2 Firsts: Taking a Drive, Going for a Swim!

Last week, Julia and I spent some time outdoors at the Self's house while the weather was so nice. Karla offered for Julia and Haley to take turns riding in the red car. Julia went first. Instead of switching off, Haley proceeded to push Julia around for nearly 20 minutes. It was so precious to watch them!

Haley giving sweet (and very gentle!) hugs to Julia.
Karla and I both had the "awww!" face.

The girls on a joy ride; Noah gets rear-ended

We also enrolled Julia in "swim" lessons. Yes, she's only 7.5 months old, but we want her to be uber-comfortable with the water at a young age since we're such lake rats. Only 1 parent is allowed in the pool with them, and Daddy was the winner for this past week. She really enjoys being in the water and splashing around, and she doesn't even mind getting water all over her face.

Fun with Friends and Julia's 6th month

Fun with Friends

Over the past month, we've had several get-togethers with friends and their kiddos. Naturally, that made for several photo ops. All names listed from left to right. Katie & Lee spent the night with us before Christmas, and we got a cute snapshot of all the girls!

Julia, Lily & Grace

Lauren & Stephanie were my closest childhood friends who lived in my neighborhood. We had an amazing lunch (thanks Lauren & Sandra!) with all three generations: us, our moms, and our kiddos. The grandmothers made the realization that WE are now the age THEY were when they started hanging out. Wow!

Sandy, Coit, Stephanie. Sandra, Lauren, Cline. Me, Jewels, my mom (Jane).

Cline, Coit, Julia

Cline & Julia - We love putting anything in our mouths!! On a couple of occasions, Julia smiled and even laughed at Cline. Ummm, we haven't noticed her doing that with other girls. Jarret & I are slightly worried. Honestly Julia, you're only 7 months old. Wait a little, honey. You'll give your daddy a heart attack. :-)

Julia & Grammy - Thanks for the cute dress Grammy. I love it!

Andrea & I went to Karla's house for a playdate a couple days ago. The girls were so cute together! Julia is finally getting to the age where she actually pays attention to other kids.

Paige (daughter of Andrea), Haley (daughter of Karla), and Julia

"Girly Girl" indeed. Precious top that Gran found!

Kasey & I visited Hillary who has a brand new baby girl at home.

Julia, Jacob & Katie (kiddos of Kasey), and Ryan (two-week-old of Hillary)

Julia's 6th month
Julia turned 7 months on December 30th. So what happened during December when she was 6 months old?

Christmas
Julia was so worn out from all the Christmas festivities that she fell asleep on her changing table, all the while never letting go of her feet!

Sitting Up
Starting in early December, Julia went from not sitting up on her own at all to making rapid progress each and every day.

Is this not the funniest face?

Karla's toy
Karla let us borrow some toys, and this one is Julia's favorite of ALL toys. She sits and smashes the buttons and plays with the other parts of the toy, but she absolutely loves standing so this gives her something to lean on. When the music plays, I swear she's already trying to dance!

Exersaucer
Julia can finally use and enjoy her Exersaucer. She is over 7 months old, but still in 3-6 month clothes. The onesies are finally tight, but pants are still so long. What does this have to do with the Exersaucer?! Even at the lowest setting, the child's legs couldn't remotely touch the bottom of the Exersaucer. Miss Petite can now comfortably sit in the toy, though I still have to put a blanket underneath her to make it more of the right height. Poor girl! (Though it's kinda fun that she's staying "little".)

An Update At Long Last

It's been a long while since we had any updates. Julia is now 6 months old, has her first tooth and a second one on the way, is sleeping 12 hours at night, and is making crazy sounds constantly. Jarret & I hosted our first meeting in which we'll be leading a Foundations Group for the next 15 months, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Tennessee with my family, and we saw our first movie in the theater since Julia's birth.

Thanksgiving at the Farm in Tennessee

Each Thanksgiving, the Trimble family (my dad's extended side) holds lunch at the farm where my grandfather and his brothers and sisters grew up. The original house was built in 1901 with several barns around the property. A few years ago, a family member tore down the old house due to its worsening condition, and they rebuilt it with great care to keep much of the look and floorplan the same. It's so wonderful to walk the property and hear old stories of our history!

Trimble family photo

We actually got one with her smiling. Amazing!

Each year, the family takes a walk over the hill to see old sights on the property and hear old stories. One stop is this particular tree that has mistletoe. Dad & Jarret took turns shooting some down!

Jarret & I with our prize mistletoe.

The beautiful walk back to the house.

Took a short hike up the hill to visit the tombstone for my great-great-great grandfather (that would be my dad's great-great grandfather).

One of the old barns - to prove it really is an old farm place!

A view of the backside of the house, from up the hill. Looks so calm and peaceful, doesn't it?

With Grammy & Papa inside the new "farmhouse".

Julia's first time to see real animals other than a dog!

On our plane ride home, we ran into Kim - a friend of ours from the Lake Powell trip where Jarret & I met, who also happens to be an airline stewardess for AA. She let us meet the pilots, and they let us sit in the cockpit to snap a photo. So cool! Thanks Kim!!

How our sweet baby slept on the plane. We love getting snuggle time!

Random Photos

All bundled up. She looked so cute in a little hat and with her furry blanket.

First tooth has made its appearance and we can see the second one already on its way. We started cereal almost two weeks ago, and she actually has done great with it. We've just started other foods. We'll see how that goes!

First day to wear shoes. It made her look so much older to us!

Christmas-time Eubanks family photos

It was NOT a fun three hours trying to get all the different family photo shots, but at least we got a few winners! We got one of just the 4 kiddos, too, but we don't have a scan of that one. Suffice it to say that with their matching outfits, they look like they're straight out of a magazine.

- Katie

Julia's Laugh

Julia enjoyed this game of "Peek-a-Boo" with mommy very much! This is the most she has ever laughed at one time. What a joy!

Marriage

Each year, our church (Watermark) does a "journey" through the Bible. Each year, the "journey" has had a different focus. The first year our church did the Journey, its focus was reading the entire Bible in one year. I couldn't quite keep up! This year's focus is reading through Paul's letters. For each day's passage of Scripture, a church member writes a devotional that corresponds with that scripture. This year, I had the privilege of being assigned Ephesians 5:22-33 which states:

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body. But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great – but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

For just a short insight on how I view this passage, you can read today's Journey Devo. I could have written so much more, but they have a word count limit. I welcome any comments or questions!

Since we're on the topic of marriage, I just want to tell my husband how wonderful you are. You are a complete blessing from the Lord, and I'm so thankful you chose me to be your wife and spend the rest of my life with you. The good times are ridiculously more enjoyable with you in my life, and the hard times are so much easier to endure with you by my side. You encourage me, teach me, and comfort me. I'm eternally grateful for the way you pour out your love for me and seek to put me above yourself. I love you more than words could say!

- Your Adoring Wife