We have hair!

Not much of it, but Juliana is realizing more and more that it's there. She picked up the baby brush today and started brushing her own hair. I couldn't help but try to snap a few pictures.

I'm like the paparazzi following around a celebrity that doesn't want her picture taken.

I did finally get her to face me for a few seconds.


Please pardon the cookie all over her face. :-D

Party!

Sunday, we went to Lana's birthday party. Jules was probably the youngest kid at the birthday party, except for Lana's sister Calli. She seemed to keep up pretty well.
Lana really enjoyed her princess ice cream cake. Jules did too.


















Jules really had fun in the backyard at Lana's house as well. The playhouse was great... especially when nobody else was around!









And even though she loved the cake... she could not leave the fruit alone. She knew right where it was and kept going back. How do you tell a 14 month old that she's had too much fruit and her tummy is going to hurt?!?

Thanks for inviting us!

New Fence

My parents have been talking about putting up a privacy fence since they put in their sunroom last year. Jeff and Meredith's boyfriend, Brian, offered to put it up (really I offered as well) a couple of months ago and today was the day. It just happened to be 5 days after their house got broken into.

7:30am: Jeff and I are already running late because we just hopped out of bed and were supposed to be there then. But we stopped at Starbucks anyway. Jules had spent the night with Grammy and Gramps Friday night... so we met her there. Brian and Meredith had already taken the chain link fence down when we got there.



Jeff went to Home Depot with my Mom to rent an auger. This is what they got. It wouldn't cut through roots and the roots were a bear... so they upgraded. Nice!



Jules played inside and outside all day.












She took two really great naps. All that playing is hard work!
Jeff and Brian really deserve props. They were out there for almost 12 hours, with barely a break for dad's great cook out lunch. They were motivated.
almost finished product (lacking gate and clean up):


And here is a picture of me, Juliana, and Aunt Meredy (Meredith) toward the end of the evening. Jules had just poured her daddy's tea all over herself, so she's a little damp.
I'm convinced that Jules is this generation's Meredith.

tagged

You know you want to do it to! (but I really don't... which is why I'm going to follow it up with a real post)

A - Attached or Single: Attached
B - Best Friend(s): Meredith, Jeff, Mom, Kelly
C - Cake or Pie: Cake...?
D - Day of Choice: Sunday
E - Essential Item: cell phone
F - Favorite Color(s): blue
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Neither
H - Hometown: Keller
I - Indulgence(s): Starbucks, shopping
J - January or July: January
K - Kids: a 14 month old!
L - Life is incomplete without: Family
M - Marriage Date: February 28, 2004
N - Number of Siblings: 1 sister
O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges when they're sweet and juicy. Apples are good too.
P- Phobias or Fears: don't like rodents
Q - Quote:
R- Ring size: 7
S - Season: Fall... all sports!
T- Tag 3 Friends: Mer, Kris, Jessica J
U - Unknown fact about me: I played trombone in high school.
V - Very favorite stores: Target, Kohl's
W - Worst Habit: being grouchy too easily
X-ray or Ultrasound: Ultrasound if you're seeing your bebe!
Y - Your Favorite Food(s): Italian... unless I'm on a diet!
Z - Zodiac: Aquarius

Life

Man, sometimes life throws you curve balls. My parents' house was broken into today. They opened the outside storm window and threw a brick through the inside window. A neighbor apparently noticed and called the police, which cut his time short. The neighbor also gave a description of the person. Yikes! And I was considering going over there this morning to do laundry!

My parents aren't materialistic people... therefore, they don't have a lot of valuable belongings. The only thing that was taken for sure (except maybe identity stuff) was my sister's old laptop that she has a hard time getting to work and her work laptop's bag. It makes me thankful that I don't put a lot of value in material things. I was also grateful that Jeff immediately wanted to go help them out. Makes me appreciate him.

Playdate

We had planned to have Phoenix and Jett over Sunday evening for some fun at the park. Jett decided that he just HAD to continue swimming, so Phoenix was the lucky play buddy of the night. We rolled over to the park at the church behind our house in the wagon. The kiddoes had a little picnic while we were there.
Then we decided to roll on over to the grocery store to pick up a few things.

At the park, Jules was all about the climbing and sliding. She's getting quite adept at getting up stairs. One of us always follows behind her to make sure she doesn't crash.


By the time we were finished, these two were exhausted. Phoenix just had to touch the wheels as they were riding around, so he desperately needed a bath. Quick bath and then off to bed for those two!


I think they really enjoyed themselves.

Published Again

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/collin/opinion/stories/DN-west_young_15edi.ART.West.Edition1.46c2b09.html
This is a link to Jeff's DMN article that's in print today. It's the one I was talking about a month ago.

Mother's Day

We had a really nice mother's day. My sister graduated from Texas State with her Masters Degree on Saturday, so we spent the weekend in San Marcos and Austin. I couldn't find my camera during the ceremony, so I took pictures with my sister's camera. (It was burried in the diaper bag.)

Because of a super busy night Saturday (visiting friends and their kids), Jules slept in Sunday morning... until 8:15am! Jeff and I woke up and looked at each other and then at the sleeping girl. He told me Happy Mother's Day and then, when Jules woke up 10 minutes later, he got her up and helped her give me a really nice jewelry bag. I was very surprised. He is quite good at keeping secrets!

Here's a picture of Jules and me Sunday evening after we got home.







And here is a picture of the beautiful necklace that came in the gift bag!

baby doll

Jules loves her new baby doll and stroller that her friend Kenyon gave her for her birthday.
She pushes it around the house with and without the doll!



After this, and while I was starting this blog, she decided that she should also be able to sit in it! Imagine her surprise when it rolled from underneath her. Lucky for her, her tush is already close to the ground.

Love the kisses

If you can't tell, Jules is giving the mirror Jules a kiss. She is so much fun lately! She'll blow you kisses and whether air kisses or face to face, she now says "Mmmm... wah!"
The other day, while shopping, we kept giving each other kisses. She just kept getting louder and louder. So much so, that while in the meat department, somebody commented on hearing us in the freezer section... Oops!



I tried to get pictures of her blowing me a kiss. She's just too quick for my camera. Instead, here is a post kiss pic.



And now that my bathtub faucet is mostly repaired, she can take baths in the big tub. She loves to play with her bath toys. Just a great excuse for a naked baby picture!

Graduation Gift?

Disclaimer: Meredith, if you ever read this, wait until after Saturday to read this post!

I'm having a hard time deciding what to get my sister for her graduation. (Master's Degree in School Psychology)

One choice that I know she'll enjoy is money.
I also thought about getting her a bracelet or a multicolored pearl necklace. She already has quite a bit of jewelry, so I'm not sure that jewelry would mean much.
Money doesn't mean much either. I just know she'll put it toward her trip to Hawaii this summer.











Suggestions?
I've got to decide soon. I'm running out of shopping time.

More pictures

Jeff was quick! Here are a few of my favorites from the day:

Patiently waiting for the ticket booth to open at 3:30. We got there at 3pm!

Lana wanted to climb the "big tree"!
Amazingly, she let them paint her face.
Lana was trying to hold Jules' hand. Jules was having none of it and really wanted to go back the way we came.

What's the name of the Borden cow? Bessie?


There was a lot of dancing going on today.

Mayfest

I realized this morning that it's already May. Time flies! I haven't been to Mayfest probably since I was 10 or 12. So I decided this was the year to give it a shot.
Erin and I have been throwing the idea around of a Thursday afternoon play date since it's my day off during the week. So I asked her if she wanted to join me and Jules for an afternoon to see what trouble we could get into at Mayfest.


Here are a couple of pictures that I sent to Jeff on my phone.


There are some really cute pictures on my camera. Hopefully, Jeff can help me find the cord when he gets home so that I can download (upload?) those.





Jules even let them paint a "flower" on her cheek. It looks more like a sun with purple rays... but whatever works! You could tell she thought she was such a big girl!

behind the scenes

I got to see all of the pictures - good and temper fit - today. It's so funny to see them! Jeff is so amazingly calm when she throws fits. She was super tired and it was our fault for not ensuring that she took a nap that day. But here's a great example of the poor frustrated baby!


And here's a great picture of Jeff deciding if it's worth it or not to wake her up after she fell asleep on the way to the bluebonnets. Of course, I eventually made that decision for him.