Back where I come from.....

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been a bit absent lately. We left Monday for California and are back in our hometown visiting with family and friends. We had a great trip out here. Julianne did great on the plane ride (it is so worth buying that extra seat)! This week we've been hanging out with my family and seeing some friends. I had dinner last night with some girlfriends and got to meet two new friends that I have come to know through the blog world. It's so fun to meet blog friends in person. I got to meet this lovely lady and this lovely lady as well as see three of my old friends. And by old, I don't mean they are old....I just mean we go way back! :)

This morning we are getting ready to head down to San Diego for the weekend. Shaun's cousin is getting married on Sunday so my parents are coming with us so that they can watch Julianne for us while we attend the wedding. There is just no way that we could (or should) take her to a wedding. The girl doesn't stop for a second and also doesn't seem to ever want to stop talking. So she will hang out with my parents while we go to the wedding Sunday afternoon. We are heading down to San Diego today and will be meeting up with my college roommate and her husband for dinner. They are dear friends of ours and I'm so excited to see them. Tomorrow we will be taking Julianne to Sea World with both my parents and Shaun's parents. She's never had the opportunity to spend the day with both sets of her grandparents together so it should be a fun day! She is really into fish right now so we think she will love it! We'll be going to the wedding on Sunday and then heading back here to Bakersfield on Monday. We'll stay here and spend Thanksgiving with my family and head home Friday. It's been a great trip so far and I just hope that my tired, very pregnant body can keep going through all of these activities.

I hope you all have a great weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family! I'll be back soon with pictures from our adventures.

27 weeks

How far along? 27 weeks

Total weight gained? 15 pounds

Maternity clothes? Yes. Pretty much everything except a few pairs of PJ's.

Sleep? I can't even talk about the lack of sleep I am getting. It's really frustrating!

Best moment of the week? Painting the nursery and scheduling her arrival date!

Food craving? Sweets, sweets, sweets

Food aversions? None

Morning sickness? Totally gone.

Gender? Still a girl as far as we know!

Belly Button? In but it's getting smaller!

What I'm looking forward to? February 5th - delivery date!

Weekly wisdom? I learned this week that rather than worrying about myself this time around (delivery, recovery, bringing home a new baby), all I am worried about is my Jules and how she will adjust to being a big sister. It's weird how perspective changes with baby #2.

Milestones? The baby now weighs approximately 2 lbs. and should be able to hear our voices.

Here is the belly shot for this week. Growing, growing, growing!

20 months

20 months ago today, my life changed forever. You entered the world and I knew life would never be the same. I wasn't prepared for how much I would love you, how much joy I would feel, how full my heart could be. I love each day spent with you and watching you grow into the little independent person you are becoming.
Mommy has had some rough days in the last few weeks figuring out how to deal with the fits you sometimes throw now and how to teach you not to hit me. It is challenging...I won't lie. But even in times when I am frustrated I know that you are teaching me....teaching me how to be patient, how to listen, and how to keep my cool when I am tempted to lose it. I remember during the challenges what a good girl you are 99% of the time and how easy you have made motherhood for me. In honor of your 20 months with us, here are some of the things that you are doing right now:

-You are becoming a daddy's girl. You get so excited when daddy comes home or when he is home to get you up in the morning or from a nap. When he leaves, you give him hugs and say "bye bye" and "see you" about a million times and wave with both hands while doing so. You love sitting on his lap to watch your favorite show and daddy loves it too!

-You are obsessed with "Jack's Big Music Show" on Nick Jr. It is just about the only show you like to watch. When I get you up in the morning, you start saying "Jack?....Jack?" and whenever the TV is on, you ask to watch it. You are now enjoying watching Ellen with mommy and you start dancing as soon as it comes on. You can now say "Ellen" and we have fun dancing together when we watch it.

-You love to put things over your head and play peek-a-boo. If I leave a sweater or jacket out, you find it and put it on your head.

-You have so many new words. You try to say something new everyday. Daddy and I don't always understand what you are saying but some of your new words that we do understand are "mo-mo" (monkey), "goat", "lamb", "kit kat" (kitty cat), "ring" (you like jewelry), "fower" (flower), "kie" (cookie), "poop", "peg-gin" (penguin), "whale", "fish", "bun" (bunny), "home", "socks", "pig", "nose", "ear", and "eye".

-You love books! You love your animal books and turn the pages while shouting the name of the animals. You always want to read about 10 books before going to bed. You don't always sit still for mommy to finish the books but you are getting better about that.

-You love to go places. Every morning when I dress you you say "bye bye?" and "shoes?" because you know if I put shoes on you, we are going somewhere.

-You hated having your teeth brushed and mommy just figured out this week that if I let you do it yourself, you love it! You do a pretty good job too.

-You love to do things for yourself and when I ask "mommy help you?" you say "no" about 90% of the time. You are determined to figure it out yourself.

-When you wake up in the morning or from a nap, you usually don't make a peep". You are perfectly content to lay there and play with whatever is in your crib with you. Thank goodness we have a video monitor or mommy would never know when you actually wake up.

-You are on the go all the time and don't stay in one place for too long. Every once in a while when you get tired, you will lay down for a few minutes on the living room floor. Sophie likes to lay next to you.

-You love to take baths. Every time we head upstairs you say "bath....bath". You never want to get out unless I offer to read you a book.

-You are tall. Most people think you are older than you are. You are also showing no signs of slimming down because you just gained 3 pounds in a month and a half. You weigh just under 29 pounds right now (no wonder mommy's back hurts)!

-You are a picky eater (like mommy). You do not like vegetables. You love macaroni and cheese, string cheese, beans, yogurt, waffles, chicken, crackers, and bananas. You don't try anything new if you do not like how it looks or feels.

-You pat our backs when you give hugs and say "awwwww" when you hug us or your dolly. You love giving hugs and are such a loving little girl. You take great care of your dolly and even try to feed her and give her juice now.

-You will still only drink milk if it is warm. You HATE cold milk. Mommy has no idea how to remedy this.

-You can make the sounds for a lot of animals including dog, cat, cow, duck, pig, goat, and horse.

-You HATE wearing things on your head. No hats. No hair bows. No hoods. I have no idea what that is about but am hoping you will change your mind soon now that winter is coming.

-You make us laugh about 100 times a day.

-You get cuter everyday!

We love you so much sweetie! Happy 20 months.

Happy Halloween!!

We had a lot of fun last night on Halloween. We hope you did too! Julianne woke up from her nap full of energy and ready for a good time.

I worked quickly to get her into her costume.... A hug for mommy
Excited to go "bye bye"

Happy girl!

I was a bit concerned that she wouldn't wear the hat portion of her costume. The girl HATES hats...and hair bows...and hoods...basically anything that goes on her head. I put it on expecting her to take it off.

Yep, immediately unsnapped it and took it off

Mommy insisting on putting the hat on me

She then left it alone. We distracted her with "let's go bye bye" and she ran for the door. She left the hat on the entire night which turned out to be a huge blessing because it was COLD!

Our little duckie!

Got my pumpkin, ready to go!

Enough pictures, let's go already!

This is Julianne checking out the happenings going on outside. There were kids EVERYWHERE and she was taking it all in.

Then we ventured out

We headed across the street to a friends to pass out candy

and eat some candy

I've never really given Julianne candy before....she likes it!

Picking out just the right thing

Checking out all the kids who came up (she gave some people some weird looks)

She also got her first sucker last night. She loved it!

"mmm"

Hanging out eating my sucker

It was a sweet way to end the day!

After two hours outside, we had a tired girl on our hands. She barely stayed awake to eat dinner and was in bed by 8. It was a fun night shared with friends and with our precious girl. I'm sure each Halloween will just get better and better (you know, until she is a teenager)! We hope you had a fun, safe evening!