Workout!

Julia's latest physical feat involves baby crunches. She does these all day long & in her crib at night, too! I don't know how she does it.

MARS NEEDS MOMS!

We have a nighttime routine for Julia for putting her to bed. The last bit before I rock her to sleep is to read her a bedtime story. Unfortunately, as soon as we sit down in the rocking chair, she usually starts to fuss & will have nothing to do with the story. I usually try to persist & see if she'll take to it. This usually ends with her crying & me nursing her to sleep - which is a habit the pediatrician wants me to cut down on, as it will cause cavities when her teeth come in.

Anyway, tonight, we sat in the chair with Mars Needs Moms by Berkeley Breathed.

Image from Bob & Rob Professional American Screenwriters

She fussed. I persisted. Next thing I knew.... she was smiling & giggling at me, apparently enjoying the emotions in my voice as I read her the story. She's too young to understand what it's about, but she listened to the whole thing. Trust me, this is a MAJOR milestone! After the story, she fussed a little, I gave her her binky & she settled down & I rocked her to sleep. Sooooooo Thank You Auntie Jennifer & Uncle David for your wonderful story.

Time to eat!

Julia had her first go at solid food (if you count rice cereal) on Christmas Eve & was eating like a pro by Christmas morning. Thanks to Nonna (Carol Young) and nanny, Karla Rojas for their help:


Merry Christmas.

Christmas 2009

My sister, Jennifer, created this super cool image from a photo I took of Julia's foot:

From Feet

While you're at it, have a gander at a few of the photos that were taken during our Christmas celebration:

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas to you all.

Merry Christmas, from the Munches!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Tummy Time!

Ever since Julia has been out of her Pavlik harness, we've made an effort to ensure that she gets ample tummy time. She's typically not been a big fan. So we usually get in several 2 minute sessions throughout the day. Today, she realized that she can just hang out & enjoy herself rather than constantly do pushups. She lasted a whopping 7 minutes!!! Wow!

Amby Bouncing Baby!

On Sunday, I set up the bouncy seat on our Amby Baby for Julia. Here are the results:

Brought to you by the Letter M

A big shout out to Sesame Street - Happy 40th birthday! Julia has a favorite consonant this week.

Super Cute & Cuddly!!!

Julia had to bundle up to go out today. This is what she looked like:

Sleeping Beauty

Couldn't help but share our sleeping beauty with the world

She's Free!

Julia celebrated being free from her harness this morning...

Morning Playtime

All I wanted to do this morning was take a shower & get dressed. Julia had other plans....

A, E, I, O, U

Not her greatest hits reel, but I finally captured a sampling of our little babblepus...

I found my thumb - almost!

Getting closer to thumb sucking!!!

Halloween night

Our little missy was all babbles on Halloween night. I tried in vain to capture some of her vocalizations. Unfortunately, the red light on the front of our Flip camera seemed to put our little blabber-mouth into a trance and shut her right up. We'll try again later. For now, enjoy the mini-movie I created of Halloween night:

Hand-Eye Coordination

We did some hand-eye coordination drills today. Julia is getting quite good at swatting her little centipede. I think it's her favorite because it rattles.

Checkin out the world

Today, we tried a new position which Julia really liked, as it let her see everything around her.

Sumo!

Funny how when I first put Julia in her Combi bouncer chair she would have nothing to do with it. Now, it's her go to soothing spot. I love how when she sleeps in it that she often assumes a sumo wrestler position.

Baby Bjorn!

A major milestone for us today. I was finally able to coax Julia to climb into her Baby Bjorn. This is huge for me as it frees up both my hands to do various things around the house while caring for her. Can you say, "multitasking?" This morning, in the short 20 minutes I was able to carry her around, I was able to make breakfast & coffee, start 2 loads of laundry, go to the building lobby & pickup my newspaper & take this picture. Yippee!

Playtime!

Julia recently had the fortunate opportunity to have her harness washed. She got in some good wiggle & playtime while she waited for it to dry.