Thanksgiving and 7.5 months

Things have definitely been busy for us. We were fortunate to get to travel south for the Thanksgiving holiday and were very pleased with how well Juliana did during the trip and while we were visiting. We can tell she's getting older in the sense that she pretty much stuck with her sleep schedule at night the whole time we were down there, and she joined us for mealtime and did great sitting in her high chair for extended periods of time. If it's possible to love someone exponentially more everyday, we do. She is such a delight, and challenges both Brian and myself to be better versions of ourselves. I've decided to share some "stories" intermixed with pictures for this post, so I hope you enjoy.

I wanted to get some pictures of Juliana (and the family) for our Christmas cards this year and we were so grateful for my Dad's "professional" expertise for many of the photos I'll share here and our holiday card this year. We went out on the VA Creeper Trail to get some fun outdoor shots and just prior to this smile (can you see the spit bubbles on her chin?), I was holding her out from me so I wasn't in the picture and she leaned over and spit on the grass. We all died laughing. Maybe she watches her Daddy very closely when we go for walks outside? =p

Right before the holidays we were blessed with BAGS of hand-me-downs from a friend. I was so grateful since our little peanut is still in 6 month clothes! I think she's closer to transitioning to the 9 month outfits I have ready, but I was grateful to have more outfits to dress her in without spending tons of money on clothes that she wouldn't wear for very long. This white and black polka dot top is one of those outfits. For the most part, she doesn't seem to care what she's wearing, just as long as she can move and go places.

Juliana enjoys the FisherPrice Musical Activity Center from when Caitlin and I were little. Of course with all the new crib regulations, it won't attach to her crib, but it works great on her Jungle Gym (early Christmas present from us). As an idea of how "fast" this little girl is, Thanksgiving morning, she was playing and being intently watched by Nana and Brian when she banged her face on the backside of the toy. She cried a little bit, but quickly stopped and then Brian saw that her nose was bleeding. So, many of her photos had to be touched up to clear up that newest boo-boo! But it definitely didn't stop her one bit.

Juliana loves her Daddy so much. This photo is from our "hike" on the VA Creeper Trail. Friday, Brian came home and walked in front of the large picture window in our living room. Juliana crawled to the window, pulled herself up to standing, was talking to him and smacking her hands on the window. When he moved out of her view to come in the front door, she started crying. The anxious, distraught, lost my best friend in the whole world cry. I told Brian yesterday that I think she's started experiencing separation anxiety but with Brian more than with me (which is probably a good thing). She's always so excited to get to day care, and always excited when I pick her up. But to see her Daddy... The first time she climbed the stairs was to follow him one evening right after he had gotten home.

Here I am (barely) supporting her as she stands in a Christmas outfit. She pulls herself up to standing regularly, and has started holding onto something with one hand while she bends over to pick up a toy of interest. She is most definitely cruising toys, furniture, people, etc. Brian says he thinks she'll be walking by Christmas. I told him that I was doubtful. She's so fast with crawling, that I think she'll probably be more content with that mode of transportation for awhile. Last night, shortly after I said I didn't think she'd be walking by Christmas, I guess she decided to prove me wrong by standing up all by herself without pulling up on anything multiple times. So I guess we will see!!

She is an extremely happy baby. We went out to breakfast on Saturday and while we were waiting for a table, I happened to sit down next to a woman with a 10-month old little girl. Juliana was shrieking, smiling, talking, grabbing, etc toward this little girl. You would've thought it was her long lost best friend by the excitement and way she was acting! At first this little girl didn't quite know what to do, but then she got in on the shrieking as well. =)

We are still waiting on more teeth to appear. It seems like a few days we can tell they are bothering her, but then a week will go by and she's totally fine. We are pretty sure we are waiting on the top four teeth, but for now, we enjoy the two bottom tooth grin.

This past weekend I had some errands that needed to be done and Juliana was a dream. We went to the mall to go to an appointment at the Apple Store, and she was very content in her stroller, people watching for almost 2 hours while we shopped, troubleshooted Apple products, ate lunch, etc.

 I had a list of single food purees that I wanted her to try, one at a time, and she finally reached the last one on the list on Friday. She had corn for the first time Friday and Saturday. So, I transitioned to the next section in my baby food book, stage 2 foods. Sunday, she had chicken salad puree for the first time. We cooked a chicken breast in the microwave, diced it up, and put it in the blender with a cucumber, a tomato, an avocado, and some yogurt. Occasionally she made the "tart" face, which I'm guessing is when she got a bit of a tomato, but other than that she did great!


Here Juliana is with her buddy Aunt Cait. We are so blessed to have Aunt Cait, and Juliana loves her so much. Black Friday evening I suddenly came down with a stomach virus that put me in the hospital needing fluids replenished. Aunt Cait took care of Juliana while Brian and I were gone. Her normal nightly schedule would've involved me nursing her about every 4 hours and then putting her right back to sleep, but since I was so dehydrated and weak, I was unable to. Well, Juliana refused to take a bottle, but Aunt Cait was perfect for helping Juliana get back to sleep. So maybe this is a disadvantage of breastfeeding, but once we finally got home, Mom brought Juliana to me about 4 am for her feeding, and she started to eat, but then stopped, looked up at me and said "Mama" and smiled up at me, then went back to eating. It melted my heart and made me feel instantly better. I honestly feel like the first 6 months were a balance between the two of us, but passing that 6 month mark, things have become much more enjoyable with breastfeeding and Juliana's preference for "Mama" over a bottle (she wouldn't take a bottle on the trip down either, so that changed too), make me feel so good for being so stubborn and sticking it out in the beginning.