Julie update(but not a recent update)

This post of Julie is a little overdue, but life is so busy sometimes. Her goes.

Julie loves sunsets, unlike Robert, I can see a sunset and say, "Julie come look at this gorgeous sunset", and she will come over and tell me how pretty it is.

-Loves to sit out on the porch to get warm, even when it is not warm. Most of the time it is really warm, and she has to take her blanket out with her. Loves it outside.

-Butterflies, she loves to point out butterflies.

-Grabs me and pulls when she wants to show me something and I am not paying attention.

-Had so much fun at our ward party, there was a bounce house and a 4-wheeler pulling like 10 barrel cars behind it. She was in heaven, we had to literally drag her kicking and screaming home. She did not want to leave, and now every time we pass the Luthy's(where the party was at), she says she wants to go back to the party. We always have to tell her it won't be until next year, and nobody is there anymore right now. 

She is in the green car in the pictures above.

-Whenever we walk around the block she usually rides her bike or walks/runs, to grandmas and grandpas and then she will get in the stroller the rest of the way. Well, now she wants to walk all the way around the block, which makes for a very long walk. She also talks nonstop most of the time to, so fun to have that time with her.

She finally got her car for filling up her chart for pooping on the potty. And still as of 10/29, she still is not potty trained. She had one accident after putting underwear on, pee running all down her legs, and she did not like it at all, and then kept them dry for the rest of the day, but it is the poop that is the problem. That was a couple weeks ago, and today she wanted underwear, and she kept them dry, she is really good at peeing in the potty, but still having poop issues. Did a clean out and she is still on 2 doses of miralax while we try to get more fiber in her before we lower it, which makes for some runny messes. I hate poop skids in underwear, other than that she would be potty trained.

Loves going to the doctors office, because she loves playing in the treehouse. I will tell her we need to go to the doctors and she will start talking about playing with the kitchen and everything. So funny.

Enjoying some popcorn outside.

Loves my healthy zucchini cookies.

Having a picnic inside with her play food. She loves to do this with cheerios to.

She is a work in progress.

Tried flexirods, but her hair doesn't dry as fast in these, still gave her a little wave though.

Fun times outside.

Getting to be fall weather, and she was loving being outside.

Playing in the rain, she was really loving even going out in it and getting wet.

Here she is running up ahead of me.

She loves my parents tricycle, amazing to see how much stronger she is now. It used to be hard for her to get the tricycle over a garden hose across the driveway.

Playing with all of moms kitchen tools. Having so much fun.

More fun.

We always get an apple for, "little girl" when we go on a walk. She will come over every time we come up the street.

My cucumber girl, sometimes she will eat 3 small cucumbers at lunch.

Found her asleep watching Mickey Mouse. So cute.

Made a circle and this is the face she gave me when I told her to smile.

She doesn't take naps but will occasionally give herself one when she needs it. Love sleeping kids.

Hopefully I can be better at posting about Julie, she is sure growing up and it is crazy sometime the conversations I have with her.

20 Months

-Today, 10/17, Melanie was trying to reach her leap frog table, I helped her to a kneeling position, and then before I knew it she had brought a foot up and was getting ready to stand, and she did it. She was very wobbly, but she did it. I tried it again and she did the same thing. This just makes me happy, she is really doing so much lately, she loves to climb over us when we are on the floor, and she is belly crawling really well now, and she is fast. 

-Loves to go outside, and whenever we even walk over to the door or if she hears us unlock the lock, she stops what she is doing and starts making her way to the door. So funny.

-Eating better now and is now using her pincer grasp. I will hold a pee up and I won't let go until she grabs it with her fingers. She loves this and gets so excited when she gets one and gets it to her mouth. She was doing awesome last night. She also grabs them in the crook of her thumb, so funny, one of Melanie's interesting facts.

-She seems to be getting mad a Julie lately, she will clench her jaw and try to grab at her clothes and just kind of shake, like she wants to get her. So funny, one of these days Julie is going to get it. She only usually clenches her jaw and shakes when she is grabbing at hair or wants to grab at hair.

-Has been wearing an eye patch over her right eye this past month for 2 hours a day to help her left eye get stronger, she doesn't mind wearing it at all.
-We finally had to move her crib mattress down because she has been pulling up to everything. This makes me happy.
-It looked like she was tickling the dog, and from the jabbering she was making, it sounded like she was saying, "I am going to tickle you, or tickle tickle" It was just funny. She loves my parents dog, Buster. She is getting faster too to be able to get to him before he walks away.

 Melanie watching Julie with the tablet.

 This is how Melanie's hair ends up after Rob cleans her up after dinner.

 Exploring.

Her hair was especially orangey red, although the picture doesn't show just how red it was. Love her hair color.

Lately she had been loving all the play food. We keep them in a container and she has the funnest time taking everything out. The joys!

I love watching Julie be so loving to her sister. Putting her arm around Melanie to help her not fall over. Plus they were in matching outfits. It is funny how often I seem to dress them in the same colors, not on purpose.

 Melanie is doing so well sitting up by herself without falling backwards. Although after taking this picture, she fell over. But, if she does fall over, she seems to be not falling as hard by using her muscles to slow her down. Or she will fall slightly backwards and then bring herself back up.

 Also loves these foam letters.

 Another cute shot that I took of these two. Julie and Melanie were in the front room and I hear Julie say, "Mom, look, I am playing with Melanie". This picture was a little bit after, when I peeked into the room, I saw Julie laying on the ground and Julie had her face next to Melanie's, kind of giving her a hug without her arms wrapped around her, and so this picture is what I got after the fact, but I still love it.

 Lately our walks end up in the afternoon, when it is warmer and they usually end with Julie falling asleep. This one Melanie is watching for grandma and grandpa to come out of their house. 

 Who knew a box of wipes an diapers could be so fun and help Melanie at the same time.

 She was kneeling and she kept leaning upward and trying to balance by lifting one hand off and then she would try lifting both and then fall mostly catching herself, which is why we switched to the softer diaper package. She has gotten some good use out of those diapers.

 Lifting one hand.

 Then trying it with the other.

 She can also maneuver herself to a sitting position, she was so excited in this picture for sitting.

 Melanie woke up not happy one morning, and then Julie got up, she came in and gave Melanie her blanket, and then she brought her a ball, and she laid up next to her and wrapped her arm around her. So loving lately and I love it. Occasionally Julie will be playing and she will bend over and give Melanie a kiss on the forehead. Melts my heart.

Melanie just seems to be progressing a ton in so many areas right now, eating, vocalizing, gross motor, and fine motor, and it is so fun to see. She is getting her pincer grasp down pretty good now, eating well all by herself, using a sippy cup, belly crawling, climbing, pulling herself up to things, and so much more. Awesome progress, go Melanie!

Melanie update(20 1/2months)

Melanie is belly crawling, that is the best way to describe it, she has the technique down. Now she is getting up on her hands and knees, by herself, and she just stays like that.

Once she is comfortable with that and her arms get stronger, she should start real crawling. She is one fast belly crawler though, if we leave the bathroom door open, she heads straight for it, or our bedroom. It is like watching her grow up in slow motion, she does all these different things and then plateaus while she starts working on other thing and getting muscle strength to do them and then all of a sudden she is crawling, vocalizing like crazy, eating well, finally doing the pincer grasp. Really coming alive, she loves to hold our phones and then she will put her mouth close and start talking to it. Cutest thing, she was talking to Rob's picture on the wall the other day, and I got some video, but it won't let me upload it.

She is starting to chew now, instead of gumming everything even though she has all her teeth. Her last OT appointment went well and Johanna would stick an apple in her mouth, and if Melanie started to move it out with her tongue, Johanna would push it back on her molars and then chop her mouth like how she wanted Melanie to chew. We kept doing this until the apple was pretty chewed up. She is getting better. Just little things here and little things there.

She is just progressing in all areas right now, so fun to see. 

Melanie pictures from this last month, Julie running a car over Melanie's back. Melanie's back is very ticklish and she loved this.

 Crawling into the bathroom and she wanted to see what was going, I lifted her up and she just leaned over and started splashing the water.

 Julie's pillow sidewalk is Melanie's obstacle course, she loves to climb over things right now.

 Her hair is getting longer, and she loves shoes, shoelaces, just feet in general. If I start tying my shoes, I have to do it quick before she crawls over and reaches me to untie them.

 Julie wanted Melanie to sit with her.

 Crawled over to the milk I had brought home and kept pressing her nose up to the milk. You can kind of tell she has a red nose.

 Signing more while she is drinking a green smoothie.

 Imitating everything and she saw Julie making noises with this funnel and decided she wanted to try.

 Multi tasking by drinking her milk one handed and playing with Curious George with her feet. Uses her feet a lot.

 Snuggles during Conference. Tired from not a long enough nap.

 Holding onto her sippy with her mouth, Julie did this also, she would walk around biting on the straw to hold it in her mouth.

 Chilling while I mowed the lawn. She was actually trying to grab her sippy cup that she could see through the little window.

 Woke up at 6:00a.m. and so she watched a little baby signing time.

 Must have gotten up to early, I think I was still in bed and Rob got the kids up(probably kids waking me up and so Rob let me sleep), she fell asleep on her mini blanket.

 Melanie was rolling around and so Julie joined in.

She is just so much fun right now.