Little Julia - 1 year old!

Sweet Julia turned 1 on February 21!  So hard to believe. She is an absolute doll and we are having so much fun with her.

Julia started walking a couple of weeks after her 1st birthday.  She's toddling around really well now, but she walks like a little old lady with a walker, shaky on her feet.  Kinda bent over at the waist, not sure if she can trust her feet.  She can push like a champ, though.  She would rather push than ride any toy of hers. And it's more like hauling it than gently pushing it along.  She will also more likely choose to push Liam's toys (like Lightening McQueen or his Thomas trike) than her own cute little pink tricycle or push toy.

Her personality is really starting to develop.  She is typically very laid back and quiet.  She's a pretty serious little girl most of the time.  You can see her wheels turning, though.  She definitely knows what she wants and doesn't want and she is strongly opinionated.  In an instant, she can turn from perfectly content to screaming at the absolute top of her lungs.

She knows how to hold her own and stand up for herself.  We have daily battles over toys.  Each one wants to play with what the other has, most of the time.  She was pushing around a riding toy and Liam sat down on it and she got so mad she was pulling and pushing and shoving, yelling at him.  He just exclaimed, "Sister won't share her toy with me!"  She will quickly let you know how she feels about something.

She is a wonderful eater.  She loves, loves vanilla Greek yogurt.  She also loves bananas, mandarin oranges, pears, and strawberries.  She likes sweet potatoes and that's about the only vegetable we can seem to get her to enjoy.  She refuses peas and green beans.  She does like flavor and spice, especially in pasta dishes like spaghetti.  She can eat some garlic mashed potatoes and LOVES PJ's meatloaf (PJ is the nutritionist at school).  She eats wonderful meals and does great with her sippie cup of milk. 

She knows and lives by her routine. Everyone will know when it's 5:00pm because if she's not eating supper, she lets you know it's time.  Even at school her teachers share that she's perfectly content and at 5:00 she starts her screaming.  Bedtime is the same way, 6:30 - at the latest, is bedtime.  No negotiating!  She's up around 6:00am and ready to start her day.  She wakes up hungry, but she's usually in a good mood.

What an incredible sleeper she is, compared to how Liam was at her age!  She will sleep through the night, but if she doesn't, she typically wakes up once for a bottle and goes right back down. Bedtime is easy-breezy.  She has her bottle, gets a little cuddle and then we put her in the crib and she puts her sweet little self to sleep.  Amazing.  Down by 6:30 with no fuss.  Never knew it could be that way.

She's a tall drink of water, just like her brother.  Off the charts in height, average in weight.  She's not a chunk like her brother was, but much more long and lean.  Her thighs have lots of rolls, though, which I love now that it's summer and we can show them off.

She adores Liam with all her heart.  He can make her laugh and smile like no one else can.  She wants to be right next to him, on top of him, and playing with whatever he has.  She watches everything he does and studies it.  And he knows it.  He is so sweet and loving toward her.  He takes care of her and helps her and talks to her.  He tells her it's all going to be okay when she's upset.  Sweet, sweet stuff.  Most of the time.

Julia's really started babbling much  more.  For the most part, she hasn't been an extremely talkative baby. Although she is very communicative.  She has learned some sign language, particularly the sign for "milk" and "more."  She loves to yell to get her point across - of hit or throw herself on the floor.  But the past couple of weeks, she is babbling and sharing things with us much more.  She definitely says, "hi" and then all kinds of things we can't yet understand.  She'll wake up talking to herself, which is the sweetest sound to hear.  This quickly turns into her loud, loud yells, though, telling us it's time to get her out of bed.

Family time is so much fun and Julia is growing up so fast and becoming her own little person.  We are so richly, richly blessed with two healthy and wonderful children.