9 Months

Julia technically doesn't have a birthday this month, since there is no 30th of February. So we randomly picked today as her birthday. And speaking of random, here are some random shots of her from the month.





How she greets us now if she hears us open her door:



She doesn't like sitting still or keeping her legs down while in her high chair, as you can tell here:

I normally clean her face and hands as we eat, but this day I decided to just let her go. She covered not just her chin, but drug it across her cheek and nose with her hand:

Playing with mommy's laptop and loving it:

Her Valentine's Day ensemble, courtesy of Andrea letting us benefit from Paige's cute clothes!

What Julia is up to:

• She loves walking now (still with us holding her hands, of course). The moment she stands up, she takes off. No more standing still for her!


• A couple weeks ago, I blogged that she hadn't shown any signs of crawling. She has finally started trying to scoot around on her tummy! It's not a conventional crawl yet, but she's working on it. Tonight though she was crawling several feet at a time to reach her toys.


• She has yet to find a food she doesn't like, and she's started to do a little self feeding with crackers. She loves them; but mommy doesn't love the cleanup. I never knew that cracker crumbs could get everywhere.


• She has five teeth...we noticed the 5th poking through just today.


• She is somehow clearly aware of what is a toy and what is not a toy. Naturally, she wants the things that aren't toys. And so the "no" begins!


• Her size 1 shoes are finally tight on her, but her size 2 shoes are still a little too big. According to the Stride Rite box, Size 2's are for babies ages 3-6 months. To say that Julia has small feet is an understatement!


• She is going through a clingy phase, which 90% of the time I absolutely love. I can be sitting on the floor playing with her, but she'll fuss and reach for me. As soon as she's sitting in my lap, she's fine!


• She refuses to hold your hands, unless you're helping her walk. Otherwise, if you grab her hands, she yanks them away.


• As we read to her, she loves turning the pages in her book. She grabs a page, turns it, and then puts her hands back down and waits patiently until you're done reading the next page.
  

Swim Lessons!

Before showing her swim lessons, let's first start with the old adage, "You have to crawl before you can walk." It seems Julia didn't get this memo, just like she didn't get the memo about turning head-down in mommy's womb before delivery. The girl still isn't close to crawling - won't get on all fours, doesn't rock back and forth, etc. But here is her walking!

She loves her swim lessons, and the videos at the bottom show some of the activities we do in class. She is now going "under" for 1 second at a time, and she doesn't seem phased by it whatsoever!

Look-alike

For 9 months, we've questioned if Julia looks more like her mom or dad since people have told us both. We asked Beverly (Jarret's mom) to pull out pictures of Jarret when he was a baby, and his baby pictures don't look a thing like Julia. Then Beverly pulled out pictures of Larry, Jarret's dad. Um, I think we have a winner! Notice in how the 3 month photos, their fingers are even positioned the same way. Wild!

Amazing Valentine's Date

It started earlier this week when I mentioned to Jarret that we had nothing planned for Valentine's Day. He replied, "Yes, we do! I put it on our calendar, but you just haven't noticed." Sure enough, our calendar was marked for Saturday evening: "Surprise Valentine's Date".

I *love* suprises. All I knew is that we were supposed to be somewhere near downtown at 6:45. Dinner reservations, perhaps? On Saturday afternoon, I finally asked Jarret what I needed to wear. He said I need to be casual and comfortable. I felt like what I was wearing already fit that description, but he suggested I get even more casual. Clearly, we were not going to a swanky restaurant. Perhaps some sort of fun activity?

I changed clothes, we dropped Julia off at Gran & Poppy's, and then enjoyed a matinee movie (such a treat!). Afterward, we started our drive toward downtown. Soon, we were veering off on roads I've never driven down, and then I started getting nervous...truly nervous. Where were we? I suddenly felt like we were in a different city, and not the nice part of the city.

As we pulled up to our destination, Jarret gives me the go-ahead to read my Valentine's Day card. In it, he wrote, "I am blessed to serve alongside my 'Miss Debbie' for the rest of my life." That's a reference to the book we're reading, Same Kind of Different as Me. It tells the story of a rich art dealer in the DFW area who, at the prompting of his wife Miss Debbie, begins serving the homeless through Union Gospel Mission and befriends a homeless fellow. Of course, they both end up changing each other's lives. The book has been reshaping our lives.

Since we're on a very tight budget right now and can't afford Valentine's Day in the traditional sense, Jarret decided what better way to spend Valentine's Day than giving our time to serve others. So, we spent three hours talking to these men and getting to serve up some food. It was an incredible Valentine's Day, and I am so blessed to have a husband who thought to do such a wonderful thing! Our goal for 2009 is to become more focused on truly loving and serving others, regardless of whether they can do anything for us. Thank you honey for planning such an awesome date night that was focused toward our goal!

Courtesy of fellow Watermark member Todd's cellphone camera. Thanks Todd!

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' (Matthew 25:35-36)

Heaven On Earth

Attending Dallas Boat Show
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Showing off daugther in wakeboard attire
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Chattin' it up with wakeboard pro Keith Lyman
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Jarret's version of heaven on earth!

JARRET'S EDIT: Great post Honey! What a great moment in my life! haha If you all want to see a small glimpse of why Keith Lyman is one of the greatest wakeboarders on the planet, then check out this video.
http://vimeo.com/2208996?pg=embed&sec=2208996