Juliet is ONE!

Our sweet baby girl is ONE year old today... 

 ...and while I have sadly gotten too busy to blog lately, it had

to make its return for this precious little lady's special day!

Just like her quick and crazy arrival, this last year has gone by fast and been pretty crazy. We have learned how to handle life with two kiddos, even though how to do that changes pretty much daily. Laila is an amazing and caring big sister, especially lately, and I think she is really enjoying the fact that Juliet is growing up and starting to become more of a playmate. Laila is always sweet if Juliet is crying and asks her what's wrong, and always tries to make it better by giving her a paci, a toy, or a snack. Don't get me wrong, she gets plenty annoyed with her at times too, but overall they love each other and I am so excited to watch their relationship develop as they become more like peers and friends.

 

It is amazing how much these kids change in a year. In a month. In a week, even. Juliet is now standing on her own rather solidly for longer periods of time each day, and takes a few steps on her own here and there...mostly from one object to another, rather than in an open space. I am sure she'll be fully walking in a few weeks or so. She is babbling a ton and so far she says, "juju", "dada", "baby", "baba" (for bottle), "ba" for ball, "ariel" (her favorite disney character!), "poop", "shoe", and probably a few others I'm not remembering. She signs "more" and "all done" when eating or playing. She eats pretty much everything now and has a very good appetite. Some of her favorite foods are avocado, olives, mac n cheese, cheese sticks, black beans, and green vegetable pouches. We are currently transitioning from formula to cow's milk...mostly she is getting a combo right now but just because I am trying to use up the rest of the formula I have! She is wearing size 4 diapers, mostly size 18-24 month clothes and size 4 shoes. She sleeps 7-7 at night and is napping 9:30-11 and 2:00-4:00.

She has done a lot of new things lately like learning to crawl through structures on playgrounds, has gone swimming and daddy took her for her first bike ride!

We visit Disneyland often and she loves it. Her favorite ride is The Little Mermaid ride at California Adventure. Her face lights up when we walk in and she sees all of the familiar characters on the wall. She will point and say, "Ariel!" It is fun to see how much her awareness has changed since I started taking her there when she was only 5 months old. She takes everything in, gets a little startled here and there, but is generally very brave and has never cried on any of the rides.

She is generally just the happiest, smiliest baby, and we love her to pieces.

 

 She LOVES bathtime. She actually squeals when we walk in the bathroom.

Happy, Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!!

 

TWO AND A HALF!!

My first born little monkey is 2 1/2 today. She is adorable, spunky, precious, super intelligent, lovable, crazy and cute. We love her SO MUCH. We often look at her and can't believe she's only been on this earth for 2.5 years. She seems SO GROWN UP sometimes. But other times, she seems like such a baby. We LOVE having conversations with her, learning from her, teaching her things and watching her take in everything about this huge world around her. She is like a sponge that soaks up everything in her midst. She keeps us in hysterics daily with many of the things she says, and I often wish I could keep a journal of everything that comes out of her mouth. She is a FANTASTIC big sister to Juliet and just a huge love bug. She is fully conversational, can rationalize most things, and will call us out or question anything she doesn't understand. You can't get ANYTHING past her. She has developed a great imagination, often telling us she is one character or another and acting out that character. She has most of the Disney princess dresses and changes in and out of them every few minutes. She strips out of her jammies first thing in the morning to put on a princess dress, and it's a constant rotation from that moment on. She has also developed quite a love for the other Disney characters since we've been to Disneyland a number of times now. Her new favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and she loves reading stories from her Princess Bedtime Stories book. She has seen a number of movies now and her favorites are Dumbo, Beauty and the Beast and Tangled. She is ALL GIRL and we love everything about her. 

We LOVE YOU baby girl.