Julia has been enjoying the Christmas tree lights. We have found that when she is fussy, she likes to look at the lights to distract her. One day she was a little fussy, and I needed to lay her down to do something. I decided to try laying her just under the Christmas tree, so she could watch the lights. By the time I had finished what I needed to do she was asleep.

I knew it was going to happen, Julia is growing just as quickly as Emily did. The time has flown, and while I thought I was watching all of the time, she has grown and I didn’t notice. Here she is 8 weeks old and so much bigger.

Her face and other features are filling out. Julia has strong legs and kicks them really well. She also has a lot of control over her arms. She can hit her toy hanging from the car seat handle and I think she is doing it on purpose. She also likes to knock her pacifier out of her mouth. Then she will lick her hand or stick some part of it in her mouth and suck on it. It makes a pretty loud sucking sound. Unfortunately, it is not as satisfying as the pacifier and she fusses after a little while.

She holds her head up well and is looking around. She doesn’t like her tummy time and doesn’t usually do her neck ‘exercises’. She must take after me, I don’t like exercises either. She will turn her head when she hears a familiar voice and when she knows that she is going to eat she gets excited. I still wonder what she is looking at half of the time as she focus on odd things, but she is alert and looking around. She doesn’t like her swing as much as Emily did, but she loves the bouncy seat. This is great because it allows me to get my shower and to keep her happy.

I took Julia for her 6 week checkup. We had postponed the one month appointment because of insurance issues. It all worked out because at the time of the appointment Julia was just getting over a stomach virus and we could combine a well visit and a sick visit. Julia had just run her course with the illness and had no additional complications. Her weight at the visit was 8 lbs. 3 oz., height of 20 1/2 inches, and head size of 14 1/8 inches. I was pleased with her weight especially considering that she had a day of illness where she hadn’t eaten much. Over the 6 weeks she has increase her weight by 1 lb. 6 oz. and grown an inch longer. The doctor was pleased with where she was at. She balances out between the 15th and 25th percentile. Julia didn’t appreciate the shot that she got or having to lie on the cold table. Her next checkup will be at 2 months.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice for a Sister!

Today was our morning movie day for the girls. While it seemed to take us forever to get out of the house, we managed to make it to the movie theater on time. We had to bundle up extra because it was literally freezing outside. Emily was willing to wear her hat (thanks Granddaddy for giving her a love of hats!) and scarf, but unwilling to wear her gloves. Wearing them outside has not been interesting, while she loves to wear the gloves around the house to play.

Julia slept through most of the movie with the exception of waking up for a bottle. I noticed that if you go to an active movie that a baby’s cry isn’t going to be heard over the music and dialog of the movie. It worked out really well.

Emily was simply wonderful today. We tried popcorn last month and Emily was really disinterested in it. I didn’t eat breakfast this morning and decided that I would get a popcorn and a drink. I figured that Emily would try a few and then end up becoming disinterested like last month. I was wrong. She tried it and helped me eat half of the bag. Then she took the bag from me, sat it on her lap, and munched most of the movie. Emily sat for the whole movie either on her booster seat or on my lap and watched the movie. She was such a big girl! The whole event was quite relaxing for me. Imagine that – going out into public with two little ones and being relaxed! It has been a good day!

Wow – It is Julia’s One Month Birthday today! I know everyone always says it, but I can’t believe that we have had her for one month now. I know for all the changes that our family has undergone in this last month so much has changed for Julia too. I guess we are all in this together.

We love her and are so grateful to God for giving us such a great gift!