once that she could feel it and now she feels it every time. She also loves the book "Look At Me!" (see pic below). This book has different animal faces you can hold up. She LOVES this book. It provided happy times for this photo shoot. Cradle Roll is a favorite time for her too. She has yet to cry when I leave her in there (knock on wood). The Cradle Roll teachers tell me about how excited she gets over Winkie Bear. Thankfully I teach her on Wednesday nights, so I get to see it first hand. She starts kicking her legs and breathing out her nose when Winkie appears. He is a very simple bear puppet that has probably been around for years. Juliet always wants to hug and "kiss" Winkie.

Juliet is truly a joy. Everybody loves her! It is so funny now when we go into restaurants, if the waitress does not make a comment about Juliet or doesn't interact with her, she's not a good waitress. Ha! I am constantly saying to Justin, "Did you see that?" "Did you hear that?" "Justin, look!" She is such a cutie. Once again, I cannot thank God enough for Him blessing us with sweet Juliet.

DISCLAIMER: this part might cause tears, make your heart ache or make your tummy hurt. (AKA-Mama, don't read)

The other night Justin and I watched a Christian movie, "Faith Like Potatoes," and a little boy dies in the movie. Of course I was crying. I told Justin if anything happened to Juliet, I would die, the Lord might as well take me too. I could not go on. She woke up a bit later and I went to nurse her and I cried, kissed her and prayed. I can truly sing with conviction, "Come Lord Jesus Come." Oh, for the time when there will be NO pain or suffering. Now when Juliet is crying or wanting to be held or wearing me out, I thank God for these times. I want to take none of them for granted.

Mo 'bility

Either way you look at it, more ability or mobility, that's what Juliet is up to...