letters to julia: month eleven

dear julia,

you. are. so. much. fun.

you are developing the cutest and sweetest little personality. 

you wave at appropriate times now. if anyone says the word, "hi," you'll wave to someone or something and say, "i! i!" you understand the social cues when someone is leaving and you'll wave to them before they even say goodbye to you. you even blow kisses.

you have developed quite an affinity for books. you have buckets (literally, buckets) full of toys to play with and you choose to pull all the books off your shelf and flip through them. your favorite one to read to yourself is, "dr. seuss' abc" and your favorite one for me to read to you is, "my mom loves me." (aww.)

this month was halloween! you dressed up as a parrot, and daddy and i were pirates. you were absolutely adorable.

we also went to the pumpkin farm and you got to meet lots of animals including a cow!

we set up a little tent in the living room. you weren't sure at first, but now you like to go in there just to get away from it all. (LOL)

we went to imagination station with your cousins to see the sesame street display. your favorite thing was putting a ball in a hole. over and over and over.

you're getting so big. you have 6 and a half teeth, and the 8th is on the cusp of cutting any day now.

 

 you crawl around the house with toys in your mouth.

you line up your food on the side of your high chair before you eat it.

we had to go to the doctor because you had an ear infection.

we felt so bad for you,

but you were such a trooper.

 

you've started trying to "crawl" using your hands and feet -- no knees.

 

we went to a baby shower where you met a house-trained pig! 

 

you dance when music starts playing.

you're the best.

i love you so so so so so so much.

love,

mama

letters to julia: month ten

dear julia,

what a month it has been! you are getting around so well now. you crawl everywhere, you cruise on furniture and walls, you even climb the stairs!

you're still a fantastic eater. we are still breastfeeding (woohoo!) and other than that, you basically eat what we eat. i make some special meals for you (your current favorite is pasta with cheese, tuna, and peas). i have started buying you some toddler snacks (the earth's best brand elmo crackers and letter of the day cookies) and you love them. you also love the old standby, cheerios. anything you can feed yourself is right up your alley.

you love to play with our dog, henry. you know which toys are his and which are yours, and when you pick up his toys, you find him and hold his toy out to him. sometimes he ignores you, but sometimes he plays tug of war with you. you screech and giggle. it's so cute. you also like to feed henry from your plate at the table, and sometimes you'll even lean over the side of your chair and spit something out of your mouth for him to eat.

you got a new carseat this month! 

you are so beautiful, peanut ...

... and so funny.

i love you.

you love (love love love love love) to be naked.

you still love mirrors. there is a mirror in your closet that you can't get enough of. you like to play peek-a-boo around corners of the house and around doors. you like elmo, and much to my chagrin, you have figured out what a remote control does. you pick it up, press buttons, and look at the tv.

i love spending my time with you.

you're the best.

love you so much.

love,

mama

letters to julia: month nine

dear julia, 

you have made some huge strides this month. 

your favorite trick is going from crawling to sitting position. 

you are so proud of this accomplishment and you do it all the time, 

especially in your crib. 

you are so proud when we come in to get you and you're sitting up. 

 

a few days after mastering this, you started to pull yourself up to a stand in your crib.

you did it like it was nothing -- "no big deal, mama, i got this."

now you find different things around the house to pull yourself up on. 

it makes you so happy, julia.

you have recently noticed things on ceilings.

when we walk into a church or another room or building with a unique or ornate ceiling,

your eyes go straight up and you stare in wonder. 

you have also started to reach for the decals that daddy hung around your crib. 

we went to the zoo with grandma, grandpa and aunt becky.

the fish are still your favorite.

you have started to get very uninterested in foods that we feed you.

you want to feed yourself.

most things you get now are cut into bite size pieces for you

and you eat everything.

you're a great eater.

when you are eating and something falls out of your mouth,

you quickly put the back of your hand to your mouth to push it back in.

it's pretty adorable.

you have had lots of fun with toys this month.

you are becoming a lot more playful now that you're able to get around a lot better.

 

you got a little cold that turned into bronchiolitis. 

we have to give you breathing treatments, 

but you are feeling a lot better than you were.

you're so much fun.

every day with you is an adventure.

we love you so much.

love,

mama

letters to julia: month eight

dear julia,

my sweet girl. eight months seems so close to twelve months. please slow down.

at the very beginning of the month (you were like, 7 months and one day old) your bottom left tooth came through.
the next day, your bottom right one came through.

 this month we spent three weeks at the beach. we went with friends, mama's family, and daddy's family. you loved seeing everyone and everyone loved seeing you. you were such a good girl in the car, and you made it so much fun.

you played in the sand and daddy even took you in the ocean a few times. (you were kind of intimidated by it. i don't blame you.)

 after the beach, we went to washington dc for a few days. you got a whirlwind tour of arlington cemetery, a few monuments, a few smithsonians and a few metro rides.

 we also went to the great nurse-in on the lawn of the capitol and nursed with 600 other mamas and babies to help set a world record. (we did. over 8000 mama/baby pairs nationwide.)

as soon as we got home, you started moving. you're EVERYWHERE. yes, you were "mobile" last month, but this month you have perfected your army crawl. we have to put baby gates up or you end up crawling into the laundry room before we even realize you're gone. you're mighty quick and mighty pleased with yourself.

 

i started watching other children at our house last week. you're still trying to figure out what's going on, but you love it. you always smile when you see the other babies. you study them hard and are learning so much from them.

yes, this is mama's job

julia, you're so much fun. you're really developing a personality. you love to squeal, especially in public because of the reactions you get from other people. you're an observer, a people watcher. 

we love you so much, pipsqueak.

love,

mama