Valentine's Day

It must have been a little embarrassing to Julianna that she was accompanied by her mother on her first date. Her friend, Jack, invited her out for brunch a few days before Valentine's day and when she arrived at the table her first ever Valentine's Day card was waiting for her! Jack was born exactly one week after Jules, but it's been a bit of a joke comparing the two side by side... "Jack the Giant" and "Jules the Shrimp" make for quite a pair. Jack's mom wrote about their date on her blog, and rather than recounting it myself, I thought I'd just post her version....

Jack had his first Valentines date last Friday when he met Jules for lunch at George's. Jules ordered the Eggs Domata and a latte while Jack jumped straight to the Feta Burger with a beer since technically it was after noon. The conversation between the two was mostly about diet and exercise (i.e. solid foods and exersaucers). They also laughed about keeping their moms on their toes with their unpredictable napping. Jules also showed Jack her trick to get her mom to take her out of her car seat and hold her at the table. Jack tried, but to no avail...better luck next time.

As a passive observer I'd say there was a love connection made.

Side Note: I'm going to TRY to start being a better blogger, basically as a way to document some of what's going on in Julianna's life so that later I can easily add these stories to her baby book without having to try to recall everything from memory! I'm also doing this as a way for her grandparents to have a little weekly dose of their grand baby. Since I'm so far behind, there will be a small flurry of posts to try to catch up a bit, and then after that, fingers crossed, things will be slightly more regular. So ladies, feel free to unsubscribe if this becomes less than pertinent to you, because as I said, this will be more of a personal way to keep up with our daily happenings. But if you'd like a little daily, weekly or monthly Jules (which ever it happens to be), I hope you enjoy! :)

Good Luck Charm

Daddy and his little Saint all geared up to watch the Super Bowl. She must have been a good luck charm!

4.5 months old: Story Book

Every week we are noticing growth and advancement in Julianna. We have just started reading very simple story books to her, and they hold her patience for all of about five minutes. Her favorite is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Each spread has a different animal (Yellow Duck, Red Bird, Black Dog...) and we are sure to incorporate the sounds that each animal makes. Recently, Julianna has started reaching out and touching the pages, opening and closing her fingers as if she is trying to grab ahold of the animal. We were quite impressed when we realized she always reaches for the animal's face, particularly the eyes, no matter which direction the animal is facing. We're thinking Dash (our cat) probably won't be as excited about this development.

For Thanksgiving (and to celebrate our three year anniversary which was on Nov. 18th), we decided to take a road trip to San Juan Island. We thought an hour and a half drive would be a piece of cake, however, some of us weren't particularly skilled at practicing patience when we got stuck in a traffic jam on the way (and I'm not just talking about Elmo).But soon we were at the ferry terminal (thankful that we made it in time) and a little lunch put everyone in a much better mood. We were ready to embark on our hour-long scenic journey through the San Juan Islands.

We stayed two nights at a small hotel overlooking Friday Harbor, and enjoyed the gas fireplace and the view looking out of our corner room.

We thought it sounded like a great idea to leave Julianna asleep in her pack and play while we went down to the hotel restaurant to enjoy their five course Thanksgiving meal, but we weren't so sure others would agree. So we had it delivered to our room where we watched Ferris Buellers Day off, sipped wine and tip-toed around the room to ensure that Baby Jules would allow us the time to finish our scrumptious meal uninterrupted!
The following day we drove around the island and checked out the scenery. The next time we return, we hope it'll be in the summer when the weather is a little warmer and Julianna will be old enough for us to enjoy some of what the island has to offer (whale watching, wineries, golf and a lavender farm!). But for now, just being together as a family and seeing some beautiful sites was enough for us to be quite content!



This holiday season, we are so thankful for new beginnings and especially for conversations with this little Jule!

Kiss. Check!

Grandma said for us to give you a kiss, and then give you a hundred more. I think we have that covered!
Notice the little hand blocking daddy's kiss? Unfortunately, the goatee cramps Baby Jules' style. But it's so hard for daddy to resist those chubby baby cheeks.

Taco Time - 1 week old!

Hey Everyone!

We are really enjoying Julianna since she arrived home from the hospital. It's been hectic and crazy learning how to take care of a newborn and balancing feeding, diaper changing, rocking to sleep and then waking her up again to start the process over again every 3 hours from start to finish. It's a full time job for sure!

I know everyone is curious what we have been up to, and I haven't had much time to dedicate to picture taking and blogging! My mom however, has written a few emails to Matt's parents to let them know how things are going and to fill in the blanks for them until they get here on Sept. 19th.

Here is an excerpt from one of her emails...

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Miss Jules is dealing with some tummy air issues that set her off screeching at times. Matt and Stephanie patiently experiment with different pats, rubs, holds and rocks until she manages to let out the air from one end or the other. She is then content to bless us with her wondering brown eyes......for about 3 minutes and then she is off to la-la land.Her favorite way to sleep is to be held, of course, and she has plenty of eager volunteers willing to do just that. However, occasionally we are forced to set her down, only because we need to eat or sleep ourselves, and she didn't like that at first. The only way to get her to sleep the second night home (so Matt & Steph could get some rest after their long nights at the hospital) was for me to lay on the couch and hold her for several hours. After watching what made her most comfortable, I devised a plan and for the last two days it has worked well. We already knew she liked to be swaddled - like a bean burrito. (When she "toots" Stephanie points out that she must be a "bean burrito.")

But laying her down was the issue. I observed that she seemed to like to be a bit squeezed. So, after making her into a burrito, I made her into a taco, in a wrapper.

Now, when we lay her down like that, all squeezed and snugly, she is content to sleep for 2-3 hours.........

......or longer. After a couple hours though, Stephanie is forced to wake Julianna up so she can feed her. You can only wonder at her confusion...."first you put me to sleep, then you wake me up. I'm not too sure about the rationale of this world."

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So that's what we've been up to! Keeping busy with the basics of life and loving every minute of it!

Love to everyone,

Steph, Matt and Baby Jules

39 Weeks and Waiting!!!

This will probably be my last post before Julianna arrives. I can't believe it's only 2 days until my due date!

I have been doing a few things here and there the last week to prepare, including:

• Got my hair cut and highlighted (must look good in hospital pics! haha)

• Made two casseroles and put them in the freezer

• Installed car seat and had it "inspected" at the fire station (they were very helpful and gave me a thorough tutorial!)

• Bought a video camera (the in-laws will definitely appreciate this when they have to leave their grand baby and head back to India... "we'll send videos, we promise!")

• Laid out Julianna's "take home" outfit. Will it be comfortable? too warm? too cold? Guess she can survive anything for the two and a half mile ride home in her safety inspected car seat!

Everyone has been asking how I'm feeling. And up until early last week, I was fine. I kept wondering what all the fuss was about. But lately, I'm starting to feel the changes: sore back, getting up 100 plus times a night to use the restroom, gaining a slight waddle in the evenings. I know the pain "THAT DAY" is going to involve, so up until now, I've been okay with putting it off. But since it is inevitable, I'm starting to think, lets just get it over with!! Grandma Cristy (my mom) is arriving on Saturday (my due date), so I'm willing to wait until then, but I'm going to grow ever more impatient after that! What? Only 5% of women actually deliver on their due date? I thought the point of surprise birthday parties was to surprise the birthday girl, not her mother! ugh.

Anyway, I'm posting some pics taken recently of Matt and I. My childhood friend, Amy - from Oklahoma, who visited about a month ago, did a fabulous job of capturing how excited Matt and I are about welcoming Julianna into the world.