The Edwards girls took a Spring Break vacation to visit and camp with Aunt Jolie and the kids. On our way, we stopped and enjoyed a morning at Callaway Gardens. The morning was a little cool, but the sun was shining. Our first stop was at the Butterfly House which is in a greenhouse so the temperature outside wasn’t really an issue. Julia was pretty clingy and sad for the morning so separating her from Mama was a little hard. Despite that, she became interested enough in the butterflies that she ventured away a few times.

The butterflies were everywhere! They put out a few feeding plates with sliced fruit for the butterflies. These made great places to see them up close. There was also a waterfall and fish pond to see. The girls seemed to enjoy looking around and exploring the path.

After walking around inside of the Butterfly House we made a loop around it. They had lots of tulips blooming around the building and a nice walk. Then we drove over to the Azalea Bowl. This is a garden filled with different varieties of azalea bushes. We took a hike around the different trails and found a waterfall and bridge to explore. The blooms were just starting. The garden must be breathtaking when all the bushes are in bloom. Emily walked and Julia snuggled with Mama in the backpack. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning!

Julia – the girl of a thousand faces!

Julia visited the ENT today. She warmed up to the doctor and even gave him a high-five after a while of playing and talking. He said her level of being tongue-tied is moderate, and while it was our option of treatment, he thought she would benefit from the surgery. It is to be short and simple, but will require a trip to the hospital because of her age. We will schedule this for the middle of April.

They did a hearing test on Julia to eliminate that as an issue for her. She was a bit distracted during a portion of the test and they will re-test her the next time we go in on that portion, but from the results they did get, she does not seem to have any hearing issues.

The doctor agreed that Julia needed to have speech therapy and was pleased that she was going to get some. He felt that she would improve quickly with her speech. Mostly, he suggested that we just make her talk for things on a daily basis. That seems like such a simple thing, but at our house who would ever think you would need to make someone talk. I guess she is just making her own unique spot in our family. Time will tell a lot, but I’m so excited to see the voice that she is discovering.

The girls had an activity that had them add sticker gems to a tiara. After playing with the tiara for a while they discovered they could pull the sticker gems back off the tiara and decorate other things. After having decorated a mailbox and bowls they discovered themselves. I found the girls working together to decorate Julia. Emily had a gentle hold of Julia’s hand as she placed a gem bracelet on her. They had already made a line up on of Julia’s arms and a ring on her ring finger. They were playing so quietly and sweetly. I was amazed at how still Julia sat for Emily to decorate her.

The girls invited me to a concert and this was the performance. The little one was excellent as a drummer and the large one had lots of confidence. The original song is from an episode of Angelia Ballerina that Emily likes, but hasn’t watched in a while. I think her word memory is a lot better than mine. I loved the impromptu concert!

Julia was taking it easy and watching some TV. She didn’t stay like this for long, but long enough for her Mama to take her photo. She does some pretty cute things these days.

We took Julia to visit her pediatrician to discuss her speech issues today. He set up a consult with an ENT at our Children’s Hospital next Tuesday. Also, we will be doing some speech testing with a speech therapist to see what her needs are. We are excited to see what is in store. Emily has been cute, she told me that she was going to teach Julia how to talk. It was very sweet that she was thinking of her sister.

On a side note, Julia measured at 26 lbs. and 34 + inches (mama doesn’t remember the exact size). Given Julia’s refusal to drink milk out of a sippy cup, I was curious to see if she had held her own for weight. Oddly enough, she has risen a few percentile points since her last check-up 5 months ago. The doctor was pleased and told me to stick to my plan to move her to sippy cups.

It is spring break for Grammy so we went over for a little playtime and lunch. It was a bit cooler outside than I was expecting so the girls were underdressed for playing outside. So we found a shrug for Julia and Emily got a sweatshirt that looked like a dress on her. They played outside for a long time both on the swing set and picking up leaves and putting them in a pot with water in it. It always amazes me at what keeps kids entertained.

Julia is looking older now days in her photos. I guess she is getting older. I’m not sure she asked permission to grow up.