It is so sweet to see the girls just hanging out with their Daddy. I remembered this time to grab the camera and take a photo. Julia is very aware of what Emily is doing, and if it looks fun she is trying to join in her own way.

Other than celebrating a birthday, we have had a very quiet three weeks with sickness moving through the house. I thought that we were getting out from under the sick gloom and Emily got sick again. The girls and I are ready to get out and mix with other people and maybe tomorrow . . . but that is a thought I have had many times in the last three weeks. When we are officially well, we will have Emily’s birthday party with her friends at a local pool. It is good that she is only three and doesn’t realize that we have moved her party twice already. Being homebound has given us a lot of time to play with our new Christmas and birthday toys. This mommy is very grateful for the new things to hold our interest!

Julia was a little under the weather and was due a re-weigh so we had a visit to the pediatrician. She just had a bad cold, and thankfully it had not turned into anything like the other colds in the house had. As far as her weight, the doctor was pleased that her weight gain had begun again. She gained almost 2 lbs in three months (now 17 lbs 6 oz) and grown to a length of 28 3/4 inches. Her height percentile has remained around 25%. It doesn’t appear that she is going to outgrow Emily and is remaining just a little smaller than Emily at this age. We will wait and see if she is able to pick up steam and surpass her at some point.

Julia will return for another checkup at 18 months to see how she is doing. We are keeping her diet and milk the same for the time being. It is good to see her continue to thrive and explore around her little world.

Julia is answering questions about her breakfast with a new nod and one of her favorite words ‘More’. We haven’t been able to get her to say ‘more please’ yet, but we are working on it. We also see the ‘No’ head nod a lot more often than the ‘Yes’ nod. She is really pleased to be able to communicate with us though.

Christmas is always a fun, busy day, and it is so easy to put the camera down and forget to pick it back up. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t get family photos on Christmas and I never got a photo of Emily looking at my camera. This Christmas I guess Emily was the photographer. These are just two photos of the girls from Christmas day and the joy that they shared that day. It was a good and fun day. May all of our Christmases be so merry!

What happens to the bows after they come off of gifts . . . well, you can decorate your head with them. I’m not sure if Julia put it on her head first or if Emily decorated Julia with it. Julia definitely took the bow off, looked at it, and then put it back on her head. Last Christmas, we had a little baby laying on the floor covered with all the bows that came off the gifts. I guess this year we will have a toddler covered with bows. Fun times!!

We are continuing a tradition from Robby’s childhood of hanging an ornament on the advent wreath each of the days of December. Robby has really enjoyed watching Emily pick out the ornaments remembering back to he and his brothers doing the same thing. It was a lot of fun to do with her and Julia enjoyed looking and touching them. We saved a Santa ornament for Christmas Eve and baby Jesus for Christmas day.