4th of July

This 4th we spent it with Juliet's CeCe and Pops. The long weekend was great and relaxing. On this trip Juliet saw her first turtle in CeCe and Pops' backyard. Of course she stayed far away, due to the fact they carry salmonella. Pops and Juliet strolled around the yard and we even relaxed outside, in July no less. I cannot believe how "cool" July has been.


With a trip to "the country" on the big day, Juliet was fortunate enough to meet all of her Daddy's family, most for the first time. Justin's cousins were there and Juliet got to meet her third(?) cousins, who are only a year older. There was a big fish fry at her great uncle's house. I've never eaten or seen quite so much fried food. We also were able to visit Mamaw Gresham too! She remembered Juliet again!


Juliet saw her first fireworks too! Unfortunately we forgot the camera :( But she loved them! She watched the whole show. The explosions did not scare her at all and she loved the lights and colors. She stood up in my lap the whole time, starring into the sky.

7 Months

We have been weighing Miss Juliet and are excited to announce that she has met, exceeded her goal! She weighs 14 lbs. 9.6 oz!!!!! Our next official appointment is at 9 months. Since I was only feeding her on one side at each feeding, her spit up did in fact decrease, but evidently she was not taking enough in! So, we're back to eating both sides at each feeding, but without spit up aplenty! Yea!! She seems to be very interested in watching us eat food. I think she would dig right in if we let her. She loves bottles too, how's that? I can count the number of bottles she's had.This month has brought on the excitement of teeth! She is a bit fussy a few days before they come in, but overall it isn't too bad. She has two teeth on the bottom (see Developments post). Keeping with the theme of the mouth, Juliet has begun to make sounds rather than just cooing! It began at the first of this month (August). She is making the "ba" sound and is totally into "ma-ma"!!! When she cries "ma-ma" is clear as a bell. Although she does not associate it with me. Could it technically be her first word?!!



She is also crawling, army style...kinda. She doesn't seem to be using her elbows. Fingers grip the floor (mostly hardwood) and toes dig in, but only the right side. She keeps her left foot up. Even with keeping the floors vacuumed and mopped, her clothes are dirty. Can I say I hope this stage passes quickly?Sleeping has improved sightly. I'm down to one or two times getting up with her at night. I've started not changing her diaper when she wakes up in the middle of the night because it makes her so mad. And she doesn't mind sleeping with it wet. That's fine with me! I hate snaps in the dark, at two a.m.!Juliet attended her first VBS while we were in Tallahassee. She loved it! Perfect attendance! Juliet loves other kids and I think she might be a little aggressive. She was really good at stealing other kid's Bibles and chew toys. She also has a serious love for stuffed animals. It is hilarious. She gets super excited and zeros in on her prey and cannot be deterred. Granddaddy bought her a pink pig, Wilbur, to satisfy her craving! She is loving the "touch and feel" books. We have a Baby Einstein about baby animals and she loves the yellow chick and the baby hedgehog. She actually puts her fingers together and pinches the yellow fur. There is a Peter Rabbit book and her buddy Wynn has a John Deere Tractor & Tiny Hands "touch and feel" books she is crazy about. Books are still a big hit and she loves turning the pages.

Swinging is another favorite. I think she could swing for hours, but we haven't tried it yet. If all else fails to make her happy, swinging is the key! We also blow bubbles while swinging, which she gets real excited about. Lucy loves them to and jumps up to catch them. Lucy makes Juliet get very excited. Juliet joins many others who love Lucy! Lucy is not sure about the pulling of her hair, ears and tail, so she tries to stay just out of reach.

Juliet also has an obsession with paper and tearing it up. Napkins and junk mail are favorites. Clapping is still a lot of fun. That is the only way I got A (count, one) smile out of her for this session. But trying to clap and take a picture proves difficult. Below are a few outtakes. Note the obsession with paper.


I cannot tell you how much I love this little girl. She is so amazing. I love looking at her to catch her doing something new or just sleeping. I love watch her sweet little lips pooch out as her tiny chest rises and falls. She'll crawl all over me now and I love it. She puts her little mouth on my shoulder and talks. Sometimes I even feel the little teeth. I love every bit of her! (Justin does too.) I cannot tell you how many times the words sweet and precious come out of my mouth. So for the record. She is so precious. I cannot believe how sweet she is. Thank you God. Now I am current with her monthly posts!

6 Months

6 Months! The halfway mark. I cannot believe Juliet been here a half a year! Crazy! It is amazing how fast she is developing. She is sitting up pretty good. She still crashes, but now she doesn't like lying down too much. It has certainly helped out; she is definitely a "hip" baby now. The biggest deal this month occurred at the doctor's office. When they weighed her, she was 12 lbs. 15 oz, and had fallen from the 25th percentile in her weight to less than 5%. The doctor came right in and suggested I begin her on foods other than strictly breast milk. After the examination, the doc said that her muscle tone was perfect and her motor skills and fine motor skills were excellent. She said it would be okay for me to continue to exclusively breastfeed Juliet, but that she wanted her to be at 14 - 14 1/2 pounds by 7 months. She said Juliet might just be a slim baby and she was as healthy as could be! She is 26 3/4 in. long (80th %) and her head measures 16 5/8 in.(30-40 %). So the visit was a bit of a scare, but it turned out fine. (At this appointment the doc said there were no sign of teeth.)
As you can see, she has a beautiful smile! She has a few (more than a few actually) ticklish spots and it is so fun to hear her laugh. She loves getting "gnawed" or a raspberry blown on her neck. She's even started throwing her head back "asking" for it! Singing still makes her smile and she loves to hear clapping. We've been working on "Patty Cake," but she can't do it on her own yet. She also loves swinging. She gets so excited when the wind hits her face! When she gets excited she sounds like she is hyperventilating! It started out quiet, but now she's added more breath too it and it is hilarious. Reading is still a favorite and she is a good listener.

Her sleeping habits have not improved. She's been waking up a lot in the middle of the night. Three times would not be an overestimate. :( But on the bright side, we can lay her down in her crib and she will fall asleep! That is awesome and is so much better than her putting up a fight.

Juliet is also giving "kisses" and "hugs." The hugs are good! But the kisses are really good and wet! The kissing usually turns into gnawing your face. We all love it! She gets a serious grip on your face or hair and pulls in for the kiss. More than one eye makeup job has been smeared!

6 Months of Juliet

A bit late, but here is Juliet's line up. The biggest change is between 2 & 3 and 3 & 4.

I spent way too much time trying to make a collage. I cannot adjust the images in Picasa or 3 other programs I tried. Any suggestions?

Gresham Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Beach Photo Session

First Beach Experience

Don't miss Developments post!

We were dreaming last year at the beach of the little one growing inside me. We were all wondering what it would be like with a baby. Now we know! She was really a good sport, as always! At first she did not like the sand or the water at all. The first couple of days the water was cold and it was hot on the beach.

After a few days it cooled off on the beach and the water warmed up a bit, which made it perfect! Juliet liked her crab raft and had a great time floating on the waves. The yellow flags were out, but further out the waves weren't crashing. She loved it and she actually fell asleep out there!!

With a baby our schedule was different; we were not on the beach from sunup to sundown. We slept in late and if we didn't make it to the beach before 10, we played around inside. Once 3:00 rolled around, we stayed until the sun went down. It was great! Juliet got lots of holding by everyone. We also decided to cook our big meals in the middle of the day. Since it is so hot, we didn't want to be on the beach. So at night it was left overs, which was perfect because we were worn out!

The first couple of days, Justin and Daddy caught a ton of fish just off the beach. They had a great time! They were tossing their fish back in because no body wanted to clean them, but a foreign lady asked if she could have them. She said it was her dream to have fresh fish at the beach. So Justin and Daddy loaded her up! Justin did sustain an injury. He had a chuck of flesh taken from his finger by his fish on the hook. We made a run to the store for supplies. It finally stopped bleeding; I thought he might have to have stitches. (it's fine now) The girls watched and Juliet ate Deda's hat and water bottle.

We all had a super time and we are all looking forward to next year. Juliet is going to be so cute, walking around playing in the sand and splashing in the water! Justin is looking forward to building sand castles with her.