Fun day out!

This morning we went to the Newport Aquarium. It was almost a year ago since the last time we went. That time, we went early afternoon and it was PACKED and Julia fell asleep halfway through! So this time we thought we would go on a Sunday morning soon after they opened hoping to miss most of the crowd. It worked!! We just about had the place to ourselves!! We were able to just put Julia down and let her run tank to tank, where ever she wanted, at her own pace.

Julia absolutely LOVED it!!! She would run tank to tank checking everything out! I did not get many pictures because it was dark and she would only linger at a tank for a few seconds before she would see another one to go run to see. She just had a blast being able to go where she wanted at her own pace.

Her favorite parts of the Aquarium were the 360 tunnels, although the see-through floor freaked her out some, and the lorikeet birds. The loud noise of the birds first scared her when we walked into the exhibit, but she quickly adjusted. She just stared and stared at the colorful birds. When in the 360 tunnels, she would see a fish swim overhead or see the rays and would say they were flying. I guess it does kind of look like they are flying.

Here are the pictures I did get. Julia always looks very somber when she is checking out new things and learning, that is why we could not get any smiles.

Just getting started.


This is how she spent most of the visit. Looking up at all the fish in the tanks.




You were allowed to touch these sea creatures, but Julia was content to just look.


She did really like the tanks that went all the way down to her level. She especially loved this one that had huge sturgeon in it.


Here, her and daddy were watching sharks swim by. You were allowed to actually touch the sharks, but Julia just like watching them and splashing in the water. Jerrod did pull her hand out when a shark swam by.


After we went to the Aquarium, we stopped by Jerrod's sister's condo. She lives in Cincinnati right on the river, so she was really close to the Aquarium. Julia loves her Aunt Ninnie and her cat Aby.


Aunt Ninnie fed Julia chocolate covered marshmallows!


Julia just had a BLAST today!! She was such a joy to watch too. We really need to find more things like this to take her too because she really does enjoy them. She just does not do well with crowds, so we have to find times were it will not be really crowded.

One thing that TOTALLY shocked Jerrod and I both was that as we were leaving the aquarium and walking to the car Julia asked "Where the horses go?". I had to think why she would think there would be horses here then I remembered it. WAY BACK in Oct., we stopped at the levee on our way to The Smoky Mountains to have dinner with Jerrod's sister. The restaurant was right in front of the Aquarium and there were horse-drawn carriages on the street offering rides. Julia commented on the horses then, and now MONTHS later, she remembered them being there and wondered where they went!! Jerrod and I were completely shocked that she remembered that! Makes us wonder what else that brain of hers picks up and remembers.

Ice and boo-boo's

Lately, Julia has been really big into her dolls getting boo-boo's and needing ice. I think this is something she sees at daycare. Kids there get an ice pack to hold on their bumps. So now she tells me that Elmo boomed and needs ice.

Then yesterday she fell while clomping around in her play dress-up shoes. She did not fall too hard, but did bump her head on the floor slightly. She was crying and said that she boomed. I asked if she wanted some ice for her boo-boo. (She has never let me hold ice to any injury before.) She replied that she did need some ice. So I got out the bear-shaped ice pack I had bought quite a while ago. She actually held the ice pack to her head! After a few minutes she was fine and holding the ice pack to all of her dolls, since they somehow had all kinds of boo-boos. I think she played with the ice pack the rest of the night!

New addition coming soon!!!

That's right folks, there will be a new addition in our house this summer. I am pregnant!! Julia is going to have to share the spotlight and will become a big sister!

I wanted to wait a little longer before telling people, but my belly was starting to tell for me! I finally told work today, so now it is safe to tell everyone. We told family not long ago.

Jerrod and I are quite excited about it. I am on the same meds I was on for Julia and apparently they did the trick again, because this kid has a strong heartbeat and did not end in miscarriage! How amazing is it that I went from thinking I would never be able to have kids to now being pregnant with my second!!???!! I love modern medicine!

I am 13 weeks today and according to the development info, the baby is the size of a peach!

Due date is July 24th (my dad's birthday), but I figure it will probably be the first week of August before this baby is born. Morning sickness has been much worse this time around. I actually had to get a prescription to help with it because I was getting so dehydrated from the inability to keep anything down occasionally. But luckily, the morning sickness is starting to ease up. My belly has also POPPED much earlier this time!! I was bigger at 9 weeks with pregnancy than I was at 20+ weeks with Julia. I have been in maternity pants since 7 weeks! I only have a few tops that still fit, so I will probably be digging out my maternity tops soon. I did have them double check for twins because of getting so big so fast, but they assure me there is only one in there. And no, it is not weight gain, I have actually LOST 12+ pounds since becoming pregnant.

I will be posting regular updates about #2.

Hot feet!

Julia always has hot feet. I cannot get her to keep her shoes and socks on!! Without fail, if I put her in her car seat, her shoes and socks will be off before we get to our destination. It is really annoying to strap her in, drive the 10 minutes to daycare, only to have to put her shoes and socks on before we can go inside.

The other day I opened the van door to discover she had taken off her shoes and socks and placed the socks over her hands like mittens. LOL Every time hear her taking off her shoes and I tell her to leave them on, she tells me, "no, hot!". The past couple of days it has been so cold, I have been trying to get her to keep her socks on, but when I tell her to keep them on, she just tells me "no, hot feet". Jerrod says his feet are always hot too, so I guess that is where she gets it.

I think I am going to try to find some slippers for her, maybe she would keep those on!

Must be sick

Julia is always on the go now. The only time I get a cuddle is when she is sick or hurt.

Here she is from when she had the flu two weekends ago. She was actually laying on Mimi's lap all cuddled up with a blanket.

Soup and chopsticks

I meant to post this months ago, but got busy and forgot.

One day we all went to a Chinese buffet. Jerrod and I always eat with chopsticks when eating Chinese. Well, this time Julia decided that if we were going to eat with chopsticks, she was too!! I am amazed at just how good she is with them. She can get a good amount of food into her using them!

During this same trip to the Chinese buffet, I had gotten some soup, but only eat about half of it. Julia said she wanted some. I did not think she could eat soup yet. When we have soup at home, I drain most of the broth off for her. I figured she would be wearing most of it, but the only way to learn is by doing, so I let her have at it. I was completely shocked to see that she did wonderfully with the soup. Hardly spilled any of it. I should never have doubted her abilities. She constantly amazes me. She even knew that she had to lean over the bowl to help prevent spilling it.

So now she has been eating with chopsticks and eat soup for months. She is an old pro at it.

"Julia go to work"

This morning when I was getting Julia up, she told me "No, Julia night-night", and laid back down and covered up. I think she takes after her mother and does not like to get out of bed.

So I told her she had to get up so she could go see Brooke and Ayla (her buddies at daycare). Julia then tells me "No, Bapa's". She did not want to go to daycare, she wanted to go to Bapa's. I explain to her that Bapa is at work and so she cannot go there. This is the conversation we had:

Julia - "Bapa at work?"
Me - "Yes sweetie, Bapa is at work."
Julia - "Bapa work"
Me - "Yep, that is right. Bapa is at work"
Julia "Mimi?"
Me - "Yes, Mimi is at work too."
Julia - "Daddy at work."
Me - That is right, Daddy is at work too."

She accepts this and lets me get her out of the crib and she gets dressed.

Then on the way to daycare Julia says "Julia go to work!". I guess she figured everyone else was at work, that she should go there too!!! LOL

Moo Cows and sunglasses

I had to take Julia to the dr.'s with me on Tuesday morning. So then she had to go to the grocery store with me so I could get my prescription filled. Since it was going to take about 20 minutes and the store was pretty empty, I just let her run around the store where she wanted to go (with me following right behind, of course). She thought it was really neat that she did not have to ride in a cart and SHE got to decide where to go next. She had a lot of fun.

She walked over to the Christmas clearance and they had a bunch of Elmo Live dolls. Julia had to make sure everyone worked (she got an Elmo Live for Christmas, so she knew how they worked).

At one point she ended up in the dairy section and suddenly realized that there is a huge mural of cows in a pasture above the dairy cases. How she never noticed this before is beyond me. But she was just memorized by this mural. She would just stand there, looking up at it saying "Moo cows, mommy, moo cows!". She would go down another aisle, but would come right back to look at the moo cows. That mural just fascinated her. I think maybe because it was just so big.

We walked back to the pharmacy since it was about time to pick up my prescription. On the way there, Julia found a rack of kid sunglasses. Julia LOVES sunglasses. She wears them all the time around the house! Since she was so good at the dr. office and waiting for the prescription, I let her pick out a pair. I did steer her to the ones with rose colored lens, since it is easier for her to see out of those in the house.

I think Julia had a great morning hanging out with mommy. She got to run around a store and got a new pair of sunglasses!! She got to daycare just in time for lunch too!! She did get upset that the sunglasses had to stay in the van though....

Ice Cream

Julia is definitely her mother's daughter when it comes to her love of ice cream! I think it is just an Ernst trait.

Lately, we have been letting Julia get ice cream for dessert of she eats her supper fairly well. She does not have to clean her plate, but she needs to at least make an effort at eating it.

Well, when I went grocery shopping Sunday, I found these little individual servings of ice cream that are the perfect size for Julia! They contain probably about 1/2 cup of ice cream. This way I don't have to worry about scooping, or asking for more when the bowl is empty. Once the carton is gone, she is done! The price on them was not too bad either!

New car seat law in Ohio

The old car seat law in Ohio was that a child had to be in a car seat until they were 4 AND 40lbs. The Governor just signed a new law that children will need to stay in a booster in until their 9th birthday or until they grow more than 4 feet 9 inches tall.

"Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has signed a bill into law that requires all Ohio children to be strapped into a booster seat.The bill states that once a child turns 4-years-old they must be strapped into a booster seat, which is designed to keep a lap belt from causing internal injuries during a crash.Under Ohio law, children will need to keep buckling in until their ninth birthday or until they grow more than 4 feet 9 inches tall."

http://www.whiotv.com/news/18438003/detail.html

I, for one, applaud this new law!!! I am not sure how it will work with school buses and such, but I think it is great that Ohio is taking the extra effort to keep kids safe. I am sure it will be a hassle for some parents, especially having to buy a booster seat, but I hope it does not get too much flack.

(This coming from a mother who still rear-facing her 2 yr old in a expensive car seat especially made for extended rear-facing.)

Just need a car up on blocks....

.... and we really could have looked like hillbillies!!

We got a new tub and surround for Christmas. Jerrod and his dad were both off last week, so they worked on installing it. Our old tub was one of those old cast iron types. Very heavy. They got it as far as just out the front door. They then realized they would need the truck to haul it away in. The truck was busy for several days, so for several days we were hillbillies and lived with a bathtub in our front yard!!

The new tub is in (some finish work still needs done), and we are LOVING it!!! It is so much nicer than our old one.

Where she learn that?

I must say, I might have been really hesitant to put Julia into a daycare, but it had been the best thing for her. Both socially and mentally. I am just amazed at some of the things she learns at daycare.

For Christmas Julia got foam animals with letters in the middle that stick to the bathtub when wet. I have worked with Julia on animal sounds for quite awhile, but apparently daycare has taught her even more. Last night in the tub while playing with these animals, Jerrod what asking her what each one said. When asked what an elephant says, she knows and uses her arm as a trunk while she is making the noise. She also knew a frog said "ribbit, ribbit", an animal I have never worked with her on before.

Then after her bath, I asked her again what a frog said. She proceeded to hop around the room on all fours like a frog, all the while saying "ribbit, ribbit". It was so funny and cute.

It does make me wonder just what kind of games they play at daycare. I don't think even I could do as good of a job teaching Julia as this daycare seems to do.

"Elmo puked"

This weekend when Julia had the flu, we used a small tupperware container as the "puke bucket". We must have left it out on the end table.

On Monday night, I hear Julia saying "Elmo puked, Elmo puked". I look over to see that she has Elmo's head in the puke bucket. I guess Elmo got sick too. I told her to go tell daddy that Elmo puked. She walks in the other room where Jerrod was and does the same thing. She then takes Elmo's head out of the container, looks in it, and proceeds to SPIT in it and says "Julia puked"!!! LOL!!!!

Sickness

Sickness has been running through our house. Jerrod was sick at Christmas time with a bad cold and sore throat.

Then Julia woke up about 11pm Friday night crying. Went in to check on her and she had vomited. She ended up with several baths that night, her crib was stripped so many times that I ran out of clean sheets to put on it. We were up a good chunk of the night. As soon as we thought she was feeling better and put her back to bed, she would vomit again. Jerrod was in charge of cleaning Julia up and I was in charge of cleaning everything else and keeping the laundry going. Poor Julia; her Blankie, Elmo, baby, etc.. all ended up in the wash and she had to make due with just a receiving blanket. Luckily, she understood that they got "puked" on and needed washed. By Saturday night she was getting dehydrated, but still could not keep anything down. Luckily, by Sunday evening, she was doing better and was keeping down the water we were giving her. By Monday morning she was good as new.

Then I started feeling bad on Saturday. Mine was mainly sore throat and achy all over. But it hurt to eat or drink and it would only upset my tummy, so I was starting to get pretty dehydrated too. I finally went to the dr. today to make sure it was not strep throat again. Nope, just a bad virus. They did give me something to settle my stomach so I can drink plenty of fluids again.

Eating at the table

Ever since Jerrod and I have been married, we have never really ate at our kitchen table. We eat on the couch in front of the TV (bad habit, I know). When Julia got old enough to start eating meals with us, I expressed that I thought we should really start eating at the table as a family. Jerrod did not really see the point and was happy with the way we were doing to. I still thought we should eat at the table, but did not push it for now. So Julia's highchair lived in the living room.

Well, right before Christmas we got a new (used) kitchen table. It was a LOT nicer than the old one we had. I also had a booster seat laying around the house, since I take to to family events so Julia has somewhere to sit at family dinners.

For Christmas morning breakfast, I just put Julia in the booster seat at the table since the highchair takes up so much room. She LOVED it!

Now she REFUSES to sit in her highchair and insist on all of us eating at the table for meals! Jerrod has no problem sitting at the table for meals now. I guess it just took the right person asking him!!

I even bought a placemat for Julia's spot. Meals are messier now, since there is not a highchair tray to catch all of the mess. But Julia loves it and she loves having us all eat together at the table. I also love the fact that we are eating as a family at the table. I just cannot bring myself to put the highchair away yet!

"I don't like it"

"I don't like it" has become Julia's newest favorite saying. I am glad she is able to express her wants, but it can be a bit embarrassing for us, her parents.

It was especially embarrassing on Christmas at my parent's house. Almost every present she opened, she immediately said "I don't like it" after taking on look at it! Jerrod and I were so embarrassed! We try to teach her to be polite and say thank you, but all she would say is "I don't like it". Sigh...

Luckily, my family thought it was hilarious and laughed every time.

Recent Owies

Julia has had two recent big owies.

One day last week, Julia was running around in just her diaper, per normal. I was getting her cereal ready and she was in the kitchen with me. I started carrying it to the highchair and she started whining. I figures she was whining because I was carrying the food away. But she shortly followed me out of the kitchen and then I notice she is making bloody footprints. She somehow cut her heal and it was bleeding pretty good. We cleaned it up, put a band-aid on it and she was good as new. She did not even whine/cry too much. She did, however, walk on her tip-toes for the rest of the day. Still not sure how she cut her heal. I searched the kitchen floor for anything sharp. It could be possible that she was wrestling with Gavin and he got too worked up and got a claw into her. BUT I had just seen him on the table, and Julia was only out of my sight for about 2 seconds. Jerrod did break a bowl a day or two before, so maybe we missed a shard when sweeping it up. Who knows! Julia did think it was neat that she got a band-aid!

Then on Monday night I was trying to get Julia's pj's on. She was being her silly self and not cooperating. I turned one away, she turned the other way to reach for something. Her hand slipped and she fell right off the changing table onto her face/head. I just could not catch her in time. Since there is hardwood floors in her room and not carpet, I was a little worried about a concussion and thought about taking her to the hospital to be checked out. I just kept a close eye on her all night and watched for any vomiting or any other signs of issues. She was just fine, except for the slight black eye she now has. The next morning, Julia said that Elmo went boom on his eye too, just like her! (She has a little Elmo doll she carries around.) I think it did scare her pretty good though, because now she is extra careful and still when on the changing table.


Of course, I was wanting to get her 2 yr. pictures taken this week, but I think I will now hold off a week of two and let the black eye go away some.

Two year checkup

Julia had her 2 yr check-up yesterday morning.

The pedi was very pleased with Julia. Although Julia was not pleased to see her. Julia DEFINITELY does not like the dr.'s office. As soon as we headed to the exam room she started saying "I don't like it" and did not want to go in. With every measurement the nurse made and the exam the pedi did, Julia kept saying "I don't like it".

Julia weighed 30 pounds and was 35 inches. She is in the 80 to 90 percentile in everything. She is just a big girl. She gets that from my family! Jerrod is excited because Julia is almost big enough to actually face forward in her carseat now. Rear-facing is the safest postion for a kid, so I found a carseat designed to rear-face until about 33 pounds.

Luckily only one shot yesterday. I am still deciding if I want her to get a flu vaccination. They have the nasal mist kind at my pedi's so it would not be another shot. I think with going to daycare it might be a good idea. Still deciding though.

I also talked to the pedi about Julia's extreme fears and shyness. Granted she is doing MUCH better than she was, it still concerns me some. The pedi basically said to just keep exposing her to stuff to help her come out of her shell. She suggested signing Julia up for dance classes, this way she will have to be on stage in front of other people. Julia already goes to swimming classes, but maybe a dance class would help better. I have to wonder if a music class would work just as well. The pedi also suggested lots of playdates where she learns to share. I think she probably gets enough of this at daycare. Besides, we really don't have any friends with kids close to her age (or kids at all). Julia does have cousins to play with, but we don't see them all that often.

We will just keep working with her.

Fun birthday!

Julia had a fun 2nd birthday!

She refused to nap (just sat in her crib and read to herself), so I was worried that she was going to be grumpy. She almost fell asleep at the table eating supper!! But after the cake and ice cream she got a sugar rush and ran around like a fool again.


Here is the cake I made her. ELMO!!


Opening presents.





Her and grandma checking out the new Elmo DVD she got!


Playing with playdouh.


Ready for cake!


The ice cream is GREAT!! (She licked the frosting off and ate the ice cream, but left the rest of the cake.)

Happy Birthday Julia!!

*I have this post set to automatically set post at the exact time Julia was born.*

I cannot believe my baby is TWO!! I remember the hell of colic that the first year was. Now look at you! All grown up!

This past year has been so much fun. I love to just watch you and laugh. You do some of the silliest things. You are also so smart. I cannot believe some of the things you know, say and do. You are such a joy to be around. You can be a tornado that destroys the house in seconds, you can also frustrate me, but I love it all!! I am so lucky to be your mommy!!

Here is your very first picture. You were only minutes old. It is a poor quality picture because it was taken on a cellphone. This is how we announced your arrival.


Daddy was smitten from first sight too!


One day old.


Look at her now!!!

Christmas

We finally had the last of our Christmas parties today. And tomorrow we have Julia's birthday party!!!

This is going to be picture heavy, but it shows Julia's Christmas.

She we giving some loving to my Grandma, Julia's Great-Grandma. Something she RARELY does, so Grandma was loving it.


Sitting with Grandma and Grandpa (my parent's).


All the presents and all Julia wanted was to be read too!!


Sitting with her aunt Stacey (my sister). Julia was really in a loving mood!


Christmas morning.... "Is that an Elmo I see?"!!!


"It is!!! ELMO!!!!!!"


One of the many other toys she got. These are actually letters that stick on the bathtub when wet.


In her pretty Christmas dress with Great-Grandma (Jerrod's grandma), having her read the Icky Bug book!


Being silly.


Probably one of her favorite presents. A BOOK!!


She and Mike (Jerrod's uncle) sat in this window reading the book for a LONG time! Julia loves Mike!

Rocking to Guitar Hero

Jerrod likes to play Guitar Hero. He even got another Guitar Hero game for Christmas. We bought Julia her very own toy guitar. She puts it on and rocks out with daddy!!

Two years ago tonight....

....This was what I was doing!



It is a really bad picture, but Jerrod took it with his cell phone because I forbid him from taking pictures of me while in labor. Yep, I was in the middle of a contraction here!

I cannot believe my baby is going to be 2 tomorrow!!! Where did my little colicky baby go?

Santa, WHAT!!

Santa came to my Grandma's Christmas party today to hand out gifts to all the little kids. I did not think Julia would deal well with him, but Mrs. Claus did come to daycare this week, so I was hopeful.

When Santa first got there and sat down, I stood in the back of the room and was showing Julia him and talking about him to her. I thought she was doing okay with it until she said "I don't like it".

I did attempt to get her at least close to Santa when it came time for her present, this is the result!

If she came on time....

Two years ago today was my due date with Julia. If she would have come on time, today would have been her birthday. But my due date went by without even a slight twitch of a contraction. She eventually was forced out 8 days later!

No clothes!

Julia is so much like her Daddy. When Jerrod was little, they could never keep clothes on him. Even now, he strips down to his boxers as soon as he walks in the door from work (which I am sure will completely embarrass Julia someday and will upset Jerrod knowing I just told the entire web this). Julia is following right in his shoes....

For the last several weeks she will start taking her clothes off shortly after we get home in the evenings. (just like daddy does) Her shirt is first and her pants soon follow. MOST times we can get her to keep her diaper on.

After she strips down, she will pat her bare belly and say "I naked, Julia naked". She is so proud of the fact that she is naked!

A closet full of pretty clothes, but Julia would much rather just run around in a diaper, or completely naked! We have a little streaker running through our house many nights......

Traumatizing Christmas for Julia

We finally bought our Christmas tree on Saturday.

Of course, Julia has to be in the thick of things as Jerrod is trying to carry it in the house. I am trying to hold the door open for him while telling her to get back. Poor girl just was not far enough away, because as Jerrod was carrying the tree in, the netting he was carrying it by broke and the tree fell right on Julia!! Fortunately, Jerrod still had a hold of the trunk of the tree, so the full weight of the tree did not fall on her.

We finally get the tree off of her and find her covered in pine needles and scared. She kept pointing to her head and saying "Tree boomed my head!". She was scared, but otherwise unhurt. A quick hug from mommy made it all better.

5 minutes later she was pointing to her head saying "Again, daddy, again!"!!! She wanted Jerrod to drop it on her head again! She thought it was neat! Silly girl. I thought she might be traumatized by the whole thing and be scared of the tree. Guess not!

This might become my new favorite Christmas memory!

Carrying the kitties..

Julia loves the kitties. Recently she has decided that she needs to actually carry the kitties around!

Unfortunately for Julia, all but one of our cats are a bit overweight, so they are just too heavy for her. But not Pepe..... Poor Pepe, she was such a great cat to put up with this considering she does not like Julia.

Stressful drive home

I had a meeting in Columbus today. It was starting to ice and freezing rain by the time I left for home. It was a very stressful drive home. I saw 3 accidents happen right in front of me. Passed countless other accidents and cars slid off into the ditch. It was very slick!! My average speed on the way home was 20mph on interstate! Everyone was driving that slow since the roads were that bad. Luckily, I had Jerrod pick up Julia from daycare, there was no way I was going to get there in time. The drive normally takes me 1 hour and 15 minutes, today it took over 3 hours to get home!

I now have a headache from the stress of driving home in these conditions. I have another meeting in Columbus tomorrow, but if the roads are this bad in the morning, I think I will not be going.

Feeding the fishes and kittys

Julia now thinks it is her job to feed the fishes and kittys each night. We are not going to discourage this.

So each night, Julia will get the fish food from the bottom of the fish tank, walk over to me and say "Fishes, mommy, fishes". And we go feed the fishes. At first I was just holding her as I put the fish food in and she just watched the fish eat, but in the last couple of weeks, I have been actually letting her help me feed them. I have to constantly tell her "little bits, little bits" and watch her like a hawk or the fish will end up with way too much food and I will have to scoop it out before the fish die from eating too much.

Julia also love to help Jerrod feed the cats. She knows he feeds the cats around supper time. Jerrod will scoop some food into about 2 bowls and it is Julia's job to distribute it to the rest of the bowls. (we have 6-8 bowls out for the cats) She is so funny how she does it. She will take handfuls to each bowl, then pick a bowl and dump it into another so she can start all over again.

Our cats are wonderful about this. Julia is constantly sticking her hand right in front of their faces while they are trying to eat and grab the food right out of their bowl. We let her play for about 5 to 10 minutes before we call it done and let the cats eat in piece!

Those are two more chores that maybe one day soon, she will take over!!

Bomb scare at work!

The office I work in is in the County Courthouse.

This morning around 10am an announcement comes over the PA system saying we need to evacuate the building. Apparently a bomb threat was called in.

I was expecting it to be hours before getting back into my office. I was surprised when 20 minutes later we were given the "all clear". The bomb squad did not show up, there were no bomb-sniffing dogs. Just some maintenance personal and police the did a quick check though the building. When asked about it they said "we just looked for one". That does not instill confidence in me. A quick walk through is not going to do any good if someone decided to actually "hide" the bomb, geesh!!

It did add some excitement to the day though!

Night out with Daddy

Winter is our meeting "season" at my work. It feels like I have been driving all over the state in the last month. Because of this, Julia has been with family or Jerrod several nights when my meeting was a night.

One night last week I knew it would be close to 10pm before I would get home, so Daddy was in charge. This meant he had to pick her up from daycare, feed her supper and put her to bed. Nothing he has not done before.

At one point during my meeting I get a call from Jerrod. "Do you know how hard it is to take Julia out to a restaurant with just one parent?", he says. I chuckle, and say "Had a little trouble, huh?". He said it was really hard trying to get her cleaned up, the diaper bag packed up, her coat put on, leave a tip, pay the bill and chase Julia around the restaurant the whole time.

Luckily, they went to Skyline Chili (which Julia loves) and it happened to be kids night. Kids ate free with a paying adult. They also had games and toys on the tables for the kids to play with. So nobody really cared that Julia was running around like a fool.

I bet Jerrod thinks twice before taking Julia out to eat again though.....

Bunch of random pictures

Just a bunch of random pictures from the past few weeks.

Climbing up to play on Mommy's computer..


Julia loves walking around with her Blankie on her head and then playing Peek-a-Boo.



Julia loves stripping down to just her diaper on the days we just hang out around the house. Here she is pushing Elmo around in her shopping cart, while wearing TWO purses and her snow boots.




Playing with her purses (and you can see Elmo in the stroller).



Chilling out on the couch just like Daddy does!



Silly girl!!

Playing in the snow

It was snowing yesterday. We ended up with about an inch or two by this morning. We took Julia out in it yesterday morning because she woke up and said "It's snowing!"

Julia got her new snowsuit and snow boots a few weeks ago, so we tried them out! (even though there was very little snow on the ground yet) We stayed out for about 45 minutes and her face was all red.

The book aisle!

For most kids, it is the toy aisle you cannot get them out of. For Julia, it is the book aisle!!

I had to stop at the store after work to pick up some cat food. Julia came with me since we stopped on the way home. Julia no longer wants to ride in the cart, but wants to help push it. I am okay with this as long as she stays right next to me and does not go running off (which she did and resulting in much crying when punished).

At one point we walked past the book aisle. She took off running into it and refused to leave! She kept picking up book after book and looking at it and showing me. (the little kids books were right at her height) After about 15-20 minutes I finally had to carry her out of the book aisle kicking and screaming, because she did not want to leave.

My little book worm!

She can read!!

The other night Jerrod decided it was time we start working with Julia on learning to read. On of her favorite books is "Baby Boo". Jerrod was reading it to her the other night. He read it very slowly, pointing to and saying each word. Julia quickly recognized the word "baby" after a few pages. She would shout "baby" when Jerrod pointed to it. He thought she was actually recognizing the word, so he wrote it on a piece of paper and asked her what the word was. She immediately said "baby"!!! WOW!!

Then the next day I told him to use different paper and writing utensil to write "baby" and see if that made a difference. It didn't!! She again immediately said "BABY"!!

So then he worked with her a little more. She can now read four words: Baby, Dog, Cat and Julia!! (Can you tell Julia is an animal lover?)

I am AMAZED that at less then 2 years old, she can read words!!!!!!!

More ice cream

Julia really takes after the Ernst's when it comes to liking ice cream. I can remember my Grandpa Ernst eating a bowl of ice cream everyday. Growing up we always had ice cream in the freezer and ate it most night. I still LOVE ice cream, and eat it frequently. (It was a LONG 10 months when Julia was allergic to dairy and I could not eat ice cream!!)

Last night I was getting ready to make supper and I asked Julia what she wanted for supper. Her reply? "Ice Cream!!!"

She did get ice cream for desert!

Ice Cream, Ice Cream!!!

I think during the summer when Jerrod's parent's watched Julia on Fridays they would stop at the Dairy Queen on the way home from the bank and Julia and MiMi would share an ice cream sundae.

When driving home on Saturday, Jerrod wanted a Cherry Lime-aid from Sonic, which happens to be located right next to the Dairy Queen. Soon as we pulled out of Sonic, Julia starts saying "ice cream, ice cream". She much have remembered the sundaes from this summer! We tried to offer her some of the lime-aid, but she wanted nothing to do with it and was crying for "ice cream, ice cream!!". We told her we had ice cream at home, but she finally fell asleep and did not get ice cream.

Then on Saturday evening, we had a Thanksgiving dinner to go to. It was also Jerrod's birthday the day before. Since I was gone all day helping my family butcher, we did not get to celebrate it. I finally made him a cake on Saturday and we were going to have it when we finally got home from the dinner. One the way home Jerrod was telling Julia that she was going to get to eat some of daddy's birthday cake, and somehow the word "ice cream" slipped out. That is all it took to get her started again about wanting ice cream.

We finally get home and I get her a bowl of ice cream before I even get Jerrod's cake out. We sing Jerrod Happy Birthday and cut the cake. Julia refused the cake and just wanted more ice cream!! So she got a second bowl of ice cream! She did eventually eat a couple bites of cakes, but still wanted more ice cream! I finally drew the line on ice cream after two bowls of it. It was bedtime after all!

Busy holiday

We had a very busy holiday! Three dinners to go to, a family butchering, and a teething toddler!!

Meals went good. Julia is DEFINITELY more sociable this year than she was last year. Several of Jerrod's cousins asked when Julia started talking since Julia actually comfortable enough this year to talk!! They were amazed when we told them she has been talking to a year and a half and could say hundreds of words. I think she will always be somewhat shy, but so is her mom and dad.

Julia is also cutting 2 year molars. I don't know how many since she refuses to let me look. By I can tell by the chewing and crankiness. Luckily, she has been pretty good about it and if it is really bothering her, Motrin helps a lot!

Baby boofs and fishes..

Julia loves helping feed the fish. If it was up to her, they would get fed multiple times a day.

The other day we needed more fish food. I thought Julia would like the pet store, so I took her with me. She LOVED it. It was not one of the big, major pet store chains. This was a small store that mainly had fish and small animals, but did have a few puppies and kittens. Two whole walls are just fish tanks. Julia kept walking along all the fish tanks pointing. She thought they were so neat. We also got to see the baby boofs (puppies). She thought they were pretty cool too. She them had to check out the reptile room and all the bunnies, birds and kittens at the front of the store. We probably spend 20-30 minutes in the store (when it only took 2 minutes to pick up the fish food), with her just checking out all the animals. At one point a guy walked right by us carrying a big bully-type dog. I though Julia would freak out with a big dog coming that close, but she was GREAT!!

I think she enjoyed this pet store more than she did the Newport Aquarium we took her too. I guess it has been almost a year since we took her there, a lot has changed since then. I think another trip there is in order!

The toddler's helper and "The Trio"

Last night when I went to pick Julia up from daycare she came running up to me and said "I pooped". So I wanted to change her before we left. At daycare, after they get their diaper changed, they have to wash their hands. As I was helping Julia wash her hands, this little girl came up and gave me the soap to use on Julia's hands. She then asked if she could give Julia a hug before I put her coat on. I said sure. They gave each other a big hug and it was very cute. Then this little girl (who is older than Julia) asked if she could help zip up Julia's coat. I told her to go right ahead. She zipped up Julia's coat and helped put on her hat. I them told Julia to tell her "thank you". Julia thanked her and wanted to give her a hug and kiss. She took the hug, but was not too sure about the kiss since Julia kisses on the lips.

I did not know what this little girl's name was. I see her all the time, but she is actually in the older toddler's class (called the Big Bears), where Julia is in the younger toddler's class (called the Baby Bears). These two classes share the same areas and are often playing together.

So this morning I was asking Julia's main caregiver what this little girl's name and how she helped last night. The caregiver said, "Oh, that is Kalynn, she is a little mommy". I was telling her the only kids Julia really talks about are Ayla and Brooke. The caregiver laughed and said "oh yes, The Trio". "The Trio?" I asked, "so they must play together a lot?". The caregiver chuckled again and said "oh yeah, Ayla, Brooke and Julia; the little Trio".

Sounds like Julia has some buddies at daycare. I am really glad. I was worried that she might be too shy and stick to herself. It is good to know she has friends she likes to play with. But I really have to chuckle that they are nicknamed "The Trio". That is just too cute and funny!!!

Bugs

We seriously think Julia is going to be an Entomologist when she grows up. She LOVES bugs, which is funny considering she is so scared of everything else.

She is just fascinated by bugs. Looking at them, picking them up, taking about them, etc... She even calls all bruises, cuts, freckles, moles, etc. "bug", as in bug bite. She has even gotten pinched (enough to draw blood) by some beetle with pincher claws when she picked it up at daycare outside. Every time we see a bug, we have to stop and examine it.

Today she had to wear her "bug" shirt, even though it was short sleeved. It was a t-shirt with lady bugs on it. She made sure everyone at daycare knew she had bugs on her shirt!!

Who know such a scared-y cat would LOVE bugs?!?!!

"My buddy"

Gavin is our youngest cat. He is a white long-haired cat who is deaf. He also apparently has a VERY high pain threshold. I don't know if it is because he is deaf or what, but Gavin is a perpetual kitten. He is always getting into something. He can be a real pain. BUT.......

He has more than earned his keep with Julia. Julia loves Gavin and Gavin loves her. Julia will beat on him, pull his hair, lay completely on top on him, and just generally be rough with him.(We don't allow these behaviors, but you know how toddlers are.) Gavin will just lay there taking the abuse and actually PURR through it!!!!

The other day while Julia was loving up on Gavin, I asked her if Gavin was her buddy. She replied "My buddy", while patting him. So now she will go up to Gavin, give him some loving and say "my buddy".

They are best buds! Well, until Gavin plays with one of her toys then he is a "bad kitty" according to her.

Kisses for Elmo

Julia and Elmo are still inseparable!

She has never shown an interest in dolls before, but wow, she is with Elmo. I had to buy a small pack of preemie diapers for Elmo, because she thinks Elmo needs a diaper on and needs to be changed often; complete with wiping him with a baby wipe.

Now, we have to give Elmo kisses all the time. Bedtime is the worse. She want me to rock her for a few minutes before bed. During that time I will have kissed Elmo MANY times!!! She also is always giving Elmo kisses. I think she might kiss Elmo more than she kisses us!!

I think I might work too much

Since my family does Christmas on Christmas Eve, I thought I might take a vacation day that day so we are not rushing around. (I get Dec 25 and 26 off)

I looked up how much vacation time I current have just too make sure I was not running low. I found out not only do I have a BUNCH of vacation time, but I am actually getting close to the point that I have so much that I might start losing it!! (We are only allowed to carry over a certain amount each year).

I think maybe I work too much and don't take enough vacation time!

Since I had all this time and we are having people over Christmas morning, I decided to just take the entire Christmas week off!! This way I can get my house clean!

*Maybe be are just too broke to go on vacation and that is why I never take any*

Ewwww, what a way to start the morning.

Most mornings Julia likes to undress herself in her crib before I get to her. This includes taking off her diaper. I have been really lucky that she does not poop overnight, but I knew it was only a matter of time.

Sunday morning I hear (on the monitor) Julia wake up about 7:30am. She is quietly playing in her crib, so I try to get a couple more minutes of sleep. A little while later she starts screaming. I go down to get her and see why she is screaming.

She had taken off her pj's and had started on her diaper, only there was poop in it. She somehow managed to get poop on both hands and on her face. Ewwwwwww!!!!! She was so upset over this. So I get her up and start cleaning her up and have Jerrod start running a bath for her. Her and Jerrod play in the tub while I go clean up the mess. BUT by some twist of luck, there was very little poo ANYWHERE!! There was a little on the bars of the crib where she was holding on, but that was it!! I was expecting to have to strip the bedding and wash down the entire crib. I have heard stories of kids "painting" walls and such with poo. Amazingly Elmo and the Blankie BOTH also survived without anything on them.

By 8:30am everyone was all clean and finally eating breakfast for the day.

Piano with Daddy

Jerrod is pretty good at playing the piano. He and Julia were making music together the other night.