This has been a fast year! Julia has grown so fast and it has been a joy to have her in our lives. Words just do not seem adequate to express my joy, gratitude, and love for her. What a great gift she has been for us. Happy Birthday, Julia! We praise God for the blessing she will be to many during her life.

We attended a family wedding on the beach this past weekend. After the ceremony the girls had some playtime in the sand and water. They loved it! Emily did lose her footing while a wave was passing and got a little wet. I think it added to the play! Julia enjoyed the sand and water. Her Mother even let her put a little of it in her mouth.

The girls were just playing together on the couch having fun and watching some TV together. Emily was doing a little cooking on the side and eating pretend food from a stacking cup. Sweet times!

Our daily life changes as often as Julia does, but we enjoy it. Our morning routine when we are spending it at home is pretty relaxed and full of play, cartoons, jammies, and breakfast. Emily will ask for breakfast when she is ready and Julia wants to eat just about an hour after her morning milk.

Emily’s breakfast options are generally waffles, eggs, cereal, toast, bagels (if we have them), or oatmeal. She goes through periods of favoring each of these options. She has only recently started to eat cereal with milk. It is a trick to learn to use a spoon for cereal and milk. She hasn’t mastered it, but she enjoys the food even though it is messy and requires help sometimes. We got Chinese soup spoons to help her hold the milk and food a little bit safer for the trip from her bowl to her mouth. She likes her special spoons and likes having a little more success.

Julia’s breakfast options are yogurt, oatmeal, baby food with baby cereal, or bits of Mommy’s breakfast. Julia has started to eat a lot of finger foods, but breakfast doesn’t have much self feeding. She likes to pull chunky bites back out of her mouth to redeposit it back in. It is like she wonders what she is feeling in her mouth so she wants to touch it with her fingers. When we eat the yogurt she makes the funniest faces. I wonder if the taste of the yogurt encourages it or if she is just having fun playing. She also figured out how to sip/slurp yogurt from the spoon. It’s funny, but she hasn’t repeated it with anyone around other than Emily and I. She also snacks on Cheerios, baby food puffs, and rice cereal when I’m finishing my breakfast.

These are some of my favorite photos from Bryce National Park. So many good memories!

Wow! What a difference one week makes. Last week Julia realized that she could pull up onto small objects. From that small movement she learned an easier way to sit up on her own. Then a couple of days later she figured out how to pull up to her feet. Yesterday, she walked along the edge of the couch and used Mommy’s leg to climb up into a chair. And today she discovered that she could sit by Emily’s storage drawers and open the bottom drawer and get stuff out all by herself.

So much, so quickly! I knew it was time for her to pull up and become more mobile, but I really was shocked at her desire to climb. Emily was never a climber and it appears that Julia might have a little of it in her. I wonder what she will learn to do this evening.