First Steps

I have much to post for her 10-month birthday recap, but haven't had a chance. As proud parents though, Jarret and I couldn't wait to post this.



It started because Jarret was letting her practice standing by herself for a few seconds at a time. Instead of standing still, she decided to take a couple steps. So we grabbed the video camera, and had her go between us.

She was so giddy and proud of herself (if you can't tell in the video, she's beaming), as were we. A few minutes later though, emotional tears were rolling down my cheeks. I always thought that walking was such a major milestone that signaled the beginning of a child's transition from baby toward toddler-hood. Her first steps really hit me hard of how much she's growing up!

Skateboarding Careers Don't Start at 30

Jarret's Entry:
This weekend we had the season kick-off party for the Lavon Chapter of Wakeboard Church. We had a great time of fellowship cooking out burgers, doing wakeboarding tricks on the trampoline, praying together, and trying out the new winch! The last activity though I should have just been a viewing instead of participating member. For those of you who have never heard of a winch it is basically a portable structure that has a small engine that powers a spool so that wakeboarding can be done in ponds, creeks, and other places where you can not take a boat. It is really opening up a new level of wakeboarding by allowing people to participate in an otherwise expensive sport by removing the most expensive element...the boat.

So our Lavon crew has built their own and I got to try it (off the water) for the first time on Saturday. The way it works is that you pull out the rope you have wound up on the spool, fire up the engine, and then the spool spins pulling you back in towards the winch. You can often have 1,000 feet of rope making for a decently long ride. Well, after seeing a few others try this thing out in the street on a skateboard I decide to give it a go. I already had a sore and bruised up hip and elbow from getting banana peeled on the skateboard just messing around few minutes earlier. Because of this, myself and others thought I would have a better chance being pulled on the skateboard if I just sat down on it. "Sure," I say thinking that sitting down is a much safer alternative to standing up since I obviously don't know jack about how to skateboard. So I plan to sit on the back of the skateboard and put my feet up on the front of the board.

So here we go. I give the thumbs up and they fire up the winch. Keep in mind that this thing has no speed control. It has a throttle that you can adjust but the speed is very unpredictable. Well, shortly after starting it up I begin to be pulled very fast. I quickly realized that sitting on the skateboard was going to be very unstable. Hoping to cut my losses, I let go of the rope and took my feet off to the sides of the board to slow down. This proved to be a very bad idea since now all my weight was on the back of the board. Before I could do anything the skate slipped out from under me and I was doing at least 10mph down the concrete road on my back! You have no idea how bad this hurt! I tried to play it cool in front of everybody, but I thought I might pass out because the pain was so severe!!!

Anyway, I guess you live and you learn. My skateboarding career started and stopped in the matter of a few minutes. Those things are from the devil and I think I will try to avoid them for the remaining days of this life!

-Jarret

Daddy Daughter Night

Jarret gave me the gift of a night off to myself, which I didn't even realize how much I needed until it was over and I was completely elated (partially because I went to Ann Taylor Loft and I finally fit into the same size clothes I wore before pregnancy!!!!!!).

When I came home, Jarret quickly showed me how he and his sweet daughter spent their evening. Some of the pics, especially the first two, you have to click on and enlarge to get the full effect.

Outdoors with the natural light making those blue eyes light up...

Having a blast crawling to daddy indoors...

Nieces & Nephews

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated Erin's birthday (Jarret's sister) at the original Trail Dust, where they have a live band and a big dance floor. While Julia was home sleeping, Jarret and I had a great time with the fam and enjoyed dancing with nieces and nephews Kendall, Caden, and Jacob. We love you guys!!

This past weekend, Julia and I visited the Biebighausers and "Niece Lily" while Jarret was on a weekend retreat for Wakeboard Church. The last time I went to Wichita Falls for a visit, Lily and Julia (just two months apart) were unintentionally dressed in the identical outfit. This time around, it just about happened again. Both girls were still dressed in their PJs despite the fact it was middle of the afternoon, and both sets of PJs looked very similar! They really enjoyed checking each other out, patting each other, and trying to crawl toward one another.

Julia needed a bath, but completely freaked out when we placed her in the tub. She's never been in a big bath by herself before. Katie kindly offered to put Lily in the tub with Julia, which worked like magic. Gotta love pics of cute naked chubby babies!

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.