Christmas Eve

We are spending this Christmas Eve camping in our own house! The movers packed all our stuff yesterday and just left us with a pack n play for Julia and a mattress for Chad and I. They come back on the 26th to load everything on to the truck.

It might seem strange, but Chad and I are really having fun.  Being together and enjoying our tiny girl is all we really care about anyway.  Our Christmas Eve feast of frozen pizza and ice cream (eaten from the container with plastic forks) was delish.

We hope that all our family and friends are together with those they love most tonight.  We are counting our blessings and giving thanks from our box-fort!

We did fit in a bit of traditional Christmas stuff.  Julia met Santa!  She seemed unimpressed but didn't cry...

Four Months and Ready for Christmas

Our sweet angel turned 4 months on Dec 17th.  Since we will be moving over Christmas this year I wanted to make sure we got a holiday photo session in.  She wasn't too happy with the stiff velvet Christmas dress (she is a casual kinda gal, wonder where she gets that? ;) but tolerated it fairly well.  She liked it best when we just had her in the red bloomers and hat.  She LOVES wearing hats and headbands!  Only four more days in this house then its off to Wellington...  I hope south Florida is ready for this little elf!

What A Difference A Year Makes

One year ago today I found out I was pregnant!  What an amazing miracle!  Now I am holding my sweet 16 week old darling in my arms. 

The march is on toward Baby J's first Christmas and we are trying to do plenty of holiday things. A bit sad that we won't have a tree or much decor this year since we are moving on the 27th. (More about that in the next post.) We are doing other stuff though like the tree lighting ceremony in downtown Winter Garden last night. Next week we will find a mall Santa for those required pictures :)

She has tried out her special chair a few times this week. It helps her sit up so she doesn't always have to lay down to play with her toys. She likes it for about 5 minutes then starts to slump. I don't want to push her to do something she isn't really ready for so I don't push it.

She is very into chewing on her fingers still and is getting drooly... I find it quite gross but she doesn't seem to mind slimy fingers...

Here are a few random pictures from the past week...

Last Boat Ride of 2013

We had to get 'Native Sun' out in the water one last time before 2013 ended. It also was Julia's first trip out. It was a mild day so we didn't have to worry about her getting too hot.  Baby life jackets are anything but comfy and she wasn't impressed.

After we started moving she went right to sleep for an hour! Later daddy let her try being the captain. 

Overall a wonderful day on the water. We sure hope she inherits her parents love of water!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures done a few weeks ago when Julia was 12 weeks old. We went back to the location where we were married, the shores of Lake Sheen right by our house.  We had a blast and Julia was her typical laidback tolerant self. Such a good girl. If I'm not mistaken I think she was hamming it up for the camera...

Happy Thanksgiving

Julia's first Thanksgiving was a blast! We went to Chad's Dad's house in Williston for a big dinner. Papa and Grandma Karen always have lots of yummy food and this year was no exception!

Even better was the company. Aunts Tammy and Becky, Uncles Tito and Robert, and all the cousins. Alyssa, Dylan, Bekka, and the newest addition Rosalyn. Rosie is only 5 weeks younger than Julia! Julia liked sitting in the papasan chair with Rosie and being carried around by Alyssa :)

On the way home I couldn't resist a bit of early Black Friday madness. We stopped at the Wal-Mart and I grabbed a supported sitter seat for Julia. Half price and it only took 15 minutes= WIN! 

Well that was fast...

After only 5 days on the market we sold our house in Orlando!  South Florida here we come. We are looking at houses in Boca Raton and Wellington but I think Wellington is winning. We will keep you posted on the results of our house hunting.

Julia does amazing while we travel with the realtor. (I think she just likes staying in hotels, she is her mother's daughter ;)

12 week developmental update

Some new skills in the baby world:

Julia rolled from her back to her front for the first time at 11w 5d.  She was kind enough to do it while Chad and I were both there so we could see it.  She seemed totally shocked to find herself on her stomach!  she started sleeping on her side 20 minutes after the first time she rolled and hasn't stopped.  Since then she pretty much flips as soon as we lay her on her back.

She 'talks' constantly and loves to have conversations with you.  She changes the tone and inflection as she talks and its funny to dub in what you think she's saying.

And for the most exciting news of all... she had been sleeping through the night for the past week! And not just 'through the night' in the traditional baby sense. REALLY all night long. She goes down by 9pm and sleeps until between 6-7am! I have been afraid to jinx it but wow do I love it. Hopefully she will continue to love sleep as much as her mommy does!

Julia's First Halloween (and other fun)

What a fun week we had!  The Saleskys came to visit and we had a non-stop week of activity.

 In just 6 days we:

Celebrated Halloween twice (the first night was to visit a local haunted house and the next night was actual trick or treating).  Julia was a butterfly but was asleep in the stroller as soon as we walked out the door to the first house at 6:30pm.  The older girls had a blast though I enjoyed eating their candy for the next 3 days :)

Went to the zoo - The biggest hit for the big girls was the playground.  Julia slept through the whole thing...

Went to the aquarium - The Florida Aquarium in Tampa is awesome.  We highly recommend it.  Julia slept through it.

Had family pictures taken - Stay tuned for the results...

Went to DisneyWorld - Best. Day. Ever.  Some would question the wisdom of taking an 11 week old to Disney (and to be honest if we had to purchase tickets we would have passed - Thanks so much Christina and your cast-member passes!) but it was amazing.  We saw princesses, Mickey and Minnie, and other Disneyish stuff.  Baby J alternating sleeping in the stroller, staring at the passing activity, sleeping in Chad's arms, being the subject of a zillion cell-phone photos.  She never cried or fussed the entire 11 hr day!  Infact, I think she thought it was pretty much the perfect day - Mommy and Daddy just hold and stare at me all day and I never had to do tummy-time - FTW!

WOW - What a busy week!  Julia loved meeting her friends Nya, Sage, and Ayla.  She just watched them with wide eyes.  Sage was her special helper all week, bringing her toys and singing songs to make her smile. Nya kept explaining that Baby J was Ayla's 'baby friend' since they weren't big like Nya and Sage.  Cuteness all around :)

Moving to Miami

Oh boy... here we go!  Chad got transfered wo we are off to South Florida.  We will probably live in Boca Raton instead of Miami proper and spent lat weekend looking for houses.  Julia was PERFECT the entire weekend riding with the realtor and viewing 20 houses in 2 days!  She napped, ate, and compared neighborhoods like a pro :)  We haven't found the perfect house yet but she will make sure it has a good pool and plenty of garage space for all her trikes :)

9 Week Visit to Atlanta

Chad had meetings in Atlanta this week so Julia and I rode along and spent a fun week with Oma! Julia I'd a champion traveler now and slept the entire 8.5 hrs in the car except for a quick stop for dinner and a diaper change. The short times she was awake she just enjoyed staring at her (obviously amazing) wiggly fingers and the dogs who were riding on the seat next to her.

At Oma's house she:

Had extra tummy time

Visited with our good friends Amy and Mike. (And their practically-all-grown-up awesome son Justin. Who is such a nice young man.)

Decided she didn't need naps

Got a custom car seat canopy out of cool bicycle fabric made by Oma

Got lots of snuggles from Oma and Uncle Andrew

Slept 9 hrs straight for the first time!

It was a great visit and we are always sad to see Oma in the rear view mirror...