Random Tidbits!

She has started the separation anxiety, I will leave the room and she will start whimpering and then cry if I don't come back fast enough. This will be interesting, just started the last couple of days.

After her morning nap this morning, I went in to get her and she had the string to her bumper in her mouth, she looked so mischievous when I peaked over the side. Sometimes if she has been sleeping long or I need to feed her, I will go in and check on her and she will be just lying there awake, just like she is relaxing. Or I will open the door and she will pop her head up and look over the railing when we come in if she is on her stomach. She gets so excited when she sees us coming, kicking her legs and arms at the same time.
What I have been doing recently is, I lay her down for her nap and then I turn her mobile on. I wait just outside the door and she sticks her hand up into the air and waves it around and then she will grab the bumper and start pulling on it before she falls asleep. It reminds me of the movie "August Rush" when he is a baby in the crib. She is just a happy little kid.

I got this bear or dog, I am not sure what it is exactly at Sams a few years ago and I sat Julie on it the other day and she loved it. She kept bouncing up and down like she was riding a horsey. She was also really tired and she gets super giggly and happy when she is tired. She had fun.

Well, she has figured out how to roll, and she is now very mobile moving all over the place. It is so fun to watch her, she is also close to crawling. This new found freedom is getting her places quickly and I have got to keep my eye on her all the time. She loves to roll where the light shines on the carpet and she will grab at it.

It makes diaper changing an adventure as well, she will twist her body around to get at whatever she sees(especially difficult when it is a messy diaper and the diaper is off). That is where I keep her binki that she plays with while I change her, she now reaches for it when I lay her on the changing pad. Just before bath tonight, she manages to turn towards the wall and flip over onto her stomach in no time, and then kept scooting further down.

I haven't taken any bath time pictures since her first bath we gave her. So, I decided to take some tonight, she loves her bath and LOVES to splash.

She put 3 puffs in her mouth by herself and ate them. This is a big thing because she won't let you put anything in her mouth. She has been practicing her fine motor skills for basically her whole life(haha, sounds funny to say that), so when we hold out a puff for her to grab, she uses her finger and thumb and grabs it and puts it directly into her mouth most of the time. She is so precise. She looks tired in this picture, but she is actually just trying to keep a puff in her mouth.
We also have tried the biscuits and she likes those pretty well also.

Rob and I went on a walk the other day with my parents and after stopping at my parents for a bit, we grabbed some parade candy and headed up the street. Rob tried to get Julie to open her mouth to taste the sucker he was eating and she didn't the first time, but then she opened her mouth and tasted it and LOVED it, she would open her mouth when he brought it near and she got a few tastes of the sweet treat. Silly girl, she knows the good stuff.
(This in no way applies that her Aunts or Uncles or Grandparents can give her tastes of ice cream or other such sweets, I am not kidding!!! DO or DIE) Just the thought of your germs all over the utensil grosses me out and I do not want anyone elses germs in my childs mouth, Yuck!
Thanks!
(Don't mean to sound rude or anything, but that is how I feel)

She has a binki, but she doesn't use it for sucking on, and hasn't for quite a few months now, I give it to her while I change her diaper and she plays with it and chews on it. It is kind of nice not having her be attached to her binki, although it definitely would help at church. She really only sleeps well in her crib, so getting her to sleep in your arms is a challenge sometimes. She really is not a cuddly baby, so when she is fighting sleep you have to hold her on your shoulder and bounce her. At least that is how I get her to sleep.

So far we have given her bananas, carrots, strawberries, squash, and sweet potatoes. But, she still will not open her mouth willingly for the food. I guess it will come in time. I just need to keep offering it. She is getting so much better each day.

6 Month measurements

Julie had her doctors appointment today, she is growing and healthy as ever.
Here are her measurements:

Weight: 18 lbs. 15oz. (94%)
Height: 27.5in. (97%)
Head: 17 1/4 inches (85%)

I believe she is taller than the height she gave us, her head was kind of tweaked a little on the table when she measured, but oh well.
We asked the pediatrician what we can do to get her to eat. He said we should give her carrots and beans and stuff we cook ourselves and just mash it up. He said that she probably just doesn't like the gerber baby food, needs something with more flavor. So, we will do that and also start giving her finger foods. Should be exciting!

6 Months!

This last month just flew by! I don't know where it went, but Julie is changing so fast. She is such a happy little girl and never sits still. She really isn't a cuddly baby unless she is asleep. While sitting she loves to move her body back and forth, which is why a lot of these pictures are so blurry! I do what I can!

-sitting, she had gotten sitting down, and now is moving onto scooting and getting herself all over the place. Rob has fun helping her to walk all over the house, she has always loved standing, if she is lying on the ground and you hold her hand to pull her up, she will go straight to her feet. I have been standing her facing the wall holding onto the back of the couch. She will just bounce on the cushions and laugh and talk at her shadow on the wall. She loves it.

It is amazing what can entertain a little baby.

-she will clench her jaw and scream when she is frustrated or can't get something(so funny), or just for the fun of it. It is usually when she is getting tired.
-she loves to run her fingers through my hair while feeding her, so sweet.
-she has discovered something new to do with her lips, she will smack them together, this is her new thing she has been doing for the past 3 days. Kind of like you are sucking on your bottom lip and then let it go.
-eating sweat potatoes, for the last week and a half Julie is back to not eating her cereal, she will not open her mouth at all. She watches us when we are eating and looks like she just wants to eat, and then you try sticking something in her mouth and she will move her head and purse her lips closed tight. Crazy girl!
So, I went to the store today. And I went with Julie, the 1st time I have taken her with me out shopping by myself. I usually leave her at my parents while I grocery shop. So, yay for me!
Well, anyways, I decided to get some vegetables, hoping that she would like that, since she won't eat rice or oatmeal cereal. I got some sweet potatoes and everything else on my list and headed home. My parents invited us over for dinner, so when Rob got home we headed over there and since dinner was not quite ready, we tried feeding Julie the sweet potatoes. And . . . she ate it, she made some pretty sweet faces, but she actually opened her mouth and ate quite a bit of it. Go Julie! I was so excited, but it was short lived, I do airplanes and sing songs and make funny faces just so I can sneak that spoon into her mouth. With this holiday weekend and being busy going from here to there, I didn't even attempt with cereal/vegetables. We will try again tomorrow.

-We got a bouncer a while ago at a garage sale and tried it out a month ago, and she wasn't quite ready for it. Well, a few weeks ago, she really has been bouncy so we tried it out and she LOVED it, she would laugh and had a grand old time for a good half hour. We have not been able to use it for a week or more because one of the straps on it broke. Boo, she loved it though!

Julie studying Dads tie. Rob was resting before church with Julie and she was very interested in his tie that he had on. She would hold it out and just stare at it.

She has started to grab at everything, if she can see it, she will lunge for it. You have to hold onto her pretty tight.
Her 6 month stats will come Tuesday!

All Smiles!

My little gal is just always so happy! I still can't believe how much she is changing and growing up, she can sit all by herself for long periods of time. She will play with her toys very well all by herself also. Gives me some time to get things done around the house. Her smile just lights up her whole face and I absolutely love it. There is nothing better.
I have found her ticklish spot, on her sides right on her ribs. I will say,"I am gonna get you" and she will get the biggest grin because she knows what is coming. I love it!
She is starting to scoot around, if she is on her back she will push her feet and go backwards, also when she is on her stomach she will only scoot backwards. Hasn't got the forward motion down yet.

Fine Motor Skills (Tags)

Julie is always doing something with her hands, she will study them all the time. This last week she has been developing her fine motor skills. When all of her toys are in front of her, if she sees a tag, she goes straight for the tag. She will concentrate on getting only the tag. She makes a cute noise while doing this. It is just the funnest thing to watch her figure out those fingers and how to use them to grab little things.

It is amazing how each stage can be so much fun, to watch her learn and grow. This last week she has changed so much. I want her to slow down, but I also love watching each new thing she does. I just love her so much!

A New Toy

Since Julie is now really good at sitting up, I decided to pull out a toy that I got from some ladies I worked with. It spins and plays music and Winnie the Pooh talks. She liked it, but in the end I think it was a little too much for her. I think she got a little overwhelmed with it!

Turned over!

While at camp, my mom said Julie was so close to turning from her back to her stomach and I think she even did it once. Well, at home on Friday or Saturday I was getting her ready for bed and after changing her diaper I lay her on the floor so that I can wash my hands. I came back into the room to find her on her stomach, of course she does it when we leave the room. Silly girl!

Turning around

About a week ago, I went in to get Julie in the morning and found her in a different position. It kind of shocked me a little bit to see her somewhere other than her normal position I lay her down in. And now, every time I go in to get her from her nap, she is usually facing the other direction or smashed in the corner.
Funny girl, now when I go and get her in the morning, Rob has to come with me so that he can see where she ends up each morning.

Girls Camp

I am a Beehive adviser and girls camp this year was July 6-9, at Camp Lomia. I had so much fun, I traveled back and forth and made a total of 8 trips to camp. I got to know the canyon pretty well over the three days I went up there.

I had so much fun while at camp, we only had 12 girls that came, 8 of which were there for the whole camp, the others came later or just came up at night. I got to know the girls a lot better. They made pillowcases and everyone signed the backs of them, they got cute argyle t-shirts, we did glitter toes.

While doing our nails, we were supposed to be getting dutch oven dinner ready for the bishopric that were coming up and we were having so much fun talking and giggling, the priesthood leaders that were there got dinner prepared and cooked and cleaned up so the girls could have fun. What amazing men, they were awesome.
I went on the 5 mile hike they did on Wednesday morning, it took us about 3 hours total. It was so beautiful up in the mountains.
I had an awesome time, and I know the girls had fun as well. I just wish I could have been there for the whole time, but I had to get back to Julie. Good times!

Picnic in a Trailer

Have you ever had a picnic in a trailer? We did, and it was quite lovely! Julie was asleep and it was lunchtime, so I made some lunch. Rob was outside working on the trailer, so knowing it would take some time for him to get cleaned up and come in to eat. I loaded it all up in the cooler, grabbed the baby monitor and took it out to the trailer and told him we were going to have a picnic. We got the camp chairs out and set up and ate our lunch in the trailer. It was a hot day, but sitting in the trailer where it was nice and shaded felt so good. We were able to talk and just visit, something we don't get to do very often these days it seems.