Putting up Christmas

 Thanksgiving was early this year, so putting up the tree so early was kind of weird. We got the tree out and the middle section of lights were burnt out, and so it took a few days before we decorated it, because I wanted to get the lights working. We rearranged bulbs until we found the one causing the problem and they were all on. Then, the next morning we turned them on and they were out again, I didn't want to bother, so we decorated the tree anyway. It is a homemade tree and I keep bugging Robert that I want to buy one that is prelit, but this will work for now. Julie had fun decorating, talking while she was putting ornaments on.

 Family picture after decorating the tree.

 Now that Christmas is over, I can say that it was a long month. And we kept having to tell Julie that if she wasn't a good girl she wouldn't get any presents since it seemed like she was a pill all month long.

Julie

Wow, I haven't done a post on Julie lately! She is a character, and she amazes me with her vocabulary and just how she talks in complete sentences. The things she has been loving lately is watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse(every morning while I get ready), she also likes Toy Story 1, 2, and 3, Snow White, Finding Nemo, Cars, Tangled, and Pooh Bear(although not so much anymore). She is always singing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse songs and repeating whole phrases from the shows. She was pumping up a flat tire, after watching one of the shows. She will be doing something and say, "Oh Tootles"(with hand cupped over mouth), and then she will wait for a minute to see if he shows up. Or she will say, "We need a mouseketool". She is just so much fun, and also such a stinker, I swear December is "Act Totally Not Like Yourself" month. She has been ornery, throwing tantrums, super whiny, cries over anything that doesn't go her way, must be Christmas time. 

-Poops ALL Day Long(don't even want to talk about this one right now) Oh boy!

Here she is saying "Oh Tootles"

Gives herself a nap every once in a while.

 Julie definitely has more of Robs features, like her nose. She has more of a square shaped face. I think Melanie got my long face and my eyes, although after having kids my eyes changed(I have never had an eye crease and now I do), they changed to just being tired looking.

 She is quite handy with Robs tablet, it has books, puzzles, matching games, and a lot more and she loves it. "Where's my tablet?"

 Found her like this the other morning, with her sippy suctioned to her lip, just letting it hang.

Super tantrum phase right now, I swear December just makes her more naughty, something doesn't go her way or she doesn't get something, full out sprawl on the floor and wailing. I have learned to ignore her, and also sit her somewhere where she can calm herself down.
Julie playing with Melanie.

Here she is playing with my ravioli from the cupboard. She is into play food and giving us food to eat.

 Julie was not picking up toys, and so we warned her that her toys would be taken away. Well, they dissapeared one night while she was asleep(haha), and the room was so much cleaner in the morning.

It has been about a week and they are still put away, and she hasn't noticed to much

Her bangs were getting long, so I stuck her in front of my computer and turned on a movie and cut her bangs. So cute!

She loves containers and will rearrange her toys all the time. Here is an example. I got these little ornaments last year as a gift from a neighbor, and she loves them. They end up all over the place, and in this picture they are in my baby bullet freezer tray along with a golf ball.

Got to keep on updates with her, this really is already old news.

10 Months and Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

-She is rolling everywhere, she would roll before, but not to get somewhere and not all the time. Now, she rolls and gets herself across the room. 

-She also had another evaluation with the Up to 3 program with the Occupational Therapist today. We found out that she is chewing her food side to side like she should be doing. She is just having a problem with what goes in. She said she will qualify her for Therapy. She isn't eating potatoes anymore and after eating the potatoes she got rather firm poops, she would get all red in the face and give the classic "pushing" face, but nothing would come. She finally got something out after 4 days, and it made her bum bleed. Poor girl, then the next day she got more out and even more the next day. I think it was the breastmilk poop pushing everything out. We will see on Monday what she qualifies for in other areas.

-Holds onto a toy and clenches her jaw and fists. Or while playing with Robs hair she gritz her teeth and clenches her fists like she is going to rip his hair out. It is so funny. Rubbing her head just changes her mood.

Rob also gets a nice little head massage in the process.

She also loves to hang upside down.

 She is now really interested in toys, and loves this squishy water toy.

 Occasionally will sleep on her hand.

-New tooth, bottom left beside her two bottom teeth, all of a sudden there it was. And I can feel two on top coming in next on each side of her 4 front teeth.
-More involved with her surroundings, she is starting to whine when she can't see me or wants me. I will come into the room and she gets all smiles to see me. She rolls pretty good now, but not really to get anywhere. Her left arm is weaker than her right, she will get up onto her knees and her left elbow and right hand, with her head resting on her forearm of her left arm, and she will rock back and forth. She does this a lot in her bed and on our bed.
-Update: She is qualified for the "Up to 3" program. Our goal right now is for her to be sitting for 3-5 minutes unassisted. We love, love her physical therapist Curt, he is awesome. He came for the IFSP and immediately asked if he could wash his hands and just laid right down on the floor to play with Melanie.  He is so cute with her and is so good at what he does. He is just great and Melanie loves him, he says 90% of the kids he sees cry when he is there, so he was loving Melanie. Melanie will also get some Occupational Therapy(eating), she has the chewing down and moves food in her mouth like an adult would, she just won't let us put anything in. She will eat bread, puffs, and she was loving green beans off my plate today, and ate quite a bit. I really think we will totally skip baby food all together with her. So, we are excited to work with Up to 3.
-The last few nights she has been hard to get to sleep, we basically just have to let her cry it out, she usually will go down just fine and she does during naps, but at night time, she cries and cries until she falls asleep. I will pick her up for a minute and then lay her back down, hopefully this won't last long, she also still wakes up at least once during the night for a bottle. And she is now drinking about 6 ounces at each feeding. 
So much fun!

Loves Potatoes

Well, I know she loves potatoes, she is really starting to want to eat now, which is awesome, and she loves mashed potatoes. Today she had some for lunch and dinner and ate a TON, so surprised how much she ate. She even ate some green beans that I mashed slightly. So exciting!

Mouth Practice

This girl loves her puffs! She will not eat baby food, and it might just be too liquidy, low muscle tone kids do better with thicker foods, but I think this child will completely bypass baby food all together. She has teeth, so even though they are saying to still start out with the first foods, I don't think it will be purreed or from a jar, it will be in soft cubes. She smiles and opens up every time a puff is coming her way, and she will turn her head when we offer her the spoon with baby food. She is also a little more interested in water. If puffs is all she will eat right now, that is a HUGE start, and is definitely getting her used to eating.

She is also getting super wiggley where it is a struggle to get her diaper changed and clothes changed. It just makes me smile.