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.

Julianne is 8 Months Old!

Dear Julianne-

Gosh it feels like I just finished writing your 7 month post. I always have these great intentions of writing throughout the month and then find myself on the 29th trying to re-cap the whole thing. All I can say is I will attempt to do better next time. Where does all the time go?

As I was thinking on what to include this month it occurred to me that I have pretty much covered all of your likes in life in the last 7 posts. So today I thought I would highlight some of your dislikes. These are quite apparent to us lately as you are excellent at showing your dissatisfaction with anything on the following list. Can we say tantrum? I didn't know an 8 month old could throw tantrums but along with many expectations of motherhood I was completely wrong. So without further a-due, a compilation of things Julianne McClish would rather do without:

1. Putting on clothes.

I have tried to explain that dressing for the day and night is something we are going to do at least twice a day everyday and usually more. This conversation to date has seemed to fall on deaf ears. I know someday you will love to wear clothes and trying them on will be a fun activity. Today is just not that day. Dressing you is a lot like something you would see on Wrestle Mania as I constantly fight against your arched back and quick arms that attempt to push me away. Unfortunately for you, I always win and you end up dressed. You are over it as quickly as you got mad about it but for the few seconds it takes to put on your clothes you are not a happy camper.

2. Avocado


The fact that you seem not to care for avocado troubles and saddens me. Avocado is one of my favorite things in the world and I long for you to share my passion for the fruit. You still eat it if I serve it, that is how it goes in our family, but I just wish you liked it more. I still have hopes that you will come around to it if we can afford to buy them regularly. They are very expensive these days!



3. Pack n Play/Sleeping away from home


This month Mommy and Daddy took you to Colorado to visit Opa and Cita. Since you had been sleeping 12 hours at night consistently at home we were very much looking forward to our long cozy nights in the mountains. That is until we realized your uncanny ability to know when things aren't quite the same. Not unlike our other trips (remember the lake in August?) you reverted to your newborn schedule waking every 2-3 hours forcing Mommy to nurse you as quickly as possible in hopes of not disturbing the rest of the house. Even nursing wouldn't get you back to sleep some of the time and left us pacing around the house trying to keep you quiet, all the while loosing our sanity and REM cycles. Naps did not go well either and none of us got much sleep until we got home. I am really going to start praying that you work out these issues before our holiday travels.

4. Having your face/nose wiped



Now to be fair, I am not aware of a kid that likes having a wet washcloth smeared across their face in hopes to get the food/booger crusties off. That said, I can always count on some yells of distain when this happens. This month you had your first stuffy nose/cold and were not a fan of the snot wiping or sucking for that matter. I never understood before how parents could let their kid's nose just run and run. I thought it was so nasty. I see why now...there is no stopping the flow, and sometimes it is just a battle not worth fighting.

All in all this is not that long of a list. You are such a joy baby girl and we are so blessed to have such a curious, smart, active, healthy, girl. I think you are going to start crawling any minute and I can only imagine how life will change when you become mobile. Mommy and Daddy love you so much and are in total awe of how God made you.

Love,
Mommy

Team McClish

Well I put my money where my mouth is and actually did something about the fact that I miss running. A few weeks ago, with encouragement from Andrew, I signed up for the Dallas White Rock 1/2 Marathon. The race is on December 3rd and getting into 13.1 mile shape has not been easy. Part of that might be the fact that I am pushing a stroller and holding a very energetic dog during my weekday runs. Andrew stays home with Julianne on Saturday mornings for a longer run with just me and Wesson. So far we are up to 4 miles with a 5 mile run this Saturday.

Meet the team:



1. THE BOB: this is the greatest stroller on the planet. We bought it used before Julianne was born because they are also one of the most expensive strollers on the planet. Well worth it though since I don't think I could run with the baby without it.



2. THE CHEERLEADER: She is my companion and selflessly spends 30 minutes in the morning taking in the fresh air and "cheers" me on during the ride. Couldn't do it without her.....



3. THE ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER:
He may me a tan and white canine, but this dog loves to run! If we miss a day I know it because he is asking to go as soon as we get up in the morning. I love and hate this about him, but that is how it should be with any good accountability partner. He pushes me to keep going threatening to take off without us if we can't keep up.


4. HOW WE ROLL:
With leash in my left, and stroller in my right, we are finally ready to set out. I think this somehow tones my arms...not a bad side effect of the pushing.

I have to admit I am slightly intimidated by the race. Even though I have run at least 10 1/2 marathons, I have never trained alone or attempted to prepare this quickly for a race. I think as long as I keep in mind that I just want to finish it and have fun all will go well. I am really enjoying the runs even if it is a pain to get us all out the door.

Nathalie