Day at the Pumpkin Patch...

I should correct the title of this post. It was really "30 minutes at the patch". That was about all our little girl could take of photo opportunities her parents mommy was eager to get. Below are some of the shots we came home with.....

 The above shots were taken within the first 10 minutes of our arrival. Julianne was intrigued by the sights and sounds and colors of the pumpkin patch. She also made every effort possible to eat the hay...

 Once the newness wore off, we attempted a mommy/baby shot in front of the windmill....

 The last 10 minutes we spent in this area with a very curious large orange thing....

 She wasn't so sure what to think about it....

 Perhaps it will taste nice?.....

 Me: Maybe she will smile if we sit her on it....

Andrew: Julianne, Julianne, youhoo....youhoo...look up here, look up here, "whistle", "whistle"

All our efforts were for not.....

Time to go.....

And that was our day 30 minutes at the pumpkin patch. Perhaps next year she will be a little more into it and we can make a day of it.

Happy Halloween All!!

Julianne is 9 Months Old!

 9 Month Stats (Doctor says she looks very healthy and predicts she will be a petite lady):
Height: 27 1/4 inches (35%)
Weight: 15 lbs. 15 oz. (8%)
Head Circumference: 16 3/4 inches (15%)

Dear Julianne,

The pictures above make me laugh....clearly I need to start recruiting help when taking the monthly pictures with the sign. Not only do you do everything in your power to throw yourself off the chair and destroy the sign, but half the time I can't get you to look at the camera! Then, if I am successful at getting a non-blurry, looking up, shot your expression is most often annoyance at the whole ordeal. Oh well....I think I like the imperfection of these photographs. They depict a more accurate account of how the monthly photo session goes down.

Back to the task at hand though...which is to discuss month 8 of your life. Again, I am shocked to find us crossing the threshold of another month. It seems like hours ago you were still in my tummy. Maybe not that extreme, but seriously how are we already here? I STILL cannot get over the fact that you are our daughter. We just couldn't have imagined a more beautiful, energetic, curious, funny, loving baby girl.  Good thing God makes us! He blessed us more than I can describe with you. Here are some highlights from this very fast month....

 1. You love your friends and play dates where you get to play next to them. You still aren't really interacting with one another yet but seem to have realized each other's existence. It is fun to watch you "play" at this stage because there aren't any issues with sharing. If someone takes another's toy it is no big deal as there are other toys to discover. I realize this will end a some point, but for now it is nice....

 2. You still aren't crawling properly, but have begun to "army crawl" your way around. This only seems to happen though when you want to reach something forbidden, otherwise you are content to stay put. Some of the forbidden items include but are not limited to: Wesson's toys, cords, my wedding rings, the remote control, and Mommy and Daddy's cell phones. In fact, to get you crawling more, we have to put one of these items in your view just to motivate you to get moving. Not sure I will win Mother of the Year for this method, but so far we haven't found another way to encourage your crawling skills.

 3. You have started to eat table foods and are developing an aversion to the spoon. This is all well and good, since we love that you can now feed yourself. The hard thing is that you seem to be more and more against being fed with a spoon. It isn't really a problem, except that I have invested many hours in chopping, cooking, blending, freezing, and storing organic baby food for you. That, and now it takes 3 times as long to feed you. The other night it took almost an hour for you to get full on the tiny bits you were getting to your mouth. Maybe you will get over the spoon thing, for now we are filling you up on turkey, avocado (you like this now), and other random things from our plates.

4. You still love the outdoors, and this month we have gotten outside a lot more as the high temperatures have eased. Daddy even installed a swing for you in the tree out back, and you LOVE it. Mommy loves it too when you get fussy and bored inside. You are instantly happy and content during and after a nice swing. 

Looking forward to the month ahead!

Love, 

Mommy

Our Weekend Away

Earlier this year Andrew was asked to usher a wedding in Wisconsin for a college friend. In our naivete as new parents we thought we'd take Julianne and make it a fun filled family weekend in the Midwest. Thankfully this year has been packed full of weddings and we have learned the hard way that quiet churches filled with lovely people trying to enjoy the nuptials of friends is not the place for our baby. Not only to we spend the entire time trying not to disturb others, but our girl ends up exhausted and on edge for sometime afterward. All this to say, we elected not to take Julianne on the 6 hour trip and asked Gran and Gramps (Andrew's parents) to babysit instead.

They were eager to oblige us and came to our house for the weekend. I feel like I was supposed to feel sick about leaving and anxious about someone else taking care of Julianne for 2 nights, but honestly I was super excited over the idea! Getting some alone time with Andrew, going through airport security with just my stuff, sitting on a plane without breastfeeding, eating meals without worrying about when and what Julianne would eat, and waking up whenever I wanted, was all very appealing to me. I knew we would miss her, but knew also that it is good for our marriage to leave every now and then. She has been much easier to care for lately too and I had gallons of milk stored up in the freezer, so I knew Gran and Gramps could handle it. 

We had never been to Wisconsin and I have to say it is beautiful there in the fall! My goodness the colors were amazing! The wedding was lovely too and it was also fun to catch up with old friends. We had a nice time, but were ready to get back after all the festivities were over. Turns out we missed Julianne more than we thought! I also didn't sleep all that well so the whole wake up when I wanted thing was not realized. All in all though a nice time, and a good exercise in leaving our baby in capable hands in order to spend time together. We will be better parents if we are good spouses first.